IEEE Member
and Geographic
Activities
Operations Manual
2023

IEEE MGA
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA

This document incorporates changes to the MGA Operations Manualapproved by the IEEE MGA Board through 17 June 2023.

1.0
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6.1

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 4
IEEE INCORPORATION ................................................................................................. 4
INSTITUTE GOVERNMENT ............................................................................................... 4
OBJECTIVES .............................................................................................................. 4
USE OF THE TERM MEMBERSHIP....................................................................................... 5
MEMBER AND GEOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES BOARD .................................................... 6
MGA VISION ............................................................................................................ 6
MGA MISSION .......................................................................................................... 6
MEMBERSHIP ............................................................................................................. 7
OFFICERS ................................................................................................................ 7
MGA VICE CHAIRS ................................................................................................... 11
REGION DELEGATE/ DIRECTOR ..................................................................................... 13
ZONE REPRESENTATIVE .............................................................................................. 14
MGA COMMITTEE CHAIRS ........................................................................................... 15
MGA REPRESENTATIVES ............................................................................................. 16
MGA BOARD MEETINGS ............................................................................................. 17
VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES AND THE IEEE CODE OF ETHICS .............................................. 19
ADDRESSING GEOGRPAHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT MEMBER AND VOLUNTEER COMPLAINTS .............. 21
MGA FINANCIAL MATTERS ................................................................................... 23
BUDGET CYCLE DATES ............................................................................................... 23
ADMINISTRATION OF MGA FINANCES .............................................................................. 23
SUPPORT OF MGA ACTIVITIES ...................................................................................... 24
ADMINISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHIC UNIT ALLOCATIONS AND REBATES ........................................ 24
MGA COMMITTEES ................................................................................................ 31
MGA COMMITTEES.................................................................................................... 31
COORDINATION OF MGA COMMITTEES ............................................................................ 33
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION COMMITTEE .......................................................................... 34
FINANCE COMMITTEE ................................................................................................. 36
GEOGRAPHIC UNIT OPERATIONS SUPPORT COMMITTEE ......................................................... 37
IEEE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE ........................................................................ 38
IT COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ................................................................. 41
MEMBER ENGAGEMENT AND LIFE CYCLE COMMITTEE............................................................. 42
MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT AND RECOVERY COMMITTEE........................................................ 43
NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE .................................................................. 44
POTENTIALS EDITORIAL BOARD ..................................................................................... 46
SECTIONS CONGRESS COMMITTEE.................................................................................. 48
STUDENT ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE .................................................................................. 50
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE ................................................................................. 54
IEEE ADMISSION AND ADVANCEMENT COMMITTEE .............................................................. 55
MEMBER BENEFITS PORTFOLIO ADVISORY COMMITTEE .......................................................... 56
IEEE LIFE MEMBERS COMMITTEE ................................................................................... 58
IEEE.TV ADVISORY COMMITTEE ..................................................................................... 60
VTOOLS COMMITTEE .................................................................................................. 61
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING (WIE) COMMITTEE ............................................................. 62
MGA TRAINING COMMITTEE......................................................................................... 67
MGA OPERATIONS MANUAL COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE .......................................................... 68
CHAPTER OPERATIONS SUPPORT COMMITTEE ..................................................................... 69
MGA OPERATIONS COMMITTEE ............................................................................ 72
MGA OPERATIONS COMMITTEE CHARTER ......................................................................... 72
MGA ASSEMBLY .................................................................................................... 74
COMPOSITION ......................................................................................................... 74

MGA Operations Manual, Section 1

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6.2
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6.5
6.6
7.0
7.1
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7.3
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8.0
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
9.0
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8
9.9
9.10
9.11
10.0

FUNCTIONS............................................................................................................. 74
MEETINGS .............................................................................................................. 74
QUORUM/ACTIONS OF THE MGA ASSEMBLY ...................................................................... 75
MGA ASSEMBLY APPOINTMENT AND SELECTION PROCEDURES ................................................. 75
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ..................................................................................... 76
MGA NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS PROCESS ............................................ 77
MGA NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE ........................................................... 77
MGA N&A AND SELECTION/APPOINTMENT PROCESS ........................................................... 77
REGIONAL DELEGATE-ELECT/DIRECTOR-ELECT NOMINATIONS................................................. 78
VACANCIES............................................................................................................. 79
MEMBER AND GEOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES AWARDS ............................................... 81
MGA AWARDS AND RECOGNITION PROGRAM ..................................................................... 81
HIERARCHY OF AWARDS.............................................................................................. 81
GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW AWARDS....................................... 82
MGA AWARD APPROVAL PROCESS ................................................................................. 84
GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS ............................................................... 86
REGIONS ............................................................................................................... 87
ZONES .................................................................................................................. 93
AREAS .................................................................................................................. 93
GEOGRAPHIC COUNCILS.............................................................................................. 94
SECTIONS .............................................................................................................. 99
SUBSECTIONS ....................................................................................................... 106
CHAPTERS ............................................................................................................ 109
STUDENT BRANCHES................................................................................................ 116
STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTERS ..................................................................................... 119
AFFINITY GROUPS ................................................................................................... 121
STUDENT BRANCH AFFINITY GROUPS ............................................................................ 127
CONFERENCES .................................................................................................... 129

10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7
10.8

PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING A CONFERENCE ...................................................................... 129
TYPES OF CONFERENCES ........................................................................................... 129
CONFERENCE BUDGETS............................................................................................. 129
CONFERENCE INVOLVEMENT ....................................................................................... 130
ORGANIZING A CONFERENCE ...................................................................................... 133
CONFERENCE FILING INFORMATION .............................................................................. 133
INSURANCE FORMS ................................................................................................. 133
COOPERATION OF TECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL & GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS IN CONFERENCES
133
10.9 MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING/AGREEMENT (MOU/MOA).............................................. 134
10.10
CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS ................................................................................... 135
11.0
11.1
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12.1

MGA PUBLICATIONS........................................................................................... 136
OBJECTIVES OF GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT PUBLICATIONS ....................................... 136
REVISIONS TO THE MGA OPERATIONS MANUAL ................................................ 138
OPERATIONS MANUAL REVISIONS ................................................................................ 138

MGA Operations Manual, Section 1

page 3

1.0

INTRODUCTION

1.1

IEEE INCORPORATION _____________________________________The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) is incorporated under the
New York State Not-for-Profit Corporation Law. The text of that law changes from time totime; the IEEE Executive Director should be consulted prior to taking any action, which
relates to that law.

1.2

INSTITUTE GOVERNMENT ____________________________________The policies, procedures, and regulations by which IEEE and IEEE Member and Geographic
Activities (MGA) are governed are embodied in the following documents. The IEEE
Certificate of Incorporation legally establishes IEEE. The IEEE Constitution, which can beapproved and amended only by the voting members of IEEE, contains IEEE's fundamental
objectives and organization. Implementation of the Constitutional provisions, in specificorganizational structures and procedures, is entrusted to IEEE Bylaws, which are approved
and amended by the IEEE Board of Directors (BoD). The IEEE Policies contain more detailed
statements of specific policies, objectives, and procedures which are approved by the IEEE
Board of Directors. The purpose of the MGA Operations Manual published herein, is toprovide more detailed statements of specific Regional Activities' objectives and procedures
than are appropriate for inclusion in the other four documents. Statements of MGA
operations are approved and amended by the IEEE MGA Board.
The precedence of these documents should be remembered by all those engaged in IEEE
management duties. IEEE Bylaws shall not be in conflict with the New York Not-For-Profit
Corporation Law, the IEEE Certificate of Incorporation, or the IEEE Constitution. IEEE
Policies must conform to the provisions of all these documents. The MGA Operations Manual
shall conform to and not conflict with the provisions of the IEEE governing documents cited
above. If, having consulted these documents, questions of procedure or interpretation
remain, inquiries should be made to the Managing Director – MGA or the Executive Directorof IEEE.

1.3

OBJECTIVES ____________________________________________To achieve IEEE objectives, Regional activities are directed toward developing andmaintaining, through sound administrative practices, an organization of geographicallydefined member organizational units committed to the advancement of the theory andpractice of electrical, electronics, communications, and computer engineering, as well as
computer science, the allied branches of engineering, and the related arts and sciences andtechnologies and their application. Subject to applicable laws, it is the policy of IEEE toaccept as members technically qualified individuals of any nationality.
To accomplish this objective, IEEE:
A. Encourages establishment of organizational units, such as Sections, Chapters,
Geographic Councils, Student Branches, and Affinity Groups, to provide a local forum
for members to meet and exchange views on technical, educational, professional, orother areas of interest.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 1

page 4

B. Ensures that members are aware of and have access to the two-way channel ofcommunication that is maintained – via the Region, Section, Chapter, Geographic
Council, Student Branch, and Affinity Group networks – between the members andthe IEEE’s elected and appointed officials.
C. Encourages the utilization of existing or development of new educational activities incooperation with the Educational Activities Board in meeting the educational needsof the membership.
D. Encourages close cooperation between the Student Branches and Sections.
E. Encourages holding technical meetings and conferences at the Region, Section,
Geographic Council, or Chapter level, either on an individual or co-sponsored basis.
F. Encourages members, as private individuals, to cooperate with representatives ofgovernment and national and international organizations to provide assistance inIEEE’s fields of interests.
G. Offers members the opportunity to become involved in professional activities.
H. Encourages the Regions, Sections, Geographic Councils, Chapters, Student Branches,
and Affinity Groups to promote IEEE membership.
Revisions to the Objectives, as contained in this manual, require the review and approvalof the IEEE Board of Directors, using the process in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-300.4(5).

1.4

USE OF THE TERM MEMBERSHIP ________________________________

Unless otherwise stated, the term membership as used in this Operations Manual, refers toIEEE membership, not including Society membership, Standards Association membership,
and Women In Engineering membership.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 1

page 5

2.0

MEMBER AND GEOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES BOARD(In the following sections, the functions, duties and responsibilities are not intended to belimiting.)
It is the intent of the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board,committees, and staff to operate within an active strategic framework describedby the following, which is continuously monitored and may be updated as with allelements of this MGA Operations Manual.

2.1

MGA VISION ___________________________________________MGA will continue to provide quality member opportunities for continuous engagement
Guiding Principles• Membership is a core value of IEEE.
• Members individually and collectively create IEEE’s future.
• IEEE enhances members’ future.
• Volunteer engagement is a key component of IEEEs success.

2.2

MGA MISSION __________________________________________

Inspire, Enable, Empower, and Engage Members of IEEE
For the purposes of…
• Fulfilling the mission of IEEE
• Enhancing members’ growth and development through the member’s life cycle• Providing a professional community for engineers, scientists, and technologists• Offering an opportunity for external individuals, organizations, and industry to engage
with IEEE for the benefit of humanity
The IEEE Member and Geographic Activities Board serves the interest of IEEE and themembers through the following:
MGA Strategies• Strengthen the value of IEEE membership at each stage of the member’s life cycle.
• Support volunteering and facilitate member and nonmember collaboration.
• Strengthen the relevance of IEEE membership to industry.
• Promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Improve member development and services based on data.
• Enhance the relevance of information available to the member and to geographic
units.
• Provide a simple, consistent, personalized interface to members and prospective
members.
MGA Goals• Increase member engagement and grow membership.
• Improve relationships with and among members.
• Enhance collaboration and cooperation with and among IEEE organization units andexternal organizations.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 6••

2.3

Support and encourage local geographic units in providing services and value to IEEE
members.
Increase operational efficiency and effectiveness, within MGA.

