Dear Fellow DAND Members, 

We have a few important announcements in this email about our upcoming elections and award nominations.

ELECTIONS:

We will soon be holding an election for new members of the DAND Board of Directors (BOD), and we would love to have members like you run for office in one of our open positions! We have SIX positions opening up for this election!

Serving on the DAND BOD is an excellent opportunity for career and leadership development and building your network of nutrition and dietetics professionals.  You also can earn up to 3 CEUs per year for professional leadership!

Here’s an overview of our positions open for the upcoming election:

• The President-Elect supports the President in leading DAND in its mission to empower members to be Delaware’s food and nutrition leaders.  The President-Elect serves a 1-year term, followed by 1-year as President, and a final 1-year term as Past President.  If you have a passion for leadership and strengthening the presence of nutrition and dietetics in Delaware, this is the role for you! This position will give you fantastic experience planning association conferences and events while gaining important leadership and networking skills to use in your professional career.  To learn more about what it’s like to serve in this position, contact our current President-Elect, Julia, by emailing dandpresidentelect@gmail.com.
• The Treasurer-Elect works closely with the Treasurer to learn the duties and responsibilities of the Treasurer in preparation for assuming the role the following year.  The Treasurer-Elect serves a 1-year term, followed by a 1-year term as Treasurer.  This position is a great fit for those of you who love working in Excel spreadsheets, and you’ll also learn valuable financial management and budgeting skills. To learn more about what it’s like to serve in this position, contact our current Treasurer-Elect, Beth, by emailing dandtreasurerelect@gmail.com.
• The Nominations and Governance (N&G) Committee Member assists the N&G Chair with their duties in overseeing the annual DAND award and elections and in other governance activities. The N&G member serves on a 3-member team and serves a 2-year term, followed by a final 1-year term as N&G Chair.  If you are a people person, this is the role for you!  You’ll be great at bringing new members into BOD positions and learning how professional associations are governed with 2 other members to mentor you as you learn the ropes.  To learn more about what it’s like to serve in this position, contact current N&G Members (Julia, Anissia, & Anja) at dandnominationsgovernance@gmail.com.
• The Secretary supports the DAND BOD by issuing the call for all regular and special meetings of the BOD and DAND membership, creating meeting agendas, recording and distributing minutes from the BOD and membership meetings, and assisting the President and other BOD members.  The Secretary serves a 2-year term. This position is a great fit for those of you who are detail-oriented and have good organizational skills. This is a good position to learn more about DAND and the activities each BOD member leads. To learn more about what it’s like to serve in this position, contact our current Secretary, Ashley, by emailing dandsecretary@gmail.com.
• The Delegate to the House of Delegates acts as the voice of the DAND membership to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The Delegate seeks input from the DAND membership about their concerns regarding the profession or the Affiliate and educates the DAND membership on the issues being addressed by the House of Delegates. The Delegate serves a 3-year term. Organization and time-management skills are critical for this position, as well as a passion for the profession and supporting DAND. To learn more about what it’s like to serve in this position, contact our current Delegate, Fran, at danddelegate@gmail.com.
• The Public Policy Coordinator leads and supports DAND’s Public Policy Panel and communicates the Academy’s Public Policy priorities to DAND members. The Public Policy Coordinator is the liaison between the Academy Policy Initiatives and Advocacy Team and the members of DAND. The Public Policy Coordinator serves a 3-year term, with the option to run for an additional consecutive 3-year term. You’ll excel in this position if you have good organization and time-management skills, a passion for the profession, and effective oral and written communication skills. To learn more about what it’s like to serve in this position, contact our current Public Policy Coordinator, Natashia, at DANDpublicpolicycoordinator@gmail.com.

We hope you will consider giving back to the nutrition and dietetics profession by serving on the DAND BOD in one of these open positions.  Please note you do need to be an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics with Delaware as your selected affiliate to be eligible for one of these positions.  If you are interested, please complete the attached DAND Bio Form for Elected Positions and email it to us at dandnominationsgovernance@gmail.com by March 21, 2024.