Henry:

There are certain circumstances under which staff from other organizations
serving as trustees could be very beneficial.  I'm thinking in particular
of small museums and historical societies founded and governed by people
with little or no professional museum experience.  In such cases,
professional museum folks from larger (more well established) museums
might be the only or best advocates at the trustee level for staff
support.  When I worked for a small museum, I often wished for a trustee
who actually knew what the day to day realities were all about!

I think conflicts of interest can be avoided by outlining most
responsibilities and "iffy" areas at the outset of the term of office, and
by limiting the potential trustee pool (eg. you don't want to end up with
such trustees who are at the same professional level as your staff and who
might always second-guess staff decisions).

-Melanie Solomon


>A hypothetical question.
>
>What about museums which have museum staffers from other places as
>trustees; ie., a director, educator, or curator, etc. of one museum who
>serves on the board of another.  I see it as a positive example of
resource
>sharing, but are there pitfalls, potential conflicts of interest, or
other
>legal ramifications?  My guess is no, but I'd like a bit of feedback.
>
>What's the feeling out there?
>
>TIA,
>HBC