MEMBERSHIP ___________________________________________In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-303.5, the MGA Board shall consist of not more than 20
members including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Vice President – MGA, who shall be MGA Board Chair
Vice President-Elect – MGA, who shall be MGA Board Chair-Elect
Past MGA Board Chair
Treasurer
Ten (10) Region Directors
Vice Chair – Member Development
Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Vice Chair – Information Management
Representatives for Zones defined in 9.2
Staff Secretary, ex officio member without vote

MGA Board members shall be at IEEE Senior Member or Fellow grade. Individuals shall not
hold more than one office on the MGA Board. At least half of MGA Board members will bedirectly elected by the IEEE membership.
The IEEE Assembly shall elect the Vice President-Elect – MGA, who shall serve as MGA Board
Chair after one year as Vice President-Elect.

2.4

OFFICERS______________________________________________The officers of the MGA Board shall be the MGA Board Chair, the MGA Board Chair-Elect,
the Past MGA Board Chair, and the MGA Treasurer. They shall serve as voting members of
the MGA Board and the MGA Operations Committee.
The MGA Secretary shall be an ex officio officer without vote on the MGA Board and the MGA
Operations Committee.
MGA officers are expected to attend all meetings of the MGA Board and the MGA Operations
Committee, to be informed on the issues, and participate in the discussions.
MGA BOARD CHAIR
The MGA Board Chair shall serve a term of one year. Upon completion of the term of office,the MGA Board Chair shall serve as Past MGA Board Chair.
1. Responsibilities
a. Serve as Chair of the MGA Board.
b. Serve as a voting member of the IEEE Board of Directors.
c. In conjunction with the Managing Director – MGA, MGA Board Chair-Elect, andPast MGA Board Chair, develop a long range strategy for MGA and a projectpriorities list to implement the MGA strategy.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 7

d. Serve as the coordinator of all member and geographic activities, and as liaison
for the MGA department.
e. Work with the Managing Director – MGA to provide advice and support for staff
assistance on all regional and geographic unit operations and projects;
membership development; member application, admission, and advancement;
and young professional and student activities.
f. Represent IEEE on matters involving member and geographic activities andservices, and when requested, on behalf of the IEEE President.
g. Carry out tasks assigned by the IEEE Board of Directors and inform the MGA
Board of appropriate matters.
h. In consultation with the MGA Board and staff, provide leadership and set
direction for MGA Board engagement.
i. Work with Region Directors and geographic units on behalf of IEEE, where
necessary or appropriate.
j. Oversee MGA financial operations. Work with the Managing Director – MGA,
where appropriate, to coordinate the financial operation of the department.
k. Serve as a member of the MGA Operations Committee.
l. Assist in the development of agendas for MGA Board and MGA Operations
Committee meetings.
m. Make such appointments to MGA committees as may be appropriate, such as
ad hoc committees, MGA representatives to other boards and committees, etc.
MGA BOARD CHAIR-ELECT
The MGA Board Chair-Elect shall serve a term of one year. Upon completion of the term ofoffice, the MGA Board Chair-Elect shall serve as MGA Board Chair / Vice President – MGA.
1. Responsibilities
a. Serve as Chair-Elect of the MGA Board.
b. Report administratively to the MGA Board Chair. Act for MGA Board Chair in
the absence of, or at the request of, the MGA Board Chair.
c. In conjunction with the Managing Director – MGA, MGA Board Chair, and Past
MGA Board Chair, develop a long range strategy for MGA and a projectpriorities list to implement the MGA strategy.
d. Carry out other tasks assigned by the MGA Board or the MGA Board Chair, as
appropriate.
e. Serve as volunteer champion for MGA activities/ projects/ initiatives that aren't
assigned to a specific MGA committee.
f. Represent IEEE on matters involving member and geographic activities andservices, and when requested, on behalf of the MGA Board Chair.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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g. Work with Region Directors and geographic organizational units on behalf ofIEEE, where necessary or appropriate, and delegated by the MGA Board Chair.
h. Serve in an advisory and learning role regarding MGA financial operations.
i. Bring appropriate committee items to the attention of the responsible MGA
committee or MGA Board.
j. Provide an analysis of policy and other matters brought by other organizational
units to MGA Board Chair and MGA Board with respect to MGA areas of interest;
for MGA Board Chair to bring to the IEEE Board of Directors.
k. Chair meetings of the MGA Operations Committee and assist in thedevelopment of agendas for MGA Board and MGA Operations Committee
meetings.
l. Shall normally serve as Chair of the MGA Nominations and Appointments (N&A)
Committee. In accordance with the committee charter, preside over meetingsof the N&A Committee, report MGA N&A activities to the MGA Board, andoversee the MGA N&A process.
m. Serve as a member of the IEEE N&A Committee
PAST MGA BOARD CHAIR
The Past MGA Board Chair will have just completed a term of office as MGA Board Chair.
1. Responsibilities
a. Report administratively to the MGA Board Chair. Act for MGA Board Chair in
the absence of, or at the request of, the MGA Board Chair.
b. In conjunction with the Managing Director – MGA, MGA Board Chair, and MGA
Board Chair-Elect, develop a long range strategy for MGA and a projectpriorities list to implement the MGA strategy.
c. Shall normally serve as Vice Chair of the MGA Nominations and Appointments(N&A) Committee.
d. Serve as Chair of the MGA Strategic Planning Committee.
e. Carry out other tasks assigned by the MGA Board or the MGA Board Chair as
appropriate.
f. Serve as volunteer champion for MGA activities/ projects/ initiatives that aren't
assigned to a specific MGA committee.
g. Represent IEEE on matters involving member and geographic activities andservices, and when requested, on behalf of the MGA Board Chair.
h. Serve in an advisory role regarding MGA financial operations.
i. Bring appropriate committee items to the attention of the responsible MGA
committee or MGA Board.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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j. Serve as a member of the MGA Operations Committee.
MGA TREASURER
Shall be appointed by the MGA Assembly and serve as the Chief Financial Officer of MGA
and Chair of the MGA Finance Committee. The term of office shall be for one year. Having
served one term, he/she shall be eligible to be re-appointed for up to two additional oneyear terms, not to exceed three consecutive years of total service in this position.
1. Responsibilities
a. Serve as a member and attend all meetings of the IEEE Finance Committee.
Report on the progress and activities of the MGA Finance Committee and IEEE
Finance Committee to the MGA Board and the MGA Operations Committee.
b. Report administratively to the MGA Board Chair.
c. Ensure sound financial management of MGA funds.
d. Work with the Managing Director – MGA to develop the MGA budget including
the rolling three to five year financial plan.
e. Approve expenditures as necessary and appropriate.
f. Ensure compliance with IEEE policies and procedures in all financial mattersrelating to the MGA Board and MGA committees.
g. Serve as a member and attend all meetings of the MGA Strategic Planning
Committee.
MGA SECRETARY
Shall be the Managing Director – MGA, who has been designated by the IEEE Executive
Director and should have a broad knowledge of geographic volunteer leadership.
1. Responsibilities
a. Serve as an ex officio non-voting member of the MGA Board, MGA Operations
Committee, and other MGA committees as noted in the committee charters.
b. Organize, direct, and guide MGA staff operations in support of the MGA Board.
c. Assist in the development of agendas for MGA Board and MGA Operations
Committee meetings.
d. Be responsible for logistical and administrative support of the MGA Board andits committees.
e. Assist the MGA Board Chair in determining the administrative needs of MGA
and its organizational units.
f. Advise appropriate organizational units of MGA actions and plans. Ensure thatthe administrative needs of the MGA Board members are appropriately met.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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g. Attend appropriate meetings of the Regions to enhance their interface with
MGA and the IEEE Operations Center.

2.5

MGA VICE CHAIRS _______________________________________

There shall be the following MGA Vice Chair positions:•••

Vice Chair – Member Development
Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Vice Chair – Information Management

The MGA Assembly shall appoint the Vice Chairs. The term of office of Vice Chairs shall befor one year. A Vice Chair, having served one term, shall be eligible to be re-appointed for
up to two additional one-year terms, not to exceed three years total service in this position.
Vice Chairs shall fulfill the responsibilities as defined herein and report to the MGA Board on
their committees' activities.
Report administratively to the MGA Board Chair and are expected to attend all meetings ofthe MGA Board and the MGA Operations Committee, to be informed on the issues, andparticipate in the discussions.
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS
Must possess a willingness to develop an understanding of the strategic vision of MGA
and commit to its implementation and operating principles.
Should have five to ten years of increasingly responsible management experience andexcellent leadership qualities.
Should have experience in translating strategic vision into tactical action and providing
direction and guidance to the design and implementation teams that carry out themission.
Must be able to gain an understanding of the role of information technology in enabling
MGA functions.
COMMON SKILLS
Demonstrated tactical management experience.
Demonstrated management skills in a volunteer led organization that operates byconsensus. Negotiating skill a definite plus.
Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills with sensitivity to cross-cultural and global
issues.
Demonstrated superior written and oral communication skills and organizational ability.
Demonstrated
environment.

relationshipandconsensus

building

inacollaborative

working

Understanding of remote / electronic working environments and associated tools.
(Willingness to learn)

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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VICE CHAIR – MEMBER DEVELOPMENT
1. Responsibilities
a. Responsible for the coordination of policy involving all aspects of the member
experience, member engagement, growth, and development throughout themember life cycle and throughout IEEE.
b. Coordinate the requirements that IEEE has of the member.
c. Development, through shared responsibility, of supporting methodologies in
the critical areas of member information, education, and training.
2. Additional Skills
a. Proven success in a diverse team-oriented environment.
b. Supports "engagement" model and understands how to relate it to otherorganization units.
c. Experience with Technical Activities is a plus.
d. Ability to recognize and cultivate the diversity of members and member needs,varying member lifecycles, cultures, and have a collaborative spirit.
VICE CHAIR – GEOGRAPHIC UNIT OPERATIONS
1. Responsibilities
a. Responsible for design, development, and implementation of the supportmodel for the geographic units.
b. Recommend policy for effective operation of the geographic units.
c. Oversight of geographic unit operations and the support structures.
d. Development of parameters to be included in the funding model for supporting
the geographic units (for the MGA Finance Committee to use in allocating
resources).
e. Monitoring and promotion of geographic unit activities related to MGA
objectives (member engagement, professional development, public
imperatives, etc.).
2. Additional Skills
a. Familiarity with geographic unit operations below MGA.
b. Ability to think creatively.
c. Familiarity with MGA vision and goals.
d. Ability to recognize and cultivate the diversity of members and member needs,varying member lifecycles, cultures, and have a collaborative spirit.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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VICE CHAIR – INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
1. Responsibilities
a. Works with MGA and IEEE IT staff in coordinating the coordination ofarchitecture, development, timeline, and other issues relative to electronic
communication, information collection, and automation for areas related to
MGA.
2. Additional Skills
a. Ability to represent the IT needs for MGA activities to ensure appropriate
prioritization, integration, and implementation.
b. Ability to derive requirements from expressions of need.
c. Ability to interface with other MGA leaders to ensure that MGA information andIT needs are identified, prioritized, and whenever possible, met.

