The Board of Stewards (see Fig. 2, 09) is the OBC’s primary management body, and is made up of 9 members: 2 each elected from the caucuses of publishers (see Fig. 2, 05), libraries (see Fig. 2, 04), and service providers (see Fig. 2, 06) and 3 OA experts (see Fig. 2, 08), nominated by the BoS and Full Custodians and elected by the Full Custodians. The BoS has a Chair and a Vice Chair elected from its ranks.
Full Custodians can be nominated (including self-nominations) to stand for election as a Steward on the BoS. Elections are staggered: every Steward sits for a period of 3 years except for the 1st instantiation of the BoS which has Stewards that sit 1, 2, and 3 years. These periods of service can be voluntarily extended, but no member of the Board can serve for longer than 9 consecutive years (see Article 25.3 of the OBC’s Articles of Association). The Board meets 4 times per year.
Tasks and Responsibilities of the Board of Stewards
The Board of Stewards closely supervises the daily operations and management of the OBC and its membership programs, and deliberates and resolve issues of managerial and other concerns of the OBC. Its primary tasks are to:
oversee the mission, principles, and values of the OBC;
ensure that the OBC follows all of the requisite protocols of the UK Companies House and Charity Commissionand adheres to its Articles of Association;
oversee and adjudicate issues of conflict of interest;
convene the Annual General Assembly of Custodians (AGAC) and set the agenda for such;
ratify proposals put forward by its committees, including its Membership Committee;
adjudicate disagreements (ideally through consensus) within the Membership Committee and any other committees that are formed;
ratify and oversee criteria for membership within the OBC (as indicated above) and any other criteria that might be developed by the Membership Committee or other committees for conducting the operations of the OBC;
review and approve annual financial and activity statements and audits as prepared by the OBC Secretariat, to be ratified by the GAC;
oversee the financial projections for the OBC and adjust them as necessary;
engage in strategic planning for the OBC (relative to the business model, membership protocols, platform maintenance, budget management, and the like), with advisement from the Membership Committee and the Secretariat;
establish working committees with specific responsibilities and constitutions to facilitate the work and strategic planning of the BoS. These can be either standing committees (such as the Membership Committee), or temporary committees;
nominate OA Experts for election by the Full Custodians; and
create and maintain hiring protocols for the OBC Management Team, and make hiring decisions.
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