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