2.6

REGION DELEGATE/ DIRECTOR________________________________QUALIFICATIONS

The individual shall be an IEEE member of Senior Member or Fellow grade.
Be prepared to serve six years, in the positions of Director-Elect, Director, and Past
Director.
Experienced in Section and Region committee activities.
Reside in and be a member of the Region electing him/her.
FUNCTIONS
Represents the membership of one of the 10 geographic Regions.
Serves as a voting member of the IEEE Assembly and MGA Assembly as a delegate.
Serves as a voting member of the IEEE Board of Directors, and as such serves theinterests of IEEE.
Serves as a voting member of the MGA Board.
May serve as a representative of MGA to other IEEE organizational units.
May serve on MGA committees or other organizational units.
Region Directors from Regions 1-6 serve as members of the IEEE-USA Board.
Serves as chair of their respective Region committee with responsibilities and authority
in consonance with the Region bylaws.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESHave the duties, responsibilities, and authority as identified in IEEE Bylaws and Region
bylaws.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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Appoints the Treasurer, Secretary, and such other committee chairs as may be specified
in the Region bylaws or identified in the MGA Operations Manual.
Responsible for handling geographic unit non-compliance with the MGA Operations
Manual at the local level and within the processes found within Sections 2.10, 2.11 and
9.
The Region Director will hold at least one Region meeting a year and may hold Region
Executive Committee meetings between the Region meetings if necessary, in accordancewith Region bylaws.
Encourage Section participation in the Region meetings and address problems faced by
the Sections.
Encourage Section/Chapter interaction.
Develop an appropriate leadership development program and encourage Section officers
to participate.
Encourage student activities including the formation and successful operation of Student
Branches and Student Branch Chapters.
Present recommendations for approval of Section and Geographic Council formations andforward petitions to MGA Secretary for ratification and transmission to the MGA Board.
Approve Technical Chapters, Affinity Group, Student Branch, and Student Branch
Chapter formations for transmission to the MGA Board.
Encourage membership development, including recruitment, retention, and recovery.
Participate in and encourage IEEE Sections Congress.
Ensure that the Region financial statements and Region committee roster reports are
submitted to the MGA department in a timely manner.
Present to MGA Board any regional items that may require MGA Board action.
Submit a report of activities to the MGA Board before each MGA Board meeting and asummary report for the MGA Annual Report.
Develop appropriate training curricula and materials for Region officers.
Develop appropriate training curricula and materials for Region officers.

2.7

ZONE REPRESENTATIVE _____________________________________

Effective 1 January 2023A.

QUALIFICATIONS
1. The individual shall be an IEEE member of Senior Member or Fellow grade.
2.
Be
prepared
to
serve
two
years
in
the
position.
3.
ExperiencedinSectionandRegioncommittee
activities.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 14

4. Reside in and be a member of the Region electing him/her and of one of theSections in the Zone he/she is representing.
B.

FUNCTIONS
1. Represents the membership of his/her Zone, along with the Region Director.
2.
Servesasavotingmemberof
the
MGA
Board.
3. May serve as a representative of MGA to other IEEE organizational units.
4.
May
serve
on
MGA
committeesorotherorganizational
units.
5. Any other function assigned by the respective Region Bylaws.

C.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Have the duties, responsibilities, and authority as identified in IEEE Bylaws andRegion bylaws.

2.8

MGA COMMITTEE CHAIRS ___________________________________QUALIFICATIONS

Must be of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade, unlesschaired by the responsible Vice Chair, in which case must be of Senior Member or Fellow
grade.
Previous experience as a member of the committee is preferable.
Project and time management experience.
Willingness to change and quick to adopt new work methods.
Access to personal computer, Internet connection, and general purpose office software.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESConduct the business of the committee to achieve the purpose and functions of thatcommittee in accordance with its charter.
Establish subcommittees and ad hoc committees as needed in accordance with thecommittee charter.
Call and chair meetings of the committee in accordance with its charter.
Provide for the recording and distribution of minutes for the meetings in accordance withthe committee charter.
Recommend to the MGA Board (or other IEEE organizational unit) or the responsible MGA
Vice Chair, proposed changes to the committee charter to ensure that the charter meetsthe current needs and objectives of the committee.
Carry out other tasks assigned to the committee by the appropriate organizational unit,
VP, or the responsible MGA Vice Chair.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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Bring appropriate committee items to the attention of the MGA Board or the responsible
MGA Vice Chair.
Report the status of committee activity to the respective MGA representative(s) and IEEE
organizational unit(s).
Prepare and present committee budgets to the MGA Board or the responsible MGA Vice
Chair as appropriate.
Approve and forward to the MGA department all committee expenditures.
Maintain cognizance of committee actual versus planned expenditure rates andassociated work completed. Report through the committee administrative chain budget
status and recommendations for corrections.

2.9

MGA REPRESENTATIVES ____________________________________APPOINTMENTS

The MGA Board has representatives on the following boards/committees. Unless specified
otherwise, they shall serve as voting members of the board or committee.
IEEE Awards Board - Two (2) representatives.
••

One (1) representative, appointed by the Vice President – Member andGeographic Activities (VP-MGA), who shall be a Region Director.
One (1) representative who shall be the Chair of the MGA Awards andRecognition Committee, who shall be of Senior Member or Fellow grade.

IEEE Educational Activities Board - Two (2) representatives shall be appointed by the
VP-MGA, with the concurrence of the VP of Educational Activities.
IEEE Finance Committee - One (1) representative who shall be the MGA Treasurer.
IEEE Publications Services and Products Board (PSPB) - Two (2) representatives who
shall be the Editor of IEEE Potentials and one (1) representative appointed by the VPMGA.
TAB Conference Publications Committee - One (1) representative appointed by the VPMGA.
IEEE Conferences Committee – Two (2) representatives appointed by the VP-MGA.
IEEE TAB/PSPB Products and Services Committee – One (1) representative appointed by
the VP-MGA.
IEEE USA-Awards Committee – One (1) representative, who shall be a member of the
MGA Awards and Recognition Committee from Regions 1-6, appointed by the VP-MGA.
QUALIFICATIONS
Unless specified otherwise, shall be of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior
Member, or Fellow grade.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 16FUNCTIONS
Represent the interests of MGA on the assigned organizational unit.
Serve as the communication link between MGA and the other organizational unit.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Determine if the greater interests of MGA are addressed in the assigned body.
Keep the MGA Board informed of the important decisions made by the organizational
unit.
Attend the MGA Board meetings, when requested by the MGA Board Chair.
Help identify and clarify issues common to MGA and the other organizational units toensure cooperation.

2.10

MGA BOARD MEETINGS ____________________________________MGA BOARD MEETING AGENDA
The agenda shall be distributed to MGA Board members, as well as all Director-Elects, MGA
committee chairs, and MGA representatives, a minimum of 20 days before the MGA Board
meeting.
MEETING MINUTESThe MGA Secretary (or their designee) shall provide record-keeping and secretarial
functions. In the absence of the Secretary, the MGA Board Chair shall appoint a MGA Board
member to perform this task. The minutes need not be verbatim, but a summary of theactions with a reasonable amount of detail to ensure the intent of the action taken. A
meeting summary will be distributed to all MGA Board members normally within two weeks
after the meeting. In addition, the minutes will be distributed to all MGA Board members
normally no later than 45 days after the meeting.
The MGA Secretary will maintain copies of all MGA Board meeting agendas, minutes, andcommittee meeting summaries.
LOCATION OF MEETINGS
The meetings of MGA Board will normally be held in conjunction with the meetings of theIEEE Board of Directors. The number of regular MGA Board meetings during the year shallnormally be three. Except in executive session, MGA Board meetings shall be open to all
IEEE members.
Meeting Schedule Changes. Once scheduled, a meeting date or location may be alteredor canceled only for sufficient cause by majority vote at a regularly constituted MGA
Board meeting or by consent of a majority of MGA Board members secured by ortransmitted to the Secretary, not less than 20 days before the original date or the newdate set for the meeting, whichever is the earlier. Notice of such approved change shallbe distributed to all MGA Board voting members not less than 10 days before the originalor the new date of said scheduled meeting, whichever is the earlier.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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Special Meetings. Special meetings of MGA Board may be called by the MGA Board Chairor by one-third of MGA Board voting members on notice to all other MGA Board members.
Notice of such special meetings, giving the time and place of the meeting, the purposeof the meeting, and the names of the MGA Board voting members calling the meeting,shall be distributed to all MGA Board members not less than five days before the dateset for the special meeting. For special meetings to be held by teleconference or similar
communications equipment, notice shall be sent to all MGA Board members not less than
48 hours before the time set for the special meeting.
Meetings without Notice. A MGA Board meeting may be held without notice if waivers ofnotice signed by all MGA Board voting members are filed with the Secretary, withnotation thereof entered in the minutes of the meeting.
Actions without Meeting. Unless otherwise provided in the Certificate of Incorporation
or Constitution, or IEEE Bylaws, or the Not–for–Profit Corporation Law of the State of
New York, any action required or permitted to be taken by the MGA Board may be taken
without a meeting if all members vote unanimously on the action, with the vote to bepromptly confirmed in writing. The written confirmation shall be filed with the minutesof the proceedings of the MGA Board.
Meetings by Telecommunications. The MGA Board may meet and act upon the vote ofits members through any means of telecommunication. The normal voting requirements
shall apply when action is taken by means of telecommunications equipment allowing all
persons participating in the meeting to hear each other at the same time. Given these
conditions, normal MGA Board meeting procedures will apply. All actions shall be ratified
at a duly constituted meeting. Minutes of such meetings shall be distributed to allmembers.
Notice of Meetings. Notices of meetings and any other documents required to be sent
to MGA Board members pursuant to provisions of the IEEE Certificate of Incorporation,
IEEE Constitution, or IEEE Bylaws shall be sent by such routings as to ensure prompt
delivery.
Actions of the MGA Board. In accordance with IEEE Bylaws, the vote of a majority of thevoting members of the MGA Board present at the time of the vote, if a quorum is present
at such time, shall be the act of the MGA Board.
Quorum. A majority of the voting members of the MGA Board, provided that a majority
shall of the Region Directors are present, shall constitute a quorum.
PROPOSED MGA BOARD AGENDA ITEMS
Proposed MGA Board agenda items should be submitted electronically to MGA administration
along with a cover sheet summarizing the proposed item. MGA administration will thenforward the request to the MGA Board Chair for review and approval. Each item should besubmitted with a cover sheet with the following information.
Action items require a summary of the item, the reason for its submission, the action
proposed, and any supporting documentation. Financial implications to the MGA Boardand the Regions must be included in every motion.
Discussion items require a summary of the item, including questions to be resolved in
discussion, and any supporting documentation.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 18

Information items require purpose and documentation whenever possible.
Reports and items should be submitted in written format via email or in electronic format
to be included in the agenda.

2.11

VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES AND THE IEEE CODE OF ETHICS __________

Responsibilities for Conduct and Professionalism
IEEE members and non-members, carry out a very wide range of duties and responsibilities
on behalf of IEEE and are required to familiarize themselves with IEEE policies, procedures,practices and expectations for conduct and professionalism.
Abiding by the IEEE Code of Ethics
The conduct of all IEEE members and non-members should reflect the highest level of
ethics and professionalism. The behavior of all those engaging in activities on behalf of
the IEEE should reflect the best interests of IEEE members and other customers.
Each year, all IEEE members, through the membership renewal process, affirm theirintention to abide by the IEEE Code of Ethics.
Nonmembers who are involved in IEEE activities are also obligated to abide by the IEEE
Code of Ethics. Such obligation is communicated through the governing procedures for the
relevant IEEE activity.
For the purpose of this policy “non-member” relates to those non-members of IEEE who
are involved in IEEE activities and includes IEEE staff.
Conduct and Professionalism
Members and non-members are expected to treat each other with respect, considerationand civility. Intimidating, demeaning, threatening behaviors, as well as destructive rumors
or gossip, depart from the standard for civility and respect.
Members or non-members engaging in activities which are contrary to or in violation of
the IEEE Code of Ethics, IEEE Code of Conduct, IEEE governing documents, IEEE
Operations Manuals and other internal and external rules and regulations that affect themembership and activities of IEEE may be subject to discipline, up to and including
expulsion from participation in IEEE activities and/or IEEE membership.
IEEE Procedures for Reporting Misconduct Complaints
All members or non-members who believe they have been subjected to any behavior by
any member or non-member that violates the above-mentioned policies and proceduresshould bring the matter to the attention of IEEE through the process described in IEEE
Policy 7.10. Prompt reporting allows IEEE to review, assess, and take any necessary
actions to address the complaint immediately.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 19

