Call for Nominations: AIGA Chicago Board & Committee Members

Know someone who would be perfect on AIGA Chicago’s Board of Directors or committee? We’re officially accepting nominations until Friday, March 27, 2020.

Review the open positions below, then submit your nomination via our quick and easy form below.

A few details to note:

• All submissions will be presented to the nominating committee.

• Once a nomination (either peer or self-nominated) is submitted, the nominee will be contacted for more information.

• Each board member is elected to serve and represent the entire membership of the AIGA Chicago to the best of his/her ability, in accordance with the AIGA mission and the description of the board position.

• The Board of Directors meets monthly to report, determine and vote on chapter activities.

• AIGA Chicago’s board members are elected by the entire membership and serve staggered three-year terms. Lead and other volunteer positions serve renewable one-year terms.

Open Positions + Descriptions

Co-President

This person is responsible for acting as public face of the chapter while overseeing all activities, programs, initiatives and decision-making organization-wide.

Specific duties include:
• Maintain procedural stability of the chapter.
• Preside over monthly board meetings, executive calls, and annual planning retreat.
• Develop broader chapter participation by encouraging board members to form and maintain solid committee structures that reach out to the AIGA Chicago membership.
• Evaluate board structure to ensure that the chapter leadership is addressing key areas of concern and member interest.
• Ensure continuity of board leadership by active participation in succession planning and nominations process.)
• Attend monthly National President’s Call
• Act as the conduit between National and Chicago activities

VP, Diversity & Inclusion

The Vice President leads the D&I Committee—recruiting, supporting, and directing volunteer team members. The VP of D&I helps define and deliver programming, events, and content aimed at elevating and amplifying underrepresented Chicagoland designers. The VP also oversees our inclusion surveys.

Recent Impact

• Design Pride: Intimate panel discussion featuring emerging queer designers reflecting on the design industry through personal and professional lenses. 
• Portraits of Color: Free photoshoot for creatives of color, offering makeup, styling and resume workshopping with a professional copywriter. Co-hosted with with Greater Good Studio.
• On The Daily: Instagram takeover series coinciding with history and heritage months throughout the year aimed at spotlighting underrepresented talent in Chicago.
• On The Daily Podcast: Conversations with featured OTD participants examining how their identities influence their creative practice and discussing how issues around D&I are addressed in design.
• Member Survey: Biennial surveys of members and Chicago design community conducted in partnership with Culture Amp as input into programming and chapter priorities.

VP, Mentor Program (2 roles)

The VPs of the Mentor Program will oversee the chapter’s 10-week-long Mentor Program which has an average of 120 mentees and 10-15 mentors each spring and fall. This position also oversees the management of the Mentor Program Committee, interviewing and training mentor leaders, developing a bi-weekly program with committees during mentor sessions such as studio tours and workshops. Mandatory training with Leslie Presto, our interim VP of Mentor Program, begins June 2020.

Defined Responsibilities:

• Be the face of the program to the mentors, mentees and design community.
• Be comfortable with public speaking at the mentor events.
• Have a positive and impactful voice on the importance of mentorship at all levels of your career.
• Interview and cast 10-12 mentors for the spring and fall sessions.
• Work with our content team to promote the mentors and any agencies we work with on social media.
• Develop potential group themes for mentors to lead, or work with the mentors to develop their own concepts.
• Consistent themes are portfolios, personal development, freelance, user experience, leadership, and a collaborative group project.
• Train the mentors on best practices for leading a group of 8-10 mentees.
• Manage expectations of the program over the 10 weeks to the mentors and mentees in person, via Slack and all events.
• Communications of program logistics before, during and after the sessions to all participants.
• Encourage engagement with groups over 10 weeks for high participation rates.
• When needed speak 1-1 with mentees if they are in need of guidance.
• Organization of 80+ mentees into groups after the kickoff with the management of these groups by the committee.
• Development of group activities in alternating weeks of mentor sessions such as studio tours, workshops, and a portfolio review.
• Ability to mediate if a mentee or mentor is not working within the best intentions of the program.
• Respond to 2+ emails per week from mentees interested in the program over the course of the year, ensuring they know when the next session is opening.
• Keep all mentor documents organized for easy access on Google Drive by session for the team and your successor.
• Continually evolve the program after each session to better the program based on new insights.

Partnerships Chair (2 positions)

The Partnerships Chair will facilitate opportunities for local and regional companies to participate in and support Chapter programming and activities in accordance with the AIGA mission. Increase understanding of the benefits of partnerships within the local business community. Establish and nurture corporate partnerships within the guidelines of the national model. Oversee all partnership transactions to insure receipt of related benefits.

Defined Responsibilities:

• Broaden the Chapterʼs partnership base by developing new relationships within the local and regional business communities.
• Create and implement an annual partnership opportunity packet including information on upcoming Chapter events and activities for the calendar year.
• Maintain an organized and efficient system of tracking and recording all sponsorship activities on an annual basis.

Editorial Committee Member

An Editorial Committee Member shall aid the VP of Communications + Editorial Chairs in the application of core messages of the Chapter, ensuring that all AIGA Chicago communications are accurate, articulate, and consistent with the chapter voice. They support the mission of the AIGA through the communication of ideas and information relevant to the profession and its constituencies.

Defined Responsibilities:

Committee members work closely with the VP of Communications + Editorial Chairs to generate content and communicate our perspective, mission, and initiatives to the AIGA Chicago community. These messages will be communicated through the AIGA Chicago website, newsletters, Medium, and social media. Below are some of the ways this can manifest—assistance in one of these buckets (not asking for all) would be great.

Web/Newsletters/Social Media
Est. time commitment: 5-10 hours a week

• Event title creation
• Editing event descriptions for spelling, grammar, and overall persuasion for Eventbrite, newsletter descriptions, and social promotion
• Scheduling social promotion on all channels (FB, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn)

Event documentation
Est. time commitment: 5-10 hours a week

• Editorial content pertinent to the event pre, during, and post-event
• This could take virtually any form, collaborated on by whoever is in charge of the event and the editorial team member (think a Q&A with a panelist, a photo story about an organization, an Instagram takeover from someone being celebrated during the event, etc).

Medium series
Est. time commitment: 10-15 hours a wee

• Use your imagination! We can create editorial buckets or series on our Medium—it can be Op-Eds from our VPs or Committee members (where, editorial help would be needed on the editing, publishing on Medium, and social promotion front)
• Establishing multimedia content creation (capturing video stories, introducing reoccurring podcasts, etc.)