To recruit candidates to serve on the Board of Directors or Search Committee, who are qualified by virtue of desire, background and membership in good standing of Lamaze International.

The Search Committee shall consist of four members, two (2) Directors and two (2) members of Lamaze International not serving on the Board of Directors. The Board will appoint the Chair of the Search Committee, which shall be one of the Directors. The Chair will appoint the other members of the Search Committee in consultation with the President. Upon adoption of the revisions to the Lamaze International bylaws in 2005, the two (2) new members elected to serve on the Nominating Committee will serve as the two (2) members of the Search Committee who are not currently Directors. The previous sentence and this sentence will be dropped automatically from the bylaws after the next class of Board of Directors takes office in 2006.

The Board Search Committee has the following responsibilities:

· Issue a call for nominations for the vacant Director and Substitute positions and actively seek out leadership candidates from members of Lamaze International in good standing.

· Review the qualifications of all persons nominated for service on the Lamaze International Board of Directors, and certify that individuals on the slate of candidates are duly qualified to hold the posts for which they are nominated.

· Prepare a slate of candidates for election to the Board of Directors from the nominations received in accordance with procedures established by the Board of Directors.

The Search Committee shall not select one of its members to be on the slate as a Director or Substitute.

In order to ensure a continuing knowledge of the Lamaze International membership and to provide time for Committee members to build a working rapport, each member of the Committee, with the exception of the Chair, will be appointed to serve a three year term. One member of the Committee will rotate off each year. In the event that a Search Committee member is unable to complete a full term, the Chair in consultation with the President will appoint a new member to complete the term. The Search Committee Chair will be appointed on an annual basis and may be reappointed for up to 3 years.

The following procedures are established for the Search Committee:

· The Chair of the Search Committee will seek direction from the Board of Directors regarding the board leadership needs prior to beginning the search for prospective candidates.

· The Search Committee will prepare a call for nominations of candidates for the next annual Board of Directors to be distributed to all Lamaze International members by the Administrative Office staff no later than nine (9) months prior to the next scheduled Annual Meeting.

· The Search Committee will conduct a meeting three (3) months prior to the deadline for receiving nominations to determine a strategy for recruiting qualified members to run for election.

· All nominations received will be duplicated and sent to each member of the Search Committee.

· The Search Committee will verify that each nominee is a member in good standing of Lamaze International. Experience should be such that provides the potential candidate with insight into the workings of the Executive Office, as well as sufficient contact with the Board of Directors to appreciate the relationships and interactions between the Board and its Committees.

· The balance of geographic and professional expertise represented on the Board will be considered only in the instances in which the individuals under consideration offer equal leadership capability, and selection of one of those individuals would give undue Board of Directors representation to a specific geographic area or would create an imbalance of professional expertise on the Board. Other areas of experience particularly relevant for Board positions are administrative and financial.

· Two Elected Directors shall be elected each year at the Annual Meeting for a regular three-year. At all times, unless affected by resignation or removal, there must be at least one representative on the Board from each of the following groups: Lamaze-Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE); provider; and parent/consumer. The proxy ballot for the election of the two (2) Elected Directors and for a Substitute shall include at least four (4) nominees and space for write-in candidates. The vacancies for the Elected Directors shall be filled as follows: the individuals who received the greatest number of votes shall be elected to the open Elected Director positions, except in the absence of representation in any of the three (3) groups, then the candidate from that group(s) receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected, and the remaining positions should be filled by the candidates receiving the highest totals. Notwithstanding the above, if due to vacancies there are more than two (2) Elected Director positions to be filled, at least one (1) additional nominee per additional position shall be added to the proxy ballot, and of those nominees elected to Elected Director positions, those with the highest totals shall receive the longer terms.

· The Search Committee will prepare the Slate of Candidates for the next annual Board of Directors and the Search Committee and submit it to the Lamaze International Administrative Office no later than 75 days prior to the Annual Meeting.

· The Search Committee will notify all candidates of their selection (or rejection) to be on the proxy ballot in writing. Included with the notification for those candidates selected to be on the ballot, will be the Conflict of Interest Policy and statements of Philosophy to ensure candidates’ willingness to uphold them.