Information on IEEE Policy 7.10 and the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line can be found at:https://www.ieee.org/about/compliance.html. The IEEE Ethics Reporting Line can beaccessed directly at:http://www.ieee-ethics-reporting.org or +1 888 359 6323.
Scholarly Publication Misconduct
Information relative to handling of allegations of scholarly publication misconduct isavailable in Section 8 of the IEEE Publication Services & Products Board (PSPB) Operations
Manual.https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/pubs/pspb/pspb-opsmanual.pdf.
Standards Development Disputes
Information relative to handling of disputes with respect to IEEE Standards Development isavailable in Section 6 of the IEEE Standards Association Operations Manual.
https://standards.ieee.org/about/policies/sa-opman
Conferences Disputes and/or Misconduct
Information relative to handling of conference disputes can be found in IEEE Policy Section
10.1.3. Real-time behavioral misconduct should be reported to eventconduct@ieee.org.
Society/Council-Society/Council Disputes
Information relative to handling of Society-Society disputes can be found in Section 4 of theIEEE Technical Activities Board Operations Manual.
Geographic Unit Disputes
Information relative to handling geographic unit non-compliance with the MGA Operations
Manual can be found in Section 2.11 of the MGA Operations Manual.
CONDUCT AS AN OFFICER OR A MEMBER OF AN IEEE BOARD OR COMMITTEE
Volunteers are expected to contribute to IEEE activities in a co-operative and constructive
manner, to ensure that the best possible use is made of the time available, given thatvolunteers are usually able to offer IEEE their time and effort very sparingly. Meetings
should be strongly focused on the business laid out in the agreed agenda, and not be
impeded by irrelevant interventions. The chair has the prime responsibility for the conductof the meeting, but the cooperation of all members present is also an important factor inensuring that the business is conducted in a fair and harmonious manner.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A common misunderstanding about “conflict of interest” is that it only applies where an
individual attempts to obtain some monetary advantage by virtue of being an office holder.
A broader view of the concept applies to any situation where some kind of advantage or
privilege is being sought through the exercise of authority granted to an office holder. The
guiding principle for volunteers is to follow IEEE policies, procedures, and practices, and be
seen by their peers to be acting ethically in their decision-making.
ACCEPTANCE OF POSITION OBLIGATIONSElection or appointment of a volunteer to a position, such as a board or committee chair or
member, Section or Chapter officer, Council officer, etc., implies that there is an expectationthat the person will be willing and able to undertake assigned duties, and if appropriate, toattend the meetings of the organizational unit. Accepting a position also requires that the
MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 20

volunteer is adequately prepared for the meetings, that agenda papers are read beforehand,
and that any items from the previous meeting requiring action are properly followed up. If
a person is unable to perform these or other assigned duties, the expected result is a
resignation from the position.
TRANSFER OF POSITION
An orderly and regular turnover of board, committee, Section, and Chapter membership,including that of the officers, should be a routine feature of IEEE volunteerism. It ensuresa healthy flow of new blood and invigorates all IEEE organizational units. Sections of thisOperations Manual define the terms of office for volunteers involved with member andgeographic activities and the procedures for their election or appointment. It is the
responsibility of the MGA Board Chair to ensure that these practices are followed. It is aduty of all MGA officers, MGA committee Chairs, and Section/Council/Chapter officers totransfer all documents and other resources necessary for their successors to carry out theirwork effectively.

2.12
ADDRESSING GEOGRPAHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT MEMBER AND VOLUNTEERCOMPLAINTS ________________________________________________
A. COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIESThe success of IEEE geographic organizational unit activities depends on the professional
behavior of IEEE volunteers and compliance with the IEEE Bylaws, IEEE Policies, and the
MGA Operations Manual. Compliance with these documents shall take precedence over local
operating documents within the IEEE geographic organizational units. Unprofessional
conduct and non-compliance with the policies and operational procedures that disrupts IEEE
activities may bring consequences to the individuals involved, the organizational unit (OU),
and all of IEEE.
MGA encourages individuals to make every attempt to resolve issues concerning compliance,
management and procedural matters as outlined within the MGA Operations Manual withleaders in the local organizational units under the guidance of the appropriate Region
Director. The Region Director or Section Chair, with the concurrence of the Region Director,
shall provide the oversight for mediation, clarification, and recommendation for resolutions
to address such issues. MGA Staff may be consulted for clarification on MGA and IEEE
policies and procedures.
If satisfactory resolutions cannot be achieved or if assistance is needed beyond thegeographic organizational unit leadership, individuals may use the IEEE Ethics ReportingLine detailed in Section 2.10.

B. DISPOSITION OF COMPLAINTS RECEIVED FROM IEEE ETHICS REPORTING LINE
Complaints may be placed within the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line. Once a complaint is placed
within the system it is routed to the appropriate IEEE Organizational Unit or IEEE Unit to beaddressed.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

page 21

MGA will be assigned all complaints that include non-compliance with the MGA Operations
Manual.
All ethics, misconduct or cases that include non-compliance outside of the MGA Operations
Manual will not be routed to MGA. Any complaint received outside of the IEEE Ethics
Reporting Line must be entered into the system for a formal review to be initiated. Any casethat identifies an IEEE level sanction as a resolution or any case that cannot be resolved
will be routed back to the IEEE level for review in the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line system. All
cases will be administratively documented within the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line system.
Once a case is received in the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line and is assigned to MGA, thefollowing processes will occur:
1. Upon initial review, for all cases that may be resolved at the local level, MGA Staff
works in partnership with the appropriate Region Director in identifying
resolution(s). Should the Region Director require additional guidance or if local
resolution is not achieved, or if the case cannot be resolved within 30 days, the
MGA Operations Manual Compliance Committee (MGA OMCC) shall be consulted
toprovideguidance
andidentify
anappropriate
resolution.
2. All cases that involve the MGA Board Chair, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Board
Chair Elect, MGA Treasurer, or any MGA Vice-Chair, Region Director, Committee
Chair or Committee member for Committees listed in Section 4.0, and an alleged
MGA Operations Manual violation will be automatically routed to the MGA OMCC.
MGA shall utilize the MGA Operations Manual Compliance Committee as outlined in Section
4.22.
C. CONSEQUENCES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE
In the event of unprofessional behaviors or non-compliance of processes as set forth within
the MGA Operations Manual, upon the recommendation of the MGA OMCC and with theconsent of the Region Director and the MGA VP the MGA OMCC and MGA VP may impose
consequences against that member or volunteer. These consequences may include:
1. An official reprimand. Such reprimand shall be in the form of a letter.
2. Suspension of the individual from participating within a specific set of MGA activities
such as MGA meetings, conferences or other events for a specified time period.
3. Suspension from a volunteer position(s).
4. For all cases that require additional review, they shall be referred to the appropriate
IEEE OU for additional proceedings.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 2

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3.0

MGA FINANCIAL MATTERS

3.1

BUDGET CYCLE DATES ______________________________________

Using a process established by the IEEE Finance Committee, an annual budget shall be
prepared by the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Finance Committee for theensuing year, subject to the endorsement by the MGA Board and approved as part of theannual IEEE Budget, which is approved by the IEEE Board of Directors.
Specific dates regarding the development of the budget shall be distributed and determinedby the IEEE Finance Committee.

3.2

ADMINISTRATION OF MGA FINANCES____________________________RESERVES

Per the IEEE Financial Operations Manual, the MGA Board will try to maintain reserves ofabout 50% of annual expenses, exclusive of those dedicated to IEEE Sections Congress.
The purposes of the reserves are to eliminate the need to place any contingency funds inthe budget and to provide seed money for new initiatives.
BUDGETS
Committee chairs and MGA Board Vice Chairs are responsible for meeting their budgets.
The MGA department will provide data monthly to the Vice Chairs containing available
information relative to financial activities versus budget. Unbudgeted expenses (or income)shall be reported to the MGA Finance Committee as soon as possible.
VICE CHAIR AND COMMITTEE BUDGETS
MGA Board Vice Chairs are responsible for providing budget guidelines to the chairs ofcommittees that report through them. This includes the budget cycle dates established by
the MGA Finance Committee. Committee chairs are responsible for providing detailed
proposed budgets to the Vice Chairs.
EXPENSE REPORTS
Expense reports for MGA Board members and MGA committee members must clearly
identify the official function for which reimbursement is sought. Since there are often
courtesy "invitations" to attend various meetings, it is the responsibility of the individual toensure whether expenses will be covered by the MGA budget before incurring these
expenses. Annually, the MGA Finance Committee will review and recommend the MGA
Board endorsement of MGA Travel Expense Procedures.
In accordance with IEEE Policies, Section 11.6.B, for volunteer travel reimbursed by IEEE,business class fares are permissible, if the MGA organizational unit has funding available,
and if the flying time is over eight consecutive hours for a single segment or over eight
hours flying time where a layover is required. Approval by the MGA Board Chair andTreasurer must be obtained prior to an individual booking the flights.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

page 23

3.3

SUPPORT OF MGA ACTIVITIES ________________________________The MGA Board and the MGA department shall be supported by funds identified in the annualIEEE Budget, approved by the IEEE Board of Directors. Revenues specified in this budget
may include:
The amount allocated to Regions, Sections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, and Student
Branches will equal 12% of member dues, in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-108.5.
A fixed component derived from a required Region and/or Section assessment paid by
all members other than students, within that geographic organizational unit, as definedby IEEE Bylaws and IEEE Policies.
A variable or member choice component.
Other funds derived by the general sale of products and services offered from time-totime or through other fund-generating activities.
Additional mandatory assessments for the support of MGA operations may be leviedupon the members of a particular geographic organizational unit following approval bya majority of those voting in a vote of the members of that particular organizational unit,
subject to MGA Board endorsement and approval by the IEEE Board of Directors inaccordance with IEEE Bylaws.
The variable, member choice component, and general sale component shall be derived
from voluntary fees for services and products provided by or through the MGA Board.

3.4

ADMINISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHIC UNIT ALLOCATIONS AND REBATES _______REGION ALLOCATION FORMULA

The Region Allocation Formula includes the following components:
1.

Number of members (as of 31 December of prior year)

2.

Number of Sections within the Region (as of 31 December of prior year)

3.

