The devil isn’t always in the detail, and our proposed board model is really quite simple. Most importantly it is also flexible, and before we implement it, we will refine it based on the feedback and ideas we get from AMSA Council to ensure that what we introduce is in the interests and wishes of everybody.

The board will consist of 5 people. These will be the current President, the IPP, and an independent lawyer, accountant and community representative.  The President will obviously be the main conduit from the Board to the exec, and Council, whereas the IPP will now finally have a formal channel through which to maintain their connection to the organisation after their term on the exec instead of ad hoc communication and 3 Council meetings per year.

The independent lawyer and accountant are intended to provide sound and informed guidance to the executive’s decisions when they are (often) needed. The skills of a bona-fide lawyer and accountant are ones that AMSA desperately needs and generally cannot generate internally. Exec and Council are never short of good ideas, motivation or enthusiasm, but legally or financially trained medical students who get involved in exec bids are few and far between, and inherently only stay for one year. The lawyer and accountant will not only help provide the exec with sound counsel and advice but also help us to become a more independent body that need not rely on the AMA to provide our legal and accounting services in-kind.

Finally, the community representative is our last proposed member. The main reason behind rounding off the board with a more independent and high-profile community representatives is a strategic one. AMSA has a lot of friends in high places, but it often fails to capitalise on these relationships, and by having an experienced member of the medico-political establishment on our side will help us to better fulfil some of our longer term objectives.

Having a few non-medical students on the board will not impinge upon the independence of AMSA as a medical student run and led organisation, because as mentioned earlier, the Board will fulfil an advisory or strategic function, and not an operational or policy one. We also do not anticipate difficulties in finding the right people for this – while it is not appropriate to name names, particularly before AMSA Council has had a chance to examine, amend or ratify our proposal, we have good people in mind and will approach them in due course. Moreover, as AMSA is not a for-profit business, Board members would only receive token remuneration for their time, and quarterly meetings, this would not be a cost-burden.

Overall, the board model will help establish AMSA in the long term. It will provide us with a greater degree of financial, legal and accounting security as well as helping to retain our corporate knowledge and traditions. It is a flexible model, but one that is realistic, achievable and entirely worthwhile.