Call for Candidates: GALA's Board of Directors, 2024-2025 Term

In an industry which is constantly evolving, targeted business intelligence and a strong professional network are critical. For over 20 years, GALA has helped members shift perspectives, explore new technologies, and create supportive peer communities.

If you believe in a future-oriented and human-focused approach to industry challenges and in an association’s power to mobilize people and organizations, then we encourage you to submit your candidacy for the GALA Board. There are three positions open this year.

Applications are now closed, stay tuned for the candidate announcement and voting information.

We are seeking candidates that are committed to their professional community, care deeply about the future of the industry, and have the leadership experience and foresight to ensure GALA's relevancy and success.

GALA's Board should be balanced, diverse, and representative of the association's general membership. We are seeking volunteers leaders from small and large language service companies, technology firms, interpreting agencies, universities, and enterprise localization teams - from around the globe - to join the GALA Board. Successful Board members demonstrate a history of engagement with GALA, a strong commitment to the association’s success, and have personal qualities such as open-mindedness, foresight, collaboration, and integrity.

Eligibility qualifications:

Minimum 2 years of GALA membership (need not be with the same member organization)
Mid- to senior-level professional with a minimum 5 years of industry experience
Employer’s endorsement and support
Demonstrable history of engagement with GALA through its programs and services
Commitment to GALA's mission and vision
Avoid conflicts of interest (e.g., serving as an officer with a similar non-profit organization, receiving compensation for products or services detrimental to GALA, etc.)
Acceptance of association policies as outlined

Board members devote 3-5 hours per month to GALA volunteer work, including subcommittees. The term of office is two years: 01 January 2024 through 31 December 2025.

Review the GALA Board Eligibility, Qualifications, and Duties document and Elections FAQ for more information.

The GALA Board of Directors is responsible for the strategic direction of the association. The committee convenes monthly (virtually) to discuss the association's goals and priorities. Additionally, Board members will participate on executive sub-committees such as governance and finance, and on member committees as a board liaison. Collectively, the board is responsible for the following:

Deciding matters of association policy, direction, and strategy
Identifying and addressing short- and long-term association opportunities, threats, and priorities
Establishing and dissolving committees, task forces, and working groups
Serving as board liaison on strategic member committees
Ensuring adequate financial resources are available and allocated; provide effective financial oversight
Reviewing and approving the annual budget
Hiring and regularly assessing the association’s Executive Director

During their 2-year tenure, board members should be prepared to devote time to GALA-related activities including:

Regularly scheduled virtual board meetings
Annual in-person board meeting (in conjunction with GALA's annual conference)
Other potential face-to-face meetings co-located with major industry events
Participation in member engagement initiatives and committees
Leadership on specific association initiatives

Candidate Nominations

Candidates are self-nominated. To submit your candidacy, log in to your GALA user profile and complete the self-nomination form. Please review and update your user profile before completing the form because some fields will populate with your profile information.

GALA’s Staff and Nominating Committee reviews all candidate submissions to ensure they meet minimum eligibility qualifications. The Nominating Committee may encourage a candidate to withdraw and/or postpone in certain circumstances. For example, if there is more than one candidate from a member company or if there is an over-representation of a particular member segment.

Applications are now closed, stay tuned for the candidate announcement and voting information.

Candidate statements will be published on the GALA website in November. GALA distributes one (1) ballot to the single voting contact at each GALA member company. The voting contact casts votes for three of the candidates. The three candidates with the most votes will be elected.

Review the GALA Board Eligibility, Qualifications, and Duties document and the Elections FAQ to learn more about GALA's Board Elections.

For queries about GALA's Board of Directors, submitting your candidacy, or the elections process, please contact Alicia Deadrick (GALA's Membership Manager and Board Elections point of contact) at [email protected].