The relative cost of travel within each Region

The percentage of members and sections are calculated by utilizing the prior years member
and section numbers associated with each Region. The relative cost of travel is identified
by the travel factor assigned to each Region. Each of these three components are thenmultiplied to obtain the amount allocated to an individual Region. The formula will be
reviewed annually by the MGA Finance Committee.
Disbursements of individual Region allocations are made only after audit requirements havebeen met.
GEOGRAPHIC UNIT REBATE SCHEDULE AND PROCEDURESAll Operational Units (Sections, Subsections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, Geographic Councils
and their active Chapters and Affinity Groups, Geo Units outside Sections, and Student
Branches) in order to be eligible for the dues rebate are required to submit their:

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

page 24

1. Annual financial reports by the 28th of February, of each year
2. Annual officer reports by the 15th of March, of each year
3. Annual meeting reports by the 15th of March, of each year
The below table outlines the rebate allowances and requirements for eligible organizational
units:
Organizational
Unit

SectionSubsection

ChapterAffinityGroup

Geographic
Councils thatare theparents ofactiveChapters &Affinity Groups

Geographic
Unitsoutside of a
SectionAllowance

US$2,000

Membership

US$500.00

US$200.00

US$200.00

US$200/unit

US$200.00

Student
Branches

US$50.00 for
Branches withfewer than fifty(50) IEEE
Student Branchmembers andUS$100.00 for
Branches with
fifty (50) or
more IEEE
Student Branchmembers

US$2.00 per
Student Branch
Member

US$3/Member
US$1.50/Affiliate

US$1.00 per
Student Branch
ChapterMember

US$4/Sr. Member orFellow
US$3.00/Associate
Member
US$3.00/Student or
Grad Student Member(if belonging to a
student branch)

Meetings

5 or more(Chapter and/or
Affinity Group
meetings may be
counted in fulfilling
Section meeting
requirements)

ActiveMembers
RequiredTimelinessBonus

5 or more

2 or more
technical

2 or more

2 or more

50 or more
(excluding
students)

15 or more

10%

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

4 or more

10%

page 25

The Section Secretary and Treasurer or Secretary/Treasurer should verify that all required
reports have been submitted on time, including all Subsection, Chapter, Student Branch
and Affinity Group reporting. Exceptions for payment of the dues rebate to those units
submitting the required reports after these deadlines shall be at the discretion of the Region
Director, and a 10% penalty shall be applied to all such exceptions.
MGA cannot make additional Subsection, Chapter, Affinity Group or Student Branch subsidy
payments for meeting activity reported at a later time; as such, the Section secretary should
certify when submitting Section, Subsection, Chapter, Student Branch and Affinity Group
meeting activity that all activity has been reported.
A Council must transfer the rebates to its subunits with approved bank accounts. For thosesubunits without a bank account a Council must be responsible for managing the rebates
on behalf of its subunits.
The funds provided are intended for the support of not only the Section’s activities, but also
the activities of its subunits, including Subsections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, and Student
Branches. The Section, Subsection, Chapter, Affinity Group Rebate and Student Branch
Rebate go directly to the Section's bank account (either CB or Local). The Sections are
responsible for distributing the Rebate to the Chapters, Affinity Groups, Subsections, andStudent Branches respectively.
GEOGRAPHIC UNIT BONUS FOR TIMELINESSAll Sections and Councils whom are the parent of active Chapters and Affinity Groups whose
reporting (financial, meeting, and officer) is submitted by the third Friday in February, will
receive a 10% bonus of the total rebate not including activity bonuses.
If the information submitted is not complete or contains errors, and if corrections are notsubmitted within 60 days of a written request, the 10% bonus will be forfeited. The written
request provided by IEEE will clearly state what action is expected, the date by which it
must be submitted, and the consequence if not submitted.
GEOGRAPHIC UNIT ACTIVITY BONUS
In an effort to encourage activities at the local level, activity bonuses may be awarded asfollows:
1. All Sections reporting 10 meetings or more, at least 5 of which must be of a technicalnature, shall receive an additional US$200.
2. All Subsections reporting 10 meetings or more, at least 5 of which must be of a technicalnature, shall receive an additional US$100.
3. A meeting jointly hosted by more than one IEEE geographical organization unit (Student
Branch, Chapter, Affinity Group, Subsection, or Section) may qualify as a meeting for
each, and will count toward the activity bonus of all units. All Chapters or Affinity Groups
reporting 6 or more meetings shall receive an additional US$75; in the case of a Chapter,at least 6 of the reported meetings shall be in the technical category.
a. Activity bonus funds are excluded from the 10% bonus for timely reporting.
b. All units must qualify for the timely reporting bonus in order to be eligible for an
activity bonus.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

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NOTIFICATION OF REBATESThe Section’s subunits (Subsections, Chapters, Student Branches and Affinity Groups) will
be notified about the amount to which their activities contribute to the rebate prior to the
distribution of the rebate by 31 August.
SECTION REBATE
Allowance: All Sections in existence for the entire year and that meet the minimum
requirements shall receive a US$2,000 annual allowance. For Sections formed during theyear, these funds will be pro-rated from the date of establishment until 31 December.
Membership rebate: Based on the member statistics on 31 December of the previous year,
the membership rebate shall be as follows:●●●●

US$3 for each Member, Graduate Student Member, Student Member, or Associate
Member grade
US$3 for each Graduate Student Member and Student Member belonging to aStudent Branch of a Section
US$1.50 for each Affiliate member
US$4 for each Senior Member or Fellow member

SUBSECTION REBATE
1. US$500 for each Subsection meeting minimum requirements.
2. Financial activity: data should be consolidated into the Section's annual
financial report form.
3. Meeting activity: Subsections shall submit annually a report on the meetings
held within the past year by the 15th of March using electronic reporting tools
provided by MGA. A Subsection shall hold at least five meetings per year andmaintain a membership of no fewer than fifteen (15) members other thanStudent Members.
4. Current officers: Any changes to the roster of officers shall be submitted by
the 15th of March using electronic reporting tools provided by MGA.
5. In accordance with the MGA Operations Manual, Section 9.5.D.1, a Section ora Region shall be responsible for distributing funds to its Subsections.
6. For Sections formed from Subsections after 31 December, the current year's
rebate for the new Section shall be based upon the terms of a writtenagreement between the officers of the parent Section and the new Section.
The agreement will be developed in consultation with the Region Director.
Such agreement will be based on the number of members in the new Section
and shall be concluded prior to establishment of the new Section.
CHAPTER AND AFFINITY GROUP REBATE
US$200 for each Chapter and Affinity Group meeting minimum requirements in accordancewith the following sections of the MGA Operations Manual:

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

page 27

●●

Section 9.7.J - Chapter Requirements for Membership and Meeting Activity
Section 9.10.J - Affinity Group Requirements for Membership and Meeting Activity

In accordance with the MGA Operations Manual, Sections 9.7.G and 9.10.G, “Chapters andAffinity Groups are entitled to receive the funds generated by their own activities, including
dues rebates (earned during the preceding year as computed by the dues rebate formula).”In accordance with the MGA Operations Manual, Section 9.5.I, “Chapter and Affinity Groupfunds provided to the Section through the annual rebate are intended for the support ofthose subunits. Chapters and Affinity Groups shall be funded at a minimum at the level ofthe annual rebate.”
STUDENT BRANCHES
1. For maintenance of an IEEE Student Branch, Section Student Branch, or Joint Student
Branch, upon timely receipt of the Student Branch Officer Reporting Form and theStudent Branch Annual Plan, IEEE shall issue to each such Branch, for one calendar
year, fifty dollars (US$50.00) for Branches with fewer than fifty (50) IEEE Student
Branch members and one-hundred dollars (US$100.00) for Branches with fifty (50)or more IEEE Student Branch members.
2. A Student Branch shall be required to hold not less than four (4) activities per year.
Upon timely receipt of the required Student Branch Activity reports, IEEE shall rebate
to each such Branch, in good standing, US$2.00 per Student Branch member and an
additional US$1.00 per Student Branch Chapter member based on membership countas of 31 December each year, this membership count shall include those students
who joined and upgraded during the calendar year.
3. In the case of a Section Student Branch, this amount shall be paid to the Section
sponsoring the Branch.
GEOGRAPHIC COUNCILS
Geographic unit Councils, comprised of Sections, are not eligible for a rebate. Geographic
Councils can receive only Chapter/Affinity Group rebates (US$200/unit) for active Chapters
and/or Affinity Groups. If the Council is the parent organization of a Chapter or Affinity
Group, the Council will receive the rebate for the subunit(s) only, including the 10% bonus
for timely reporting and activity bonus, if applicable. Councils receive no other rebate
allowance; there is no additional allowance or payment per membership.

1. Financial activity: If a geographic Council has no bank accounts and no financial
activity, the "General Information and Certification Schedule" forms should becompleted and submitted along with a statement indicating there were no bankaccounts and no financial activity for the year. If a Council has a bank account, withor without additional financial activity, a financial report must be submitted.
2. Meeting activity: If a Council has no Chapters or Affinity Groups, meeting reports are
not required.
3. Officer reporting: A roster of current officers shall be submitted annually.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

page 28

MEMBERS AND GEOGRAPHIC UNITS OUTSIDE SECTIONS
For those members and geographic units that do not belong to an actual Section, the Region
to which they belong acts as their parent. In its role as parent, the Region shall receive:
1. The Allowance as defined in the Geographic Unit Rebate Schedule, as long as thenumber of members is not fewer than 50.
2. The Membership rebate as defined in the Geographic Unit Rebate Schedule.
3. The rebates appropriated for each geographic unit outside of Sections, based on
meeting activity and compliance with financial and officer reporting requirements, shallbe distributed to the respective geographic units.
MEMBERS AND GEOGRAPHIC UNITS OUTSIDE SECTIONS
To be eligible for a rebate, Sections must provide current officer, financial, andmeeting/activity reports based on the following requirements. Units are advised thatutilizing online reporting options will result in faster processing and release of theSection rebate.
1. Current officer report: Reports of current Section, Subsection, Chapter, andAffinity Group officers must be submitted within 20 days following the election
and/or appointment of such officers using the electronic reporting tools
provided by MGA. These reports must be updated during the year wheneverofficers change, including those who have been re-elected or re-appointed toanother term.
2. Financial report: A financial report summarizing the previous year's financial
activities must be submitted annually using the designated online financial
reporting accounting software. If the Section is unable to obtain financial
records from a Subsection, Chapter, or Affinity Group, it may opt to submit astatement that the subunit has failed to submit a timely financial report andwaive its right to a rebate for that particular subunit. Delinquent subunits may
be subject to probation or even dissolution.
a.
Bank signature card: The bank signature card(s) must be returned to
the IEEE Operations Center for the signature of the IEEE Senior Director –Financial Services before the Section rebate will be released. This is required
for all bank accounts for Sections and their subunits within the US, and thoseunits outside of the US where banking and legal restrictions will allow. The
Section rebate will not be released until all signature cards for the Section and,if applicable, its Subsection(s), Chapter(s), Student Branches, and Affinity
Group(s) have been received at the IEEE Operations Center. Councils are also
required to comply with this policy for the Council’s bank account and that ofany subunits.
b.
An exemption from the signature card requirement may be requested
from the Region Director. Exemptions may only be granted due to local, state,
or federal banking laws, and regulations prohibiting the signature of the IEEE
Senior Director or where the requirements would be prohibitive. To obtain the
exemption form, send an email to Finance-Solutions@ieee.org.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

page 29

c. If a Section or subunit has not changed officers and the IEEE SeniorDirector’s signature is already on the signature card, a new signature card
is not required.
3. Meeting Activity Report(s): Meeting activity reports are key to unit
maintenance and viability. Eligibility requirements shall be met in accordancewith the MGA Operations Manual, Section 9.4.L – Section Reporting
Requirements. To facilitate accurate reporting, a meeting reporting formshould be submitted, via the electronic communication tool provided by MGA,
for each meeting and include the information requested in the form fields.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 3

page 30

4.0

MGA COMMITTEES

4.1

MGA COMMITTEES ________________________________________ESTABLISHMENT

To facilitate the performance of its operational and administrative duties, and to encourage
cooperative efforts and communication among IEEE Member and Geographic Activities(MGA) and IEEE organizational units, the MGA Board may establish committees. The scope,function and composition of each committee is noted in this Operations Manual. The MGA
Board Chair, with the advice and consent of the MGA Board, may establish committees tofacilitate the performance of duties assigned. The MGA Board shall approve the charters of
all MGA committees. The charter for each committee shall specify the processes by which
its chair and members are selected.
MEMBER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Unless specified otherwise, and in accordance with IEEE Bylaws, to be eligible to be a chairor a voting member of any MGA committee, except the Student Activities Committee, theindividual must be a member in good standing and shall be at IEEE Graduate Student
Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade. At the discretion of the MGA Board,
Student Members, when appointed to other MGA committees, may be granted voting
privileges.
In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-105.4, to be Chair or member of the IEEE Admission andAdvancement Committee, the individual must be at Senior Member or Fellow grade.
In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-105.4, to be Chair of the MGA Awards and Recognition
Committee, who also serves as member of the IEEE Awards Board, the individual must be
at Senior Member or Fellow grade.
The Chair-Elect of the IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee shall be at Senior
Member or Fellow grade.
The Chair (or their designee) of the Women in Engineering (WIE) Student Branch Affinity
Group of the Year Award recipient shall be a voting member of the IEEE WIE Committee.
The IEEE Potentials Student Editor shall be a voting member of the Potentials Editorial
Board.
REVIEW OF COMMITTEESAll MGA committees shall be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that their respective
scopes and compositions continue to serve the best interests of the MGA Board and its
membership.
MEETINGS OF MGA COMMITTEES
Meetings shall occur at the call of the committee chair. Provisions shall be made in the
MGA budget for expenses incurred in the work of all MGA committees.
It is recommended that each MGA committee have one face-to-face meeting during theyear and they should take place independently of the IEEE meeting series.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 31

