Open Lunar’s Board is Growing! Help us Fill Two New Board Positions.
Contributor: Jacob MalthouseWe’re excited to share that Open Lunar is now recruiting for two Board positions! In March, the current Board of Directors conducted a thorough review of Open Lunar’s governance. As part of that process, the Board agreed to add two new directors. This will take our Board from five to seven members.
We’re excited to share that Open Lunar is now recruiting for two Board positions! In March, the current Board of Directors conducted a thorough review of Open Lunar’s governance. As part of that process, the Board agreed to add two new directors. This will take our Board from five to seven members.
The additional insight these Directors will bring aims to enhance the depth of our strategic discussions and guide our organization as we embark on an ambitious new innovation program that builds on our five years of experience nurturing global lunar talent to deliver unique research insights.
About the Open Lunar Board
Open Lunar’s Board provides strategic insight and fiduciary oversight in support of our mission to enable peaceful lunar settlement. The primary responsibility of Directors is to uphold their fiduciary duty to the organization. Other duties include oversight and selection of the Executive Director, the capacity to successfully fill either a development or audit seat and importantly a calm and focussed demeanour.
The Board meets quarterly, with three remote meetings and one in-person meeting that is combined with a retreat that includes senior staff and donors. There are regular interim interactions between Directors and staff. The time commitment is 2 hours per month in addition to the quarterly meetings, which are 2 hours long, and the retreat, which is 3 days annually. Directors serve for a three-year term (renewable).
The Open Lunar Board is also a professional family. We work closely together, challenge one another, and seek to bring out the best in ourselves and the organization they steward. This requires real intellectual and emotional commitment. We are looking for leaders who are passionate, courageous, and motivated by our mission.
The Attributes We’re Looking for from All of our Directors
The Board and staff have developed candidate experience profiles to help guide our selection process. This includes attributes that should be shared by all directors, as well as specific attributes that will apply to each director. We need all our Directors to have the following attributes:
Experience with international leadership and be comfortable with a ‘director as ambassador’ role. Meaning, they are willing to commit to speaking often and publicly about Open Lunar.
Demonstrated ability to strategically support the organization’s leadership to fundraise for non-profits. This means building relationships, either institutional or individual, that generate lasting financial contributions for the organization(s) that they serve in a leadership role as a Director, and working in partnership with the Executive Director to achieve fundraising goals.
A known public profile and a network that extends Open Lunar’s reach significantly.
Snapshots of the Experience Profile We are Looking for these positions
The Board has aligned on two snapshots that profile the experience that we are looking for: Sector Adjacent and Lunar Specific. These profiles were chosen because they will enhance the diversity of perspectives on our Board, based on the blend of experience that the Directors already has. So we are looking for additionality in the experience profiles of these new positions. Here’s what we’re looking for:
Sector Adjacent: This Director will represent a sector with expertise that is relevant to Lunar exploration, but that is under-engaged by or is adjacent to the space and/or lunar community. Priority sectors are:
- Sustainability, with emphasis on resource management and or collaborative governance models to implement effective resource management.
- Peace-building and/or conflict prevention or post-conflict reconciliation, which could also include the human rights, transparency, and journalism sectors.
- Internet and telecommunications and/or innovation with an emphasis on expertise in governance.
Lunar Specific: This director will represent the commercial or commerce-related lunar industry perspective. They will have experience in a C-level or director role at a lunar exploration company, or related, or will have been engaged in a regulator that is awarding contracts to companies and so understands the economics and policy constraints that exist in the market.
They will have an interest in and alignment with Open Lunar’s mission and experience working with and fundraising for non-profits. The Director will have experience or have worked with innovation organizations, like accelerators, and be familiar with the process of growing non-profit and/or for-profit organizations.
Our Timeline and How to Engage
We’re now recruiting for these Director roles. Open Lunar plans to present a shortlist to our existing Board of Directors at our next meeting, which is at the end of September. We plan to have our new Directors onboarded and ready to join for our December 2023 Board meeting.
We’d love to hear your recommendations for these roles! Please email me directly at: jacob@openlunar.org to nominate yourself or a colleague to join the Open Lunar Board and help us create a culture of stewardship on the Moon, and here on Earth.