In response to the recent resignation of the Guild's Executive Director, Paul Basista, a search committee was formed, charged with finding and hiring a new Chief Staff Officer. Many members have posted and emailed their ideas and suggestions about what they want in a new Chief Staff Officer. Your strong interest is appreciated and your ideas are welcome. Thank you for your support.

Here's what the committee has done so far:

• We have collected and absorbed a great deal of information on the process of assessing and communicating our needs, and finding the right person for the job. Based on what we've learned, a realistic timeline for having a new Executive Director in place is approximately four months. We have made recommendations to the Guild's Executive Committee about putting a transition team into place during this interim period to keep operations running as seamlessly as possible.
• We have considered several executive search firms and, after interviewing, selected JDG Associates, Ltd., of Washington DC. JDG Associates has placed executives in positions at many unions, associations, and Fortune 500 companies and are very impressive and thorough in their approach. They have experience working with Unions and understand the nuances of the Graphic Artist's Guild.
• We are currently contracting the terms of our agreement. Hiring professionals to conduct the search will insure that the job is done well, and it will allow our volunteer committee to continue living our lives and running our own businesses.
• A budget resolution was made with the Executive Committee and $25,000 has been authorized to undertake the search.
• An Executive Director job description, updated for the new millennium, has been developed and is available (in draft form) to those interested. JDG Associates will work with us to finalize the job announcement which they will begin posting publicly within a week or so.
• The process will begin with a series of interviews with Staff and Search Committee Members to fully flush out the profile of the candidate desired. The process of reviewing candidates will take four or five weeks beginning around mid-October. We hope to be interviewing final candidates by mid-December with our new CSO in place right after the first of the year.

A PDF of the Executive Director description is available at right for download.