Committees
TVMA has 24 committees made up TVMA members. TVMA committees are the grassroots source of TVMA's policy and organizational directions. Visit https://www.tvma.org/About-Us/Committees to learn more and sign up for a committee.
Committees have a minimum of 9 members and a maximum of 50 members. Committee appointmens are for one year terms with no term limits unless otherwise specified in the Bylaws or Policies.
Committee Chair and Vice Chair
Each committee elects a Chair and Vice Chair and submits the names of the elected Chair and Vice Chair to the President-Elect for approval. Unless otherwise specified in the Bylaws and Policies, the Committee Chair And Vice Chair are members retained from the previous year who each serve a term of two years. They may be re-elected to annual two-year term. It is possible to have two Co-Chairs in lieu of one Chair.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is made up of representatives from 26 Districts as well as one TVMA Senior Student Representative from each of the AVMA-COE accredited veterinary schools in the state, one LVT representative, and one TVMF representative.
The Board of Directors:
- Elects the Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Electes the TVMA Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the AVMA
- Ratifies the appointment of the TVMA Treasurer
- Ratifies nominees to special memberships
- Acts on proposed Bylaws and Policy amendments
- Acts on matters referred by committees or the Executive Committee
- Performs functions as directed by the Chairman of the Board
- Removes any officer from office with or without cause as prescribed in the Bylaws
- Selects the sites of the TVMA annual meetings and CE seminars
- Meets at least twice annually
- Creates various membership classes
Board Directors keep their constituents informed, contact non-members in their districts to encourage their membership, contact delinquent members, contact legislators as needed, chair committees when selected to do so, and provide the Executive Director with the name of an alternate to serve in their place within 30 days of election. District Directors serve for a period of 3 years with terms beginning at the next TVMA annual meeting following their election and are eligible for re-election at the end of their term for up to two consecutive terms.
Board Directors represent the geographic regions of Texas as well as industrial medicine, laboratory medicine, equine medicine, large animal message, shelter medicine, and two at-large District Directors, selected from all districts.
To qualify as District Director, the candidate must have been a voting member of TVMA in good standing for at least 3 years immediately preceding the date of nomination and reside or work within the geographic boundaries of the district or be a representative of a non-geographic district, including the two At-Large Districts. Nominations must be submitted in writing on a form to the TVMA office with 2 signatures from members of the respective district. Nominations must be received by the TVMA office no later than September 30 of the calendar year in which the election is held.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is the administrative body of TVMA with complete charge of its property and financial affairs. The Executive Committee is made up of the officers of the association, which are the President, President-Elect, Chairman of the Board, Past President, Treasurer, and 4 Council Chairs. The charges of the Executive Committee include:
- Carrying out the provisions of the TVMA Bylaws and Policies
- Appointment, employment and termination of an Executive Director
- Reporting at each regular session of the Board of Directors
- Acting on membership categories as needed
- Serving as members of the Government Relations Committee
- Nominating the Treasurer, for ratification by the Board of Directors
- Serving as non-voting members of the Board of Directors
Officers are installed at the annual meeting. Council Chairs serve two year terms of office and all other officers and serve one year terms.
The Board of Directors may remove any officer from officer with or without cause by a three quarter vote of all its members.
View the current slate of officers at https://www.tvma.org/About-Us/Executive-Committee.
Council Chairs
There are four Council Chairs, one for each of the four TVMA Councils: Association Affairs, External Affairs, Professional Advancement, and Veterinary Practice. Each Council Chair is an officer of the Association and voting member of the Executive Committee.
Council Chairs:
- Serve as presiding officer over meetings of their Council
- In collaboration with committee chairs, make committee appointments
- Serve as members of the Government Relations Committee and Budget & Finance Committee
- Perform any other duty as assigned by the President
Council Chairs serve for a term of two years and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms in office. The terms of office of the four Council Chairs are staggered, with External Affairs and Professional Advancement beggining and ending on odd-numbered years and Association Affairs and Veterinary Practice beginning and ending on even-numbered years.
