UWSA Director role and responsibilities

The UWSA Board of Directors helps set the direction of the Association and ensures it remains financially sustainable, accountable, and focused on serving members. Directors bring their experiences, perspectives, and ideas to decisions that affect staff across the University.

Serving on the board is an opportunity to:

• Have a voice in the future of the UWSA
• Influence decisions that affect staff
• Develop leadership, governance, and strategic planning skills
• Connect with colleagues from across the University
• Gain experience serving on a not-for-profit board
• Help build a stronger workplace for staff at Waterloo

No previous board experience is required. Training, onboarding, and ongoing support are provided throughout your term.

The Board of Directors is focused on governing the Association and delegates responsibility for UWSA operations to the President, who manages the UWSA's employees, member services, advocacy to the University on behalf of staff, and more.

The Board of Directors is responsible for the governance of the Association. That means focusing on the organization's long-term success rather than day-to-day operations. The board sets strategic direction, provides financial oversight, manages risk, and ensures the Association meets its legal and governance obligations.

As a director, you will:

• Help establish and monitor strategic priorities
• Review and approve governing policies
• Provide financial and risk oversight
• Participate in board and committee discussions
• Bring staff perspectives to board decisions
• Contribute to the long-term success of the Association

The board works as a team. Individual directors do not make decisions independently. The board's authority comes from making decisions collectively.

Director terms are for three years, but staff on shorter contracts are welcome to run; directors end their terms early for many reasons.

Board meetings are the third Wednesday of each month, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Directors are expected to:

• Attend at least 75% of board and assigned committee meetings
• Review meeting materials in advance
• Participate actively in discussions and decision-making
• Complete board orientation and training activities

The University provides release time for directors as part of its University Service Guideline. Directors receive one day each month to attend to UWSA business, with additional release time (1–2 days) for officers. (Keep reading below for more about the time commitment, officer roles, and more.)

Directors and officers have specific obligations under the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA). Directors are essentially legally responsible for the association's financial stability and all of its operations, even though they don't participate in day-to-day operations directly. 

Notably, the board’s obligations are not to members directly, but to the association itself as a corporate entity: its financial situation, its legal obligations, its reputation, and its continued existence. Directors always have to do what’s best for the association. Sometimes the best interests of the association might conflict with the interests of members, or your own, and directors need to put the association first.

In legal terms, this responsibility to the association is called “fiduciary duty.”

Directors’ fiduciary duty includes:

• Duty of care – This requires directors to attend meetings, prepare to make informed decisions, and participate honestly.
• Duty of loyalty – This refers to putting the association’s interests first, avoiding conflicts of interest, and maintaining confidentiality.
• Duty of obedience – This is about following laws, by-laws, and policy.

UWSA provides directors and officers liability insurance to protect individuals from legal action resulting from their work on behalf of the association.

The only strict requirements for being a director are that you must be a member of the UWSA and you must not be disqualified under the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act.

Some of the most important qualities in a director include:

• An ability to think strategically and focus on long-term goals.
• An interest in contributing to the UWSA’s strategic direction and policy development.
• A commitment and capacity to engage in collaborative work.
• A willingness to share their opinions and lived experiences while holding space for the perspectives and experiences of others.

It’s important that the board as a whole has members with skills in meeting facilitation, financial acumen, organization, advocacy, project management, relationship development, leadership, and communication, but no individual director needs to have all of these skills.

Valuable experience

The UWSA values experience as a member of an equity-seeking group, particularly candidates who are racialized, Indigenous, persons with a disability, and members of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities who can apply this experience to advocating for others.

Experience with not-for-profit governance, strategic planning, and policy development is helpful, but is not required. It is also helpful to be familiar with the governance structures of the university and policies affecting staff, especially if you are interested in sitting on SRC, but training on these is available.

Skills for officer roles

Certain skills can be quite useful for officer roles (secretary, treasurer, chair) but are not required for directors in general. 

• Document management 
• Budgeting, Excel, estimating
• Setting agendas and chairing meetings
• Keeping track of multiple issues and tasks