Last month, we announced that the CoCo would hold its inaugural elections. We invited any North American CoCo member to run for election, and 8 people responded to this call for action. For the last two weeks, CoCo members around the world had the chance to vote for the people whose vision embodies where our membership wants to see the CoCo go. About a quarter of the roughly 240 CoCo members cast votes. I was the sole candidate for Executive Director and am honored to step into that position. Among my early priorities are to steer the CoCo through legal incorporation and to get our teams up and running. The more exciting part of the ballot were the candidates for Board of Directors. I’m thrilled to congratulate and introduce the inaugural CoCo board!

These seven people form the Board of Directors and will serve one-year terms. They bring a diverse set of skills and experience, from finance and design to organizational development, marketing, and business acumen. The board functions as the CoCo’s principal decision-making body, and the rest of this blog will give you a preview of what the board and our five teams will work on in the months to come.

The board will solidify the organization’s foundation by adopting the CoCo’s governing bylaws, permanently ensuring that we have a democratic and representative organization. I’ll be working with the board to complete our legal incorporation at the state and federal levels, which will provide tax-exempt status for our donors and supporters. 

The board will also oversee the five teams. I thank all the people who have volunteered to serve on teams, and welcome anyone else in the community who would like to contribute. Serving on a team is as much or as little time commitment as you choose. As the teams spin up and take on new areas of work, I look forward to seeing their energy and ideas translate into new resources for players and directors, engaging social media content, innovations for running tournaments, and streamlined processes for handling everything from internal financial audits to membership and technology development. We have a long list of ideas already. Some of those ideas are fun, like growing the game and reaching new first-time players through streaming and other methods. Some ideas are less glamorous, but super important, like writing a conflict of interest policy and a records retention policy to ensure that the organization’s leaders properly document their decisions for transparency and consistently act in the organization’s best interests, not for their own personal financial gain. 

The next year will be a busy time for the behind-the-scenes work that will enable the CoCo to keep growing and expanding. We hope that the year to come includes a return to safe, in-person tournament play in North America. In the meantime, thanks from the bottom of my heart to every volunteer and supporter who has made it possible for the CoCo to provide a welcoming place for Scrabblers around the world this year.