A majority of the voting members of the committee shall constitute a quorum.
The vote of a majority of the votes cast, provided a quorum is present, shall be the actof the committee. The chair shall have no vote unless the vote is by secret ballot or
his/her vote can change the outcome. Robert’s Rules of Order (latest revision) shall be
used to conduct business at meetings of the committee.
All MGA committees are encouraged to take advantage of electronic communication to
conduct business.
The committee may also meet and act upon the vote of its members via
telecommunications equipment, where, in accordance with IEEE Bylaws, all parties
participating in the meeting can hear each other at the same time.
APPOINTMENTS - COMMITTEE CHAIRSThe MGA Nominations and Appointments (N&A) Committee will make recommendations, forappointment by the MGA Board, for the chairs of the following committees at the second
regularly scheduled (typically June) MGA Board meeting of the year:
IEEE Admission and Advancement
MGA Awards and Recognition
MGA Chapter Operations Support
MGA Operations Manual Compliance Committee
MGA ieee.tv Advisory
IEEE Life Members
MGA Member Benefits Portfolio Advisory
MGA Membership Recruitment and Recovery
MGA Potentials Editorial Board
MGA Sections Congress (every three years)
MGA Student Activities
MGA Training
MGA vTools
IEEE Young Professionals
The MGA N&A Committee will prepare candidate slates and the MGA Assembly will selectthe chairs of the following committees:
MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support, who shall be Vice Chair – Geographic Unit
Operations
MGA IT Coordination and Oversight, who shall be Vice Chair – Information Management
MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle, who shall be Vice Chair – Member
Development
The Chair of the MGA Operations Committee shall be the MGA Board Chair-Elect / Vice
President-Elect – MGA, elected by the IEEE Assembly.
The Chair of the MGA Strategic Planning Committee shall be the MGA Board Past Chair.
The Chair of the MGA Nominations and Appointments Committee shall typically be the MGA
Vice President-Elect.
The IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Nominations and Appointments Committee will
recommend a candidate slate for the IEEE WIE Committee (WIEC) Chair-Elect to the WIEMGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 32

Committee as described in the MGA Operations Manual, Section 4.1. The IEEE WIEC ChairElect shall be elected by voting members of IEEE who are also WIE members in goodstanding.
APPOINTMENTS - COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The voting members of each MGA committee shall be recommended by the MGA N&A
Committee and appointed by the MGA Board unless otherwise noted in the committee
charter. The MGA N&A Committee, shall consult with the respective committee chair, VPMGA, and Vice Chairs in conducting the recommendation process. These MGA N&A
appointments shall be completed and presented for MGA Board approval at the last regularlyscheduled (typically November) meeting of the year.
APPOINTMENT OF PAST (COMMITTEE) CHAIRS AS COMMITTEE MEMBERS
In cases where a committee charter states that the Past Chair serves as a member of thecommittee, after the Past Chair has served one year as member, the MGA N&A Committee
has the discretion, when deemed appropriate, to recommend an individual other than the
Past Chair to serve, unless specified otherwise in a committee charter.
TERM OF APPOINTMENT
Unless otherwise specified in the committee charter, the term of appointment shall be forone year, starting 1 January, with reappointment possible for a maximum tenure of threeconsecutive years.
VACANCY
If vacancies occur, they are filled using the methodology originally used to fill that position.
In the event of the incapacity of the chair, the immediate Past Committee Chair shall serveas acting chair until such time as a successor has been identified. In the event of theabsence of the chair, the immediate Past Committee Chair shall serve as acting chair or, if
not available, the voting members of the committee present, from amongst their own, shallselect someone to so serve.
VOTE TO REMOVE A MEMBER OF A MGA COMMITTEE
A member of a MGA committee may be removed as a member of that committee, with orwithout cause, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the MGA Board
present at the time of the vote, provided a quorum is present.
AD HOC COMMITTEESAll MGA committee chairs may create ad hoc committees to address specific issues or deal
with special situations as deemed appropriate. The chair of such ad hoc committee shallnormally be a member of the committee and shall be appointed by the committee chair.

4.2

COORDINATION OF MGA COMMITTEES ___________________________COMMITTEES

The following committees shall report to MGA through the responsible MGA Board member:Operations Manual Compliance
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

Past MGA Board Chair
page 33

Geographic Unit Operations Support
IT Coordination and OversightMember Engagement and Life Cycle
Nominations and Appointments
Operations
Strategic Planning

Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Vice Chair – Information Management
Vice Chair – Member Development
MGA Vice President-ElectMGA Board Chair-Elect
Past MGA Board ChairSUBCOMMITTEES ASSIGNED TO THE MGA OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
The following subcommittees shall report to the MGA Operations Committee.
FinanceIEEE.TV Advisory
Member Benefits Portfolio Advisory
Membership Recruitment and Recovery
Potentials Editorial Board
Training
Sections Congress
SUBCOMMITTEES ASSIGNED TO THE MGA MEMBER ENGAGEMENT AND LIFE CYCLECOMMITTEE
The following subcommittees shall report to the MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle
Committee.
IEEE Admission and Advancement
Awards and Recognition
IEEE Life Members
Student Activities
IEEE Women in Engineering
IEEE Young Professionals
SUBCOMMITTEES ASSIGNED TO THE MGA IT COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
The following subcommittee shall report to the MGA IT Coordination and OversightCommittee.
vTools4.3

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION COMMITTEE __________________________
GENERAL

The MGA Awards and Recognition Committee (ARC) shall report to the MGA Board throughthe MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC). Changes to this chartershall be endorsed by MELCC and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
To promote, recognize, and reward excellence in MGA operations and IEEE geographic unit
activities (Regions, Councils, Areas, Sections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, Student Branches,
and Student Branch Chapters).

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 34FUNCTIONS
Reviews all proposals for the establishment of new awards or revision of existing awards
by MGA Committees, Regions, Areas, Councils, Sections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, orStudent Branches within the organization of the MGA Board. Ensures all new awards orrevisions of existing awards that require MGA Board approval are endorsed by the MELCC
accordingly.
Develop and implement award and recognition programs and procedures designed forsponsorship specifically by MGA.
Develop, coordinate, and implement awards and recognition programs for use by MGA
and its organizational units to recognize individual IEEE members and organizational
units.
Develop, coordinate, and implement awards for use by components of MGA to recognize
support provided by firms, divisions of firms, or individuals, which enable volunteers ofIEEE to carry out their assignments.
Develop and implement suitable documentation of awards and recognitions presented
by MGA and its components.
Develop procedures for publicizing the availability of awards and recognitions; provide
assistance in preparing nominations and assist in affording appropriate media exposure
to awardees.
Develop consolidated awards and recognitions procedures applicable to MGA and its
components and ensure integration of the elements into appropriate guides andregulations.
Develop budgeting procedures for MGA awards and serve as a resource on various
funding processes as may be available and permitted in support of the awards programs.
Serve as an action body within MGA, relating to the IEEE Awards Board programs;
represent MGA on the IEEE Awards Board and its subordinate bodies; represent MGA on
awards planning and policy development councils; coordinate IEEE awards andrecognition programs within MGA and act as an information source on IEEE awards andrecognition programs for components of MGA.
Stimulate, coordinate, and assist in the administration of scholarships or awards
programs within the Region and Section organizations, as may be proposed therein, or
as may be delegated by the IEEE Awards Board or the IEEE Board of Directors.
Solicit and evaluate MGA award nominations and recommend award recipients to the
MGA Board.
Establish awards via MELCC.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following voting members:
•
•
•

Chair
Past Chair
Four (4) members

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 35

One (1) individual shall be from Regions 1-6, and one (1) individual shall be from Regions
7-10.
One (1) individual shall be a Past Region Director or Region Director-Elect, and one (1)individual shall be a Young Professional.
Corresponding Members (Non-Voting)• Region Awards Chairs from Regions 1-10 (appointed by Region Directors)
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.4

FINANCE COMMITTEE ______________________________________
GENERAL

The MGA Finance Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA Operations
Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsed by the MGA Operations Committee
and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The MGA Finance Committee serves as an oversight and advisory body. The Committee
shall establish financial goals and procedures for the MGA operations, develop andimplement the MGA budget development process, and project and monitor the financial
performance of member and geographic activities.
FUNCTIONS
Keep the MGA Board apprised of IEEE financial matters as appropriate.
Review financial performance of the MGA Board and MGA committees, apprise the MGA
Chair/Vice President – MGA of any significant deviations from budget, and recommend
courses of action when appropriate.
Work with the Region Directors to review the Regional Allocation Formula.
Work with MGA staff to prepare and present to the MGA Board the proposed budget for
MGA.
Monitor the performance of the overall MGA budget.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following members:•

Voting Members, MGA Treasurer, who shall serve as ChairMGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 36

•••

Past Chair
Two (2) Region Directors
MGA Secretary

Corresponding Members (Non-Voting)• Region Treasurers from Regions 1-10
• IEEE Women in Engineering Committee Treasurer
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect and Past MGA Board Chair shall receive allannouncements and other documentation that is distributed to the Committee, butparticipation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.5

GEOGRAPHIC UNIT OPERATIONS SUPPORT COMMITTEE ________________
GENERAL

The MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support (GUOS) Committee shall report to the MGA
Board through the Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations. Changes to this charter shallbe approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee is responsible for design, development, and implementation of the supportmodel for the geographic units. It shall also recommend policy for effective operation of
the geographic units.
FUNCTIONS
Oversight of geographic unit operations and the support structures, develop parameters
to be included in the funding model for supporting the geographic units (for MGA FinanceCommittee to use in allocating resources).
Monitor and promote geographic unit activities related to MGA objectives (member
engagement, professional development, public imperatives, etc.).
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of no more than nine (9) voting members:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Chair, who shall be Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Past Chair
MGA Chapter Operations Support Committee Chair
Society, one (1) representative appointed by the Vice President – Technical Activities
Technical Chapter, one (1) representative appointed by the Vice President –Technical
Activities
Four (4) representatives. The ideal committee composition has experience in:o Regiono Sectiono Affinity GroupMGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 37ooStudent
Region Vitality Coordinator

The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair and MGA Secretaryshall receive all announcements and other documentation that is distributed to theCommittee, but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Travel expenses for individuals to participate in committee activities shall be funded by theappointing organizational units.
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).
COMMITTEES REPORTING TO THE MGA GEOGRAPHIC UNIT OPERATIONS SUPPORTCOMMITTEEThe MGA Chapter Operations Support (CHOS) Committee shall be a committee of the MGA
Geographic Unit Operations Support Committee and will report to the MGA Board throughthe Vice Chair, GUOS.

