Pulse - January 2025 - 9

Smaller
Board
Helped
Bring on
SCVMA's
Two-Year
Presidency
By Jim Bell
For the second time in eight years, SCVMA - facing a difficult situation on its Board of
Trustees - has asked its president to stay on another year.
President Adam Gerstein has agreed.
" It helps the organization if I stay on in
2025, " he said. " I strongly believe in our
association and what we provide to the
veterinary community. And if providing
an additional year of leadership and support
is going to help our long-term health
and stability, I'm onboard. "
For years there were 11 SCVMA trustees.
Today there are seven, including one
veterinary team member who cannot hold
an officer's position under association
bylaws. Of the six DVM board members,
half are officers: president, vice president
and treasurer. And the other three are
training to fill officer positions, although
not all of them may aspire to do so.
Dr. Jennifer Hawkins, SCVMA executive
director, said that one factor in the
situation has been trustee turnover. " This
year Dr. Karryssa Fenderson vacated her
board position to pursue an internship and
residency in another state, " she said. " Also,
PULSE
JANUARY 2025
Dr. Karla Nichols term ended on December
31. So we have two brand new board
members who started terms in 2025. "
Besides Dr. Gerstein, the board includes
Vice President Julio Lopez, Treasurer Trisha
Nguyen and Drs. Bernadine Cruz,
Tiffany Meyers and Kristi Krause. The
veterinary team member is Maria Morgan.
" For the sake of continuity and experience,
it made sense for Dr. Gerstein to serve
another year, Dr. Hawkins said. " This will
allow other board members to learn the
ropes a little longer before taking on an
officer role. "
The 2024-25 situation echoes what
happened in 2016 and 2017 when Dr.
Misty Hirshbein served two years as
president. Her double play followed a
vote by the Board of Trustees in 2012 to
decrease the size of the board from 11 to
seven members. By 2015, the board had
shrunk to seven.
++++
Peggy Hoffman, president of Mariner
Management in Maryland, a company that
has done extensive research on volunteering
and works with associations, said that
" we are definitely seeing " other situations
like the one facing SCVMA. " It is one of a
few available options. You have somebody
in the seat and you convince them that,
without them, the place is going to heck in
a handbasket. But that does not solve the
problem. It pushes the problem down the
road. There are multiple things in our lives
where we use the duct tape approach. It's
broken. But until I can replace it, I'll put
some duct tape on it. "
" There have been a lot of issues with
volunteerism and finding volunteers. It's
a function of volunteers. One issue is that
the roles we are asking them to play don't
fit the schedules, the times, the flexibility of
people who are living very busy lives. That
combines with the perception that the work
is onerous and that it doesn't take you any9
Pulse - January 2025

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