The elected officials of the Association shall be a President, who shall be the chief executive officer of the Association; a Vice President; a Secretary, all of whom must reside within a three-hundred-mile radius of the National Headquarters during their entire term of office and a Director from each designated Region. In an active region, the Region President serves as both the President and a Director for the National Board of Directors. (Note: The activation of a Region will move the election responsibility for that office from the national level to the regional level.) These officials shall be elected by the membership by mail or electronically transmitted ballot furnished by National Headquarters, with the results announced by the Tellers Committee during the Annual Meeting of the Members at a date and time indicated in the published agenda for the meeting in those years a National election is held. No National elected official shall hold another elected National, Region or Chapter office concurrently.
The National president shall appoint a Treasurer, who must reside within a three-hundred-mile radius of the National headquarters. Such appointment must have the concurrence of the National BOD. With similar concurrence of the BOD, the following may be additionally appointed: Chaplains, Historians, Sergeants-at-Arms, one or more Assistant Vice Presidents, Assistant Secretaries, and/or Assistant Treasurers, a Property Control Officer, Parliamentarian and any other officers as he shall deem appropriate. Furthermore, they may employ such other officers and staff including an Executive Director (who need not be members of the Association and who may receive regular compensation for their services) as it shall be deemed desirable. Such officers and staff shall have the authority and perform the duties prescribed by the National BOD.
In an inactive region, the senior official is the Region Director. The Region Director shall – as soon as is practicable – appoint a Deputy Region Director to assist in managing the Region. Unless sooner able, a Region Director is required to affect such appointment of a Deputy Director by the end of the ninetieth (90th) day following the date he is sworn in as Region Director. Should the chapters of a region choose to activate the region, Pro Tempore officers will be selected at the formation meeting and the National Headquarters immediately informed. They will work in conjunction with the Region Director towards a region Annual Meeting of the Members at which time the elected Region President will replace the Region Director as the senior representative of the region. The officers of an active region will be an elected President and Vice President and an appointed Secretary and Treasurer. These officials shall be elected/appointed at the Annual Region Meeting of the Members. Should an active region become inactive, the Region President shall serve as the Region Director until the next national election. The Region COP may appoint such other officers and one or more Assistant Vice Presidents, Secretaries and/or Treasurers as it shall deem desirable, such officers to have the authority and perform the duties assigned by the Region COP. No elected Region official shall hold another elected Region, National or Chapter office concurrently except the Region Presidents who are automatically members of the National BOD and COP during their term as Region President. In the event that a Region becomes inactive as aforesaid, the Region Director (formerly Region President) shall – as soon as is practicable – appoint a Deputy Region Director to assist in managing the Region. In this event, the said Deputy may be the previous Vice President, but the Region Director may choose any Member of his or her region to be the Deputy. Unless sooner able, a Region Director is required to affect such appointment of a Deputy Director by the end of the ninetieth (90th) day following the date he ceases serving as President and continues serving as Region Director. In the absence of such an appointment, the former Region Vice President shall assume the duties of Deputy Region Director.
Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the following:
a. Any sitting Region Director shall have the authority to appoint or remove his or her Deputy Region Director, with or without cause, and shall report any such changes to the Board of Directors within five calendar days.
b. The Region Director may authorize the Deputy Director – in writing, on a case-by-case basis – to utilize Regional Funds, pursuant to the terms of Bylaw IX, Section 12 of these Bylaws.
The officers of an active chapter will be an elected President and Vice President and an appointed Secretary and Treasurer. These officials shall be elected/appointed at the date and place as promulgated in the Chapter Bylaws. The Chapter officials may appoint such other officers as deemed desirable. Such officers are to have the authority and perform the duties assigned by the chapter officials. No elected Chapter official shall hold another elected Chapter, Region or National office concurrently except the Chapter President who is automatically a member of the Region COP during their term(s) as a Chapter President.
a. Elected officials of the Association who are elected under the provisions of SECTIONS 1, 3 and 4 of this Bylaw shall serve in their respective offices to which elected, as follows:
(1) National officials elected under the provisions of SECTION 1 shall serve for a term of approximately two (2) years, depending upon the date an Annual Meeting of the Members occurs in the year a National election is held.
(2) Region and Chapter officials elected under the provisions of SECTIONS 3 and 4 shall serve for a term of no more than two (2) years, depending on the Chapter/Region Bylaws and the date a Region Annual Meeting of the Members or chapter meeting for the election of officers occurs.
b. All officials shall be installed in office in an appropriate ceremony immediately following announcement of the results of their respective elections whenever possible. Installment of officials may be at a time, date or place other than the election if published in advance of the election and approved by the voting body. Officials shall continue in their respective offices until their successors are elected and installed in office.
c. Officers who are elected/appointed to fill vacancies in office, or who succeed to a vacant office, as provided for in SECTION 6 of this Bylaw, shall take office on and from the date of the election/appointment or succession and shall continue in office until their successors, elected/appointed under the provisions of SECTIONS 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Bylaw and SECTION 1 of BYLAW VII, are installed in office.
d. Officers holding appointed positions serve at the pleasure of the appointing official. Such officers shall serve for the duration of the term of office of the appointing official unless sooner relieved or they resign. Appointed positions must be formally filled through appointment or reappointment at the start of each appointing official's term of office.,
e. Elected officials named in the Bylaws are eligible to succeed themselves, but no elected official shall serve more than two (2) full consecutive terms in the same office.
a. In the event of the death, resignation, removal through disqualification or otherwise of any of the officers named in this Bylaw, the office which they have held shall be deemed to be vacant and a successor thereto shall be elected/appointed by the appropriate governing body from among the Associations' membership, except for the office of President, in which case, the Vice President shall succeed to the presidency, with full rights, authority and responsibility of the office, and a new Vice President will be elected. If one or more Assistant Vice Presidents are in office, they shall be given precedence for succession into the vacated position, but not necessarily in order of their appointment.
b. Resignation from any of the elective/appointed offices in these Bylaws, for any reason other than those mentioned in a above, shall be made in writing to the appropriate governing body, and acceptance or rejection of the resignation shall be made by a majority vote of that governing body present in a meeting properly assembled.
c. Vacancies occurring as mentioned in a and b above shall be filled by election/appointment at the next meeting of the appropriate governing body. Voting shall be limited to the membership present only, and the candidate receiving the majority vote shall be declared elected/appointed to the vacant office.
d. Candidate Qualifications: Only regular members of the Association, in good standing, shall be eligible for nomination to, or to hold any office in the Association.
e. Any elected official unable or unwilling to carry out his or her legal duties and responsibilities or charged with conduct unbecoming an officer or other such charges that will bring embarrassment and/or disgrace upon himself, the Warrant Officer Corps and the Association shall be investigated by a committee. Such committee being composed of three or more elected or appointed officials, one administration level above his position, i.e., Regional officials on committee regarding chapter officials and National officials on committee regarding Regional officials. If the charged official is at the National level, the committee shall be composed of other National elected officials. After completion of the said investigation, the committee recommendation with full documentation to support the recommendation shall be forwarded to the National President for distribution to and action by the National Board of Directors. The BOD action, based on the seriousness of the charges, can include removal from office, termination of membership or other action deemed appropriate by the BOD.