4.6

IEEE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE ________________________
GENERAL

The IEEE Young Professionals Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA
Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC). Changes to this charter shall beendorsed by MELCC and approved by the MGA Board and the IEEE Technical Activities
Board.
SCOPE
To serve the interests of the members of IEEE characterized as Young Professionals.
FUNCTIONS
The functions of the Committee shall consist of ensuring that Young Professional
activities are relevant to members and IEEE. Notably, the Committee will:a. Promote strategies to facilitate the transition from Student Member to higher
grade and to work with the MGA Student Activities Committee to achieve this goal.
Also promote strategies to encourage the retention of Young Professional
members.
b. Promote and coordinate the establishment and support of Young Professionals
Affinity Groups.
c. Advocate IEEE Young Professional-specific benefits and services to the appropriate
IEEE units and at conferences, symposia, and similar events.
d. Encourage recognition of Young Professional activities performed by individuals orunits and promote Young Professional awards at all levels.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 38

e. Assist the development of volunteer leaders among Young Professional members
and promote their representation in appropriate IEEE organizational units.
The function of the Region Young Professionals Coordinator is to develop Young
Professional activities in his/her defined IEEE Region. Specifically, IEEE Region Young
Professionals Coordinators will:a. Encourage and help form Young Professionals Affinity Groups in their respective
Regions by mentoring Young Professional leaders, assisting in the establishment
of Young Professionals Affinity Groups, and maintaining communication links with
Young Professional leaders in their Regions.
b. Recruit leaders by working with the Region Student Activities Committee to
identify future Young Professional leaders.
c. Act as a liaison between local Young Professional members regionally and promote
their activities to their Region leadership.
d. Collect and forward information on best practices to the Committee.
e. Inform local Young Professional members of IEEE (Young Professionals, MGA,TAB, etc.) meetings and encourage their attendance.
f. Promote participation in IEEE activities (e.g., conferences, Chapters, Young
Professionals groups, etc.) to Young Professional members at various events.
g. Provide reports to the respective Region Director and Region Committee on Young
Professional activities.
The function of Young Professionals Committee Vice Chairs is to communicate their focus
area vision, strategy, and tactics. They provide direction and continuity for working
groups in meeting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound goals with
progress reported to the Chair, in writing, on a quarterly basis. Young Professionals Vice
Chairs are meant to support Young Professionals and MGA endorsed activities andprograms.
The Young Professionals Vice Chairs are outlined as follows:a. The Vice Chair, Products and Services, focuses on Member Development. He or
she is responsible for providing the Young Professional perspective as part of thedesign, development, and evaluation of products, services, and programs in IEEE
organizational units which bolster member engagement, satisfaction, retention,and recovery.
b. The Vice Chair, Leadership and Training, focuses on Volunteer Development. Heor she ensures that meaningful leadership opportunities and associated training,support, and succession planning are available to empower volunteers in carryingout their duties.
c. The Vice Chair, Strategic Partnerships, focuses on Partner Development. He or
she fosters internal and external collaboration between IEEE Societies, Chapters,
and organizational units that encourage industry relations, enabling corporate
partnerships and sponsorships.
d. The Vice Chair, Communications and Marketing, focuses on Market Development.
He or she continually analyzes and disseminates actionable membership data,
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 39

oversees Young Professional communications, and stewards Young Professionalawareness, driving both member recruitment and retention.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following members:
Voting Members• Chair• Past Chair• Up to three (3) members, appointed by the Vice President – Technical Activities• Up to three (3) members, appointed by the MGA Board• Ten (10) Region Young Professionals Coordinators from Regions 1-10 (appointed by
Region Directors)
Corresponding Members (Non-Voting)• GOLDRush Editor-in-Chief• Young Professionals working group leaders• Young Professionals representatives and liaisons to technical Societies and Councils• Any Young Professionals representative or liaison to other IEEE organizational units,
including EAB/PSPB/USA/WIEThe MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
APPOINTMENTS AND TERMS OF OFFICEOf the three (3) members appointed by the VP-TA, one should be a Society President orDivision Director (or Society President-Elect or Division Director-Elect), one should be amember from Regions 7-10, and one should be from Regions 1-6. At least two (2) of
the three (3) members should be Young Professional members.
Of the three (3) MGA appointments, one should be a Region Director (or Region DirectorElect), one should be a member from Regions 7-10, and one should be from Regions 16. Of the three (3), at least two (2) should be members of the Young Professionals
Affinity Group.
The respective Region Directors shall appoint the Region Young Professionals
Coordinators, who shall serve terms consistent with their Region’s charter.
The Vice Chairs shall be appointed by the Committee Chair from among the voting
members of the Committee.
They shall serve one year in the position withreappointment permissible, for a maximum tenure of three (3) consecutive years.
FINANCIAL SUPPORTExpenses for individuals to participate in Committee activities shall be funded as follows:a. The Technical Activities Board shall fund the three (3) TA appointees.
b. The MGA Board shall fund the three (3) MGA appointees, the Past Chair, and the
Chair.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 40

c. The Regions shall fund their respective Region Young Professionals Coordinators.
d. Organizational units that desire representation at the annual Committee meetingshall fund non-voting members at their discretion.
The MGA Board shall cover expenses incurred in the work of the Committee.
Administrative support for the Committee will be provided by the MGA department.
REPORTSA report outlining business transacted shall be provided at each MGA Board and TAB
meeting.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).
Formal meetings are conducted in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order.

4.7

IT COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ____________________
GENERAL

The MGA Information Technology Coordination and Oversight (ITCO) Committee shallreport to the MGA Board through the Vice Chair – Information Management. Changes tothis charter shall be approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee shall be responsible for collecting IT requirements for MGA andcoordinating/advocating their design, development, deployment, training, and usage.
FUNCTIONS
Provide leadership, coordination, and oversight for automation projects to support
membership and the geographic unit structure.
Provide oversight for enterprise solutions such as Entity Web Hosting.
Consult on business rules.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of no more than six (6) voting members who represent a crosssection of MGA and IEEE as it impacts the member:••••

Chair, who shall be the MGA Vice Chair – Information Management
Past Chair
Three (3) members who will not be serving as members of the vTools Committee atthe same time.
Chair, MGA vTools Committee

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 41

To the greatest extent possible, the member appointments should reflect the following: one
or more members who are from R8-10; one or more members who are current or pastmembers of the MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee; one or moremembers who are current or past members of the MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support
Committee; one or more members who are familiar with issues and activities related toYoung Professional members; one or more members with user interface experience; one ormore members with development experience; one or more members with IT architecture
experience.
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, and MGA Secretary
receive all announcements and other documentation that is distributed to the Committee,
but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.8

MEMBER ENGAGEMENT AND LIFE CYCLE COMMITTEE __________________
GENERAL

The MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC) shall report to the MGA
Board through the Vice Chair – Member Development. Changes to this charter shall beapproved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
Responsible for establishing programs which facilitate growth and development of themember and IEEE.
FUNCTIONSThe Committee is responsible for recommending policy and the encouragement across IEEE
for member pipeline modeling, design, and development; coordinates the execution andmeasurement of the models; develops the associated IT requirements. Areas of Committee
activity include Student Engagement, Young Professionals, Life members, Admission andAdvancement, Awards and Recognition and Pre-University.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of no more than ten (10) voting members:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Chair, who shall be the MGA Vice Chair – Member Development
Past Chair
One (1) Society representative, appointed by the Vice President – Technical Activities
One (1) Educational Activities representative, appointed by the Vice President –Educational Activities
IEEE Admission and Advancement Committee Chair or their designee
MGA Awards and Recognition Committee Chair or their designee
IEEE Life Members Committee Chair or their designee
MGA Student Activities Committee Chair or their designee

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 42••IEEE Women in Engineering Committee Chair or their designee
IEEE Young Professional Committee Chair or their designee

The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair and MGA Secretaryshall receive all announcements and other documentation that is distributed to theCommittee, but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Travel expenses for individuals to participate in Committee activities shall be funded by theappointing organizational units.
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.9

MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT AND RECOVERY COMMITTEE _______________
GENERAL

The MGA Membership Recruitment and Recovery (MRR) Committee shall report to the MGA
Board through the MGA Operations Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsedby the MGA Operations Committee and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
Shall inspire and coordinate volunteer activities worldwide, with the objective of increasing
and improving member recruitment, and arrears-recovery of IEEE memberships.
FUNCTIONS
Build and expand a worldwide team of IEEE volunteers to advance MRR objectives.
Provide training and guidance to participating volunteers in cooperation with IEEE Center
for Leadership Excellence.
Develop and promote best-practices, and ensure awareness of, and access to, forums
and tools.
Mentor volunteers on how to develop and optimize their MRR activities in alignment with
the IEEE membership calendar.
Set goals for yearly IEEE membership increases in membership recruitment andrecovery.
Provide recommendations for new or improved benefits.
Provide support to all committees that are involved with recruitment and recovery.
Incorporate the MGA vision, mission, and values and principles in the performance ofthe MRR functions and activities.
Collaborate with the MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee and IEEE staff
to develop and execute membership marketing and sales plans, forums and tools, andbenefit education campaigns.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 43

The Committee shall implement these responsibilities by emphasizing the value and benefitsof IEEE and Society membership, involving all IEEE organizational units and staff incoordinated membership development activities, encouraging, motivating, and recognizing
volunteerism, and insuring that the needs and concerns of membership development are
identified and understood.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following members:
Voting Members• Chair• Past Chair• Ten (10) Region Member Development (MD) Coordinators from Regions 1-10
(appointed by Region Directors)• Two (2) members, appointed by the Vice President – Technical Activities
Corresponding Members (Non-Voting)• Chair, MGA MELCC• Chair, IEEE Conferences Committee• One (1) representative, appointed by the MGA Student Activities Committee Chair• One (1) representative, appointed by the IEEE Young Professionals Committee Chair• One (1) representative, appointed by IEEE Women in Engineering Committee Chair• One (1) representative, appointed by the IEEE Standards Association President• One (1) representative, appointed by IEEE-USA President• All MD Chairs of Societies, Sections, and Chapters
Staff Support• IEEE MGA staff lead, Membership Development
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Committee meetings and activities shall be facilitated by conference call and/or webcast.
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.10

NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE _____________________

GENERAL
The MGA Nominations and Appointments (N&A) Committee shall report to the MGA Board
through the MGA Board Chair-Elect. Changes to this charter shall be approved by the MGA
Board.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 44SCOPEThe Committee shall be responsible for managing the nominations and appointments
process and identifying qualified candidates based on the common characteristics and skills
defined for elected and appointed positions of the MGA Board and its committees.
FUNCTIONS
Prepare and present to the MGA Assembly a slate of candidates for appointment to thefollowing positions:
•
•
•
•
•

MGA Board Chair-Elect/Vice President-Elect – MGA (The MGA Assembly shallselect and submit a slate of candidates for the position of Vice President-Elect– MGA to the IEEE Assembly).
MGA Treasurer
Vice Chair – Member Development
Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Vice Chair – Information Management

Prepare and present to the MGA Board a slate of candidates for appointed positions for
MGA committees.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following voting members:
•
•
•

Chair
Vice Chair
Six (6) members

Corresponding Members• There shall be no corresponding members of the MGA N&A Committee.
The MGA Secretary shall receive all announcements and other documentation that is
distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
APPOINTMENTS AND TERMS OF OFFICEThe Chair shall be the MGA Vice President-Elect, whose term shall be for one year. In
the event of incapacity or conflict of interest of the Chair, the Vice Chair shall serve as
Chair and the MGA Board shall fill the position of Vice Chair. If the Vice Chair cannot
assume the position of Chair for any reason, the MGA Board shall then appoint a Chair.
The Chair will also serve concurrently on the IEEE N&A Committee and may not
resign from one position without also resigning from the other.
The Committee Vice Chair shall be the Past MGA Board Chair and shall also serve
as a member. The term shall be one year.
Excluding the Chair and Vice Chair, Committee members may not simultaneously serveon the MGA Board.
Excluding the Chair and Vice Chair, the is (6) members shall each serve a two-year termcommencing 1 January, in accordance with the following:

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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a. At least one (1) member shall be from Regions 7-10 and at least one (1) member
shall be from Regions 1-6.
b. At least one (1) member shall be a Young Professional.
c. Individuals may not serve more than four years on the Committee to provide thewidest opportunity for qualified members to serve Committees of IEEE, as statedin the IEEE policies and procedures manual section 13.2 Nominations of
Candidates for Elective Office and Committees of IEEE.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.11

POTENTIALS EDITORIAL BOARD _______________________________

GENERAL
The MGA Potentials Editorial Board shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA
Operations Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsed by the MGA Operations
Committee and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
To provide undergraduate and graduate students who are members of IEEE with an IEEE
publication to address global issues, career development topics, and other topics,
emphasizing the value of continuing IEEE membership after graduation. These aremembers of IEEE with an interest in the IEEE designated fields or related professions, andIEEE needs to provide them with opportunities for educational, technical, and professional
development.
FUNCTIONS
Focus on the student members’ concerns and responsibility as they will become working
members of the profession.
Continuously improve the quality of the publication, coordinating efforts with the MGA
Board and the IEEE Publications, Services and Products Board.
Support IEEE strategic goals and objectives and increase awareness among students indeveloping their ability to enhance the quality of life in their community.
Make current and prospective IEEE student members aware of the nature andresponsibilities of the engineering profession and to provide and promote opportunities
for educational, technical, and professional development.
Provide a vehicle to help improve retention of student members while in college andafter graduation.
Promote networking and the importance of relationship building to students.
Provide vehicle for communication of IEEE activities to the individual Region committees.