Nominations for Council Chairs must be submitted in writing to the TVMA office by two voting members of the Council and must be received no later than 45 days prior to the Annual Conference of the calendar year in which the election is held. Election of Council Chairs is ratified by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
To qualify, candidates for Council Chair must have served at least two years as a District Director and currently serve on a committee under one of the four Councils.
Treasurer
The Treasurer is nominated by a majority vote of the Executive Committee and ratified by the Board of Directors at the annual meeting.
The Treasurer:
- Is custodian of all funds of TVMA, responsible for the proper accounting of all receipts and disbursements
- Reviews the financial records of TVMA monthly and make reports to the Executive Committee and Board of Directors
- Has TVMA's fiscal records audited annually
- Co-signs checks with the President or Executive Director
- Turns over all funds and records to their successor
- Serves as Co-chair of the Budget and Finance Committee
- Serves as Chair of the Investment Board
- Serves as member of the Government Relations Committee
- Serves as a non-voting member of the Audit Committee
Chairman of the Board
The Chairman of the Board of Directors is nominated and elected by and from the Board of Directors at its annual meeting.
The Chairman:
- Presides at all meetings of the Board of Directors
- Develops agendas to guide each meeting of the Board of Directors
- Serves as a member of the Government Relations Committee and Budget & Finance Committee
- Oversees the committee function of TVMA governance, including working with other officers and TVA staff to facilitate committee chairs, assisting the President-Elect in formulating annual charges to each committee, commnicating with committee chairs to ensure that committees are fully responsive to the duties and responsibilities outlined in their charges.
- Informs the Board of Directors on TVMA issues and initiatives
- Represents TVMA at relevant national, regional and local meetings.
To qualify for the office of Chairman of the Board, the candidate must have served at least one year as Council Chair and must currently be serving as Council Chair or as a District Director.
President Elect
The Chairman of the Board of Directors is automatically nominated to the office of President-Elect upon the completion of one year of service in the office of Chairman. The President-Elect succeeds to the office of President.
The President-Elect:
- Performs the duties of the President in their absence
- Chairs the Government Relations Committee
- Serves as a voting member of the Budget & Finance Committee
- Appoints a representative to serve on the Budget & Finance Committee
- Maintains Council structure and continuity of Board representation
- Approves the appointment of all committee chairs and vice-chairs
- Represents TVMA at relevant national, regional and local meetings
- Reports to the Board of Directors on current activities and upcoming plans
- Performs such other duties as prescribed by President.
Any veterinarian who is a member in good standing of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association my seek election to the office of President-Elect by submitting written nominations from at least 25 voting members of TVMA with the requirement that those individuals making the nominations have residence in at least thirteen districts.
Nominees to the office of President-Elect must furnish their acceptance of the nomination, no later than 45 days prior to the Annual Conference in the calendar year in which the election is held, to the Executive Director to be placed on the ballot. If no one is nominated for the office of President-Elect, the member who has just completed a term of office as Chairman of the Board of Directors shall be seated as President-Elect without election.
To qualify for the office of President-Elect, the candidate must have been a TVMA member for at least 5 years immediately preceding the date of candidacy and must have either served one year as Chairman of the Board or receive nomination to the President-Elect from 25 voting members as described above.
President
The President-Elect succeeds to the office of President.
The President is the chief elected executive officer of TVMA and:
- Chairman of the Executive Committee
- Serves with the Treasurer as Co-Chair of the Budget & Finance Committee
- Promptly fills in vacancies in committee membership
- Reports to the Board of Directors at their regular meetings describing all actions and decisions considered by the Executive Committee since the most recent meeting of the Board of Directors
- Serves as a member of all committees with full power to supervise and direct their work. However, the President is not empowered with authority to suppress committee reports, that authority being delegated to the Board of Directors
- Serves as a member of the Government Relations Committee
- Appoints Task Forces as needed
- Represents TVMA at relevant national, regional and local meetings
Past President
The Immediate Past President:
- Provides leadership to any task forces which they appointed when President in order to complete any unfinished business remaining from the previous year
- Serves as a member of the Government Relations Committee and the Budget & Finance Committee
- Performs other duties as prescribed by President
- Serves as a member of the Audit Committee