In search of a President

[Phil Makepeace]

I think a good way of judging someone's character is during a decent pub session. A couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to be at such a session where CJ was present and he came across as thoroughly friendly, knowledgeable (in the life sense) and generous in both spirit and rounds. I'd back him.

[Greg Breed]

I'd back CJ for president as well. As many others have mentioned, there are no other potential candidates either willing or being put forward as a suggestion.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Mike Gunn said "I would support CJ too and will try and get him nominated through the organisations I'm involved with (SCCA, SCCU, Border League). The other members of these organisations may not agree, of course!"

Does it matter if they disagree?

Whenever I've met CJ, he's been fine. He actually plays the game and has an interest in it, and his "celebrity status" would make publicity easier.

This thread has certainly thrown up some interesting potential candidates, which must be a good thing.

[John Upham]

I'd back CJ for president as well. As many others have mentioned, there are no other potential candidates either willing or being put forward as a suggestion.

Of course, we do not know if the incumbent board are bringing forward a tame candidate that will not rock the boat and agree with everything that FIDE wants.

Don't be surprised if a candidate pops out of the woodwork to support Gerry to continue his trips abroad and agree with FIDE.

I'm hoping that Nigel will make himself available as FIDE Delegate. That would give us at least two intelligent board members which is a start!

Just imagine if the new Director of Marketing had drive and imagination and wanted to get things done!

[JustinHorton]

Some people wont like him or want him simply because he is a celebrity!

Or because he's obviously 100 times cleverer then them.

Well, that depends what you think "clever" is, I suppose.

(That's not a point about CJ de Mooi, by the way, or his candidacy: it's a point about definitions.)

[Alex Holowczak]

Some people wont like him or want him simply because he is a celebrity!

Or because he's obviously 100 times cleverer then them.

Well, that depends what you think "clever" is, I suppose.

(That's not a point about CJ de Mooi, by the way, or his candidacy: it's a point about definitions.)

True. I mean in the academic sense.

[Ian Lamb]

can ayone tell me if Dave Norwood is willing to stand for this job please.

[Carl Hibbard]

The ECF site quotes:-

"The April 2009 Finance Council Meeting discussed the merits of moving to a structure with a figurehead President, a non-executive Chairman and a Chief Executive. The Board proposes to take this forward through a formal paper at the AGM: if this receives general support, appropriate changes to the Articles will be proposed in April 2010 to enable the October 2010 elections to take place on the new basis."

The purpose of a Chairman in this scenario is what exactly?

[John Upham]

can ayone tell me if Dave Norwood is willing to stand for this job please.

No, because no-one is prepared to contact him.

[John Philpott]

I would like to comment on two recent postings on this thread.

John Upham wrote

I'm hoping that Nigel will make himself available as FIDE Delegate. That would give us at least two intelligent board members which is a start!

But the FIDE Delegate per se is not a member of the Board: Gerry Walsh who currently holds that position is a Board member only because he also holds the post of President.

Carl Hibbard wrote

The purpose of a Chairman in this scenario is what exactly?

I was not present in person at the debate at the Finance Council, but as suggested by the minutes the key point is surely, in the context of a purely Prestige President playing no part in Board or Council meetings (which is what we effectively had in the past with Steve Davis), to have a degree of oversight over the Chief Executive. This is in line with good corporate governance principles: paragraph A2.1 of the Combined Code states

The roles of chairman and chief executive should not be exercised by the
same individual.

Whether what is appropriate for a listed company in this regard is appropriate for the ECF is a matter of opinion, but it seems perfectly reasonable for this to be debated at the AGM. It should also not be overlooked that any given Chief Executive (or indeed President) does not necessarily possess outstanding chairmanship skills. Having attended Council meetings over a great many years I can certainly remember some in the past which were not particularly well chaired. Council meetings might offer a more satisfactory experience all round if they were run by a really good chairman who was not performing executive functions for the ECF and was therefore less likely to come under personal criticism from delegates.

[E Michael White]

Has anyone suggested approaching Richard Farleigh, from the previous TV series of Dragons Den. I believe he has a past FIDE rating and played for Monaco in a Chess Olympiad. He mentions chess on a couple of pages in his investement strategy book, as giving him confidence in some respects of decision making.

[Alex Holowczak]

Apparently rated 2184 Elo. He's been inactive for much of the last 10 years though.

[cjdemooi]

I'm happy to stand if people think I could be of any use (at the very least from a publicity point of view) and if I was a popular choice for players at all levels of the game.

I will be attending the AGM in October but if you have any thoughts in the interim, I'd be interested to hear them.

CJ

[Sean Hewitt]

I'm happy to stand if people think I could be of any use (at the very least from a publicity point of view) and if I was a popular choice for players at all levels of the game.

I will be attending the AGM in October but if you have any thoughts in the interim, I'd be interested to hear them.

CJ

Good to see you posting here CJ.

I guess the two obvious questions to be asked are

1) Why do you want to stand for the post?!

and

2) What do you plan to do if you were to be elected?

[Laurie Roberts]

Assume that all candidates standing have to be current ECF members and there are no restrictions on how long you have had to be a member? CJ: Are you an ECF member? (just wanting to make sure no candidates find they are disqualified on a 'technicality')