1. President.
2. Executive Vice President(s).
3. Vice President(s).

The appointed officers of the National Organization shall be:

• Treasurer.
• General Legal Counsel.
• Secretary General.

COMMENTS ON ARTICLE 8 1 and 8 2:

1. The number of Executive Vice Presidents depends on the size of the National Organization and the number of Vice Presidents. In very small National Organizations, one EVP may be sufficient.
2. In large National Organizations, one EVP should be elected for every five Vice Presidents. The number of Vice Presidents depends on the size of the National Organization. As the VPs should be assigned to Chapters, one VP for each 8 or 10 Chapters should be reasonable.
3. The size of the National Organization Board depends on different factors, such as the distance between Chapters, the size of the National Organization and the country, and the budget and needs of the National Organization.

In addition to the elected officers and the appointed officers, the Immediate Past President shall be an officer of the National Organization.

The officers of the National Organization shall carry out duties assigned by the President or as stipulated in this Constitution.

Each officer designated in Article 8 1 must be elected by a majority of votes cast at a General Assembly Meeting during the National Organization Convention.

Elected and appointed officers shall hold office for a period of one (1) year commencing the first day of January following their election or appointment, except for the Secretary General who should serve for a minimum period of three years. In the case of appointment after the first day of January, the period of office will only be for the remaining part of the year of operation.

1. That officer was appointed to the office during the year and will not have served a full term in such office prior to December 31.
2. For a valid reason accepted by the President, that officer was obliged to resign before the expiration of his term of office.

Section 1.

Vacancies in all offices other than that of President may be filled through appointment by the President, subject to the approval of the General Assembly.

Section 2.

Upon the death, disability, resignation or other disposition that shall prevent the President from serving, the Executive Vice President will assume the presidency for the duration of the term for which the President had been elected, subject to the approval of the General Assembly.

COMMENTS ON BYLAW 8 10, SECTION 2:

1. If there are several Executive Vice Presidents, the Board of Directors shall elect one Executive Vice President to assume the presidency.
2. If there is no Executive Vice President, the Board of Directors shall elect one of the Vice Presidents to assume the presidency.
3. Another option is to have the Immediate Past President assume the presidency.

No elected nor appointed officer of the National Organization shall hold office in a Chapter, with the exception that the Immediate Past President of a Chapter shall not be considered an officer of a Chapter for the purpose of this bylaw. An elected officer may simultaneously hold an appointed office upon a proposal made by the President and subject to the approval of the General Assembly.

SECTION 1. DEADLINE: All nominations for elective offices must be made on the prescribed form and forwarded by Chapters to the Secretary General to arrive at least sixty (60) days prior to the opening of the Convention. The Secretary General shall, within fifteen (15) days after the deadline date for nominations, forward to all Local Organizations a list of nominees together with the essential curriculum vitae of the candidates.

SECTION 2. EXTENSION OF DEADLINE: In the event that fewer than the minimum number of candidates required have been maintained following the official close of nominations, the President may extend the time for the filing of nominations for that office for a period to expire no later than 0900 hours of the day marking the commencement of the annual Convention.

For the purpose of this section, the minimum number of nominations shall be:

_2_ Candidates for President

___ Candidates for Executive Vice President

___ Candidates for Vice President.

COMMENTS ON BYLAW 8 12, SECTION 2:

It is suggested that there be at least twice as many candidates as positions to be filled, e.g., two (2) candidates for President, four (4) for Vice Presidents—if two (2) Vice Presidents are to be elected—etc. However, it could be difficult to assemble eight (8) candidates for the position of Vice President if four (4) positions are to be filled. The solution could be to reduce the number of candidates to six (6). However, an issue to consider is the reduction of VP positions rather than the reduction of candidates. If the National Organization cannot find enough candidates, it is probably because its membership is not big enough to support having so many officers.

SECTION 3. APPROVAL: Every nomination shall be subject to written approval by the Chapter of the nominee. Where a nominee is himself the President of his Chapter, his nomination form shall be signed by a senior elected officer other than the nominee.

SECTION 1. AGE: No person shall be elected or appointed who will reach his fortieth (40th) birthday prior to assuming office.

SECTION 2. MEMBER: Every nominee for election and every appointed officer shall be an Individual Member of a Chapter, and, at the time of the election or appointment, the Chapter must be current in the payment of dues to the National Organization.

SECTION 3. CONVENTION ATTENDANCE: Unless he is excused by the President for valid reasons, every nominee for election shall be registered and in attendance at the Convention at which he is a nominee.

SECTION 4. SPECIFIC QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT: The President shall have served at least one year on the current or preceding Board of Directors in an elected position.

COMMENTS ON BYLAW 8 15, SECTION 4:

This section is obviously inapplicable to the first year of existence of a National Organization. It is suggested to include it, but to ask the General Assembly to waive this section at the time of the elections (see Article 17-2).

All officers shall serve without financial remuneration.

COMMENTS ON BYLAW 8 18:

The Secretary General may be a paid individual fulfilling such duties on a permanent job basis. The Secretary General will then be the Chief Administrative Officer of the National Organization. In that case, the question must be resolved as to whether or not the office of Secretary General should remain a National Organization officer position entitling membership on the Board of Directors.