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COMPOSITION
The Board shall consist of the following members:
Voting Members• IEEE Potentials Editor-in-Chief• Up to six (6) Associate Editors whose responsibilities shall be to:o Solicit or write articles;o Initiate and manage theme issues;o Review submitted articles;o Attend and actively participate in Board meetings; ando Perform such other duties as are assigned from time to time by the Board.
• Student Editor whose responsibility shall be to:o Serve as the voice of student members,o Work under the guidance of the Editor-in-Chief, ando Otherwise perform many of the same duties as the Associate Editors.
• MGA Student Activities Committee Chair
Non-Voting Members• Managing Editor, IEEE Potentials
Corresponding Members (Non-Voting) – may serve as appropriate by appointment of thevolunteer editor
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Board, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
APPOINTMENTS AND TERMS OF OFFICE
1. Associate Editors shall be appointed initially for a one-year (1) term. Reappointment ispermissible for a second term of two (2) years for a total maximum of three (3)consecutive years on the board. The Potentials Editorial Board Chair will provide
recommendations on the reappointment of the Associate Editors to the MGA N&A
Committee.
2. The Student Editor shall be an IEEE Student or Graduate Student Member for the timeof service. They are recommended, nominated, and appointed by the IEEE Potentials
Editorial Board for a one-year term. Reappointment is permissible for a one-year term
for a total maximum of two (2) consecutive years on the board.
a. The Student Editor selection process includes a written application, areview ofcandidate writing samples and a subset of the applications will include an interview
by members of the Editorial Board.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

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4.12

SECTIONS CONGRESS COMMITTEE ______________________________

GENERAL
The MGA Sections Congress Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA
Operations Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsed by the MGA Operations
Committee and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee is responsible for the organization and publicity of the IEEE Sections
Congress. Sections Congress includes a 3-year cycle of events, the first- and second-years
events are held virtually concluding with the in-person Congress in year 3.
FUNCTIONSThe SC Committee shall oversee the applicable events and make recommendations to
the MGA Board for approval. The SC Committee shall determine the overall structure foractivities, such as volunteer participation, speakers, program, fundraising, theme, andevents, subject to approval by the MGA Board.
The SC Committee shall have a Program Committee, Fundraising Committee, and a Local
Organizing Committee. The SC Committee Chair shall appoint the chairs of the Program
Committee (SCPC), Fundraising Committee and the Local Organizing Committee(SCLOC), subject to approval by the MGA Board.
The SC Program Committee (SCPC), in consultation with the SC Committee, shalloversee the development, coordination of the tracks and sessions including speakers forboth virtual programs and the in-person program. Keynote speakers shall be approvedby the SC Committee. The SCPC Chair, in consultation with the SC Committee and the
MGA Operations Committee, will appoint the additional program members:• One (1) Keynote Coordinator• One (1) Virtual Program Chair who shall be responsible for the coordination ofboth virtual programs• Two (2) Program Committee Members
The SC Fundraising Committee shall be responsible for working with the Sections
Congress Committee and IEEE MGA Staff to develop fundraising strategies and benefits,
and to identify potential sponsors and exhibitors. The Fundraising Chair, in consultation
with the SC Committee, shall appoint members to the Fundraising Committee which shall
include individuals to recruit exhibitors and sponsors.
The SC Local Organizing Committee (SCLOC) shall provide recommendations andassistance with the overall planning and logistics for the local activities associated with
the Congress under the guidance of the Sections Congress Committee, IEEE MGA Staffand MCE. The SCLOC Chair, in consultation with the SC Committee, shall appoint
members to the Local Organizing Committee which shall include individuals to recruitand manage the teams of volunteers who assist with the in-person Congress.
The SC Committee shall be responsible for recommending the in-person Sections
Congress location and venue. The location shall alternate between two areas. Area 1
shall consist of all locations within Regions 1-7, and 9. Area 2 shall consist of all locations
within Regions 8 and 10.
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The location and venue are approved by the MGA Board based on the following schedule:
a. Normally no later than the June MGA Board meeting prior to the start of the 3
year cycle, the MGA Board confirms the Area for the next in-person Congressand staff begins the proposal process for locations and venues based on theidentified rotation. Size of the required venue, accessibility to transportation,
date of availability and the budget impact shall be considered when soliciting
proposals.
b. Following the Area being confirmed, normally no later than the November MGA
Board meeting, the top locations and venues within the selected Area arepresented to the MGA Board for selection and approval.
c. The next location and venue are announced at the current in-person Sections
Congress.

COMPOSITION

The Committee shall consist of the following members:
Voting Members• Sections Congress Committee Chair (for upcoming Congress)• Sections Congress Program Committee Chair• Fundraising Committee Chair• Sections Congress Local Organizing Committee Chair• Past Committee Chair• Vice President – MGA• Chair – MGA Training Committee• Chair – MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support Committee• Host Region Director or their designee
Additional subject matter experts (SMEs) or advisors may be consulted as needed.
The MGA Secretary, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, shall receive allannouncements and other documentation that is distributed to the Committee, butparticipation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
In the event of the incapacity of the Chair, the Vice President – MGA, in consultation with
the MGA Secretary, shall appoint a new Chair. In the event of the absence of the Chair,
the immediate Past Chair shall serve as acting chair or, if none, the voting members of theCommittee present, from amongst their own, shall select someone to so serve. The acting
chair shall notify the MGA Board in a timely manner and continue to serve until further
directed by the MGA Board.
APPOINTMENTS AND TERMS OF OFFICE
1. The following Committee member positions serve for a three year term by apointment:
Sections Congress Committee Chair, Sections Congress Local Organizing Committee
Chair, Sections Congress Program Committee Chair, Fundraising Committee Chair and
the Past Sections Congress Committee Chair.
2. The following Committee members serve on the Sections Congress Committee for thelength of time they are serving in their applicable position: Vice President – MGA, Chair– MGA Training Committee, Chair – MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support
Committee, Host Region Director or Director-Elect.

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3. The SC Chair is appointed at the June MGA Board meeting the year prior to the start of
the three-year Sections Congress program.
4. The Program Chair, Fundraising Chair and Local Organizing Chairs are appointed at theNovember MGA Board Meeting following the appointment of the SC Chair.

MEETINGS
Meetings of the Sections Congress Steering Committee occur at the call of the Sections
Congress Chair. Normally the committee meets on a quarterly basis via conference call.
Face-to-face meetings will be scheduled as required with reasonable travel expenses for
Meetings of the SCPC occur at the call of the SCPC Chair. Normally the committee shallmeet on a monthly basis via conference call. Face-to-face meetings will be scheduled
as required with reasonable travel expenses for committee members within the budget.
Meetings of the SC Fundraising Committee occur at the call of the Fundraising Chair.
Normally the committee shall meet on a monthly basis via a conference call.
Meetings of the SCLOC occur at the call of the SCLOC Chair. Normally, beginning theyear of Sections Congress, the committee meets on a monthly basis at a local venue, orvia conference call.
FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
1. The SC Committee is responsible to prepare the proposed budget for applicable events
subject to approval by MGA FinCom and the MGA Board.
2. Funds are allocated in the MGA budget for meetings of the SC Committee and SC
Program Committee.
3. The MGA department will provide administrative support for all SC Committees.
REPORTSThe SC Committee Chair is to provide written reports at each MGA Board meeting. If
necessary, the Chair will attend as needed the last meeting of the MGA Operations
Committee and the MGA Board prior to Congress to provide information and reports. The
SC Committee is to provide a final report at the conclusion of the in-person congress.

4.13

STUDENT ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE ______________________________

GENERAL
The MGA Student Activities Committee (SAC) shall report to the MGA Board through the
MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC). Changes to this chartershall be endorsed by MELCC and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
To provide undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest in the IEEE
designated fields or related professions with opportunities for educational, technical, andprofessional development, emphasizing the value of continuing IEEE membership.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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FUNCTIONSProvide recommendations on overall policy and procedures regarding the IEEE student
program, student services and other activities, and student members in accordance withIEEE Bylaws and IEEE Policies.
Continuously improve the quality of student membership activities, benefits, andservices.
Make current and prospective IEEE student members aware of the nature andresponsibilities of the engineering profession and provide and promote opportunities foreducational, technical, and professional development.
Represent within IEEE the interests and concerns of students worldwide and facilitate
interaction between Student Branches and IEEE organizational units.
Promote networking and the importance of relationship building to students.
Increase synergy between IEEE/MGA/SAC, Young Professionals Committees, and IEEE
Societies to promote the value of continued membership in IEEE after graduation.
Foster and support Student Branch development and outreach to prospective student
members.
Provide a vehicle for efficient communication of student activities to the individual Regioncommittees.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following members:
Voting Members• Chair• Vice Chair, Membership• Vice Chair, Programs• Past Chair• Industrial Representative• Student Professional Awareness Activities Subcommittee Chair• IEEEXtreme Competition Subcommittee Chair• Awards and Recognition Subcommittee Chair• Up to Three (3) Members – Initiative Leads• Ten (10) Region Student Activities Committee (RSAC) Chairs from Regions 110(appointed by Region Directors)• Ten (10) Region Student Representatives (RSR) from Regions 1-10 (appointed by
Region Directors)• IEEE-HKN appointed member, who shall be the IEEE-HKN Student Representative on
the IEEE-HKN Board of Governors• Branch Chapter Representative, appointed in consultation with the Technical
Activities Board (TAB) Chair• Branch Chapter Student Representative, appointed in consultation with the TAB Chair• IEEE Potentials Editor (Publications, Products and Services Board Liaison)• IEEE Potentials Student Editor• Technical Activities Board Representative, appointed by the TAB Chair• IEEE-USA Representative, appointed by the IEEE-USA President

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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•IEEE Young Professionals Committee Representative, appointed by the IEEE Young
Professionals Committee Chair

The candidates for the SAC Vice Chair positions are identified and appointed through the
MGA N&A process and assigned to their position by the SAC Chair.
The IEEEXtreme Subcommittee Chair position requires previous experience with the
IEEEXtreme Competition.
The Awards and Recognition Subcommittee Chair position requires previous experience with
an IEEE or MGA Awards and Recognition program.
The Student Professional Awareness Activities Subcommittee Chair position requires
previous experience with IEEE or MGA Student Professional Awareness Activities.
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
Corresponding Members (Non-Voting) – may serve as appropriate by appointment of Chair.
COMMITTEES/SUB-COMMITTEES/AD HOC COMMITTEES
Reporting to the Committee shall be the following subcommittees:•

Region Student Representative (RSR) Steering Subcommittee - Comprised of the ten(10) Region Student Representatives. The function of this subcommittee is to provide
recommendations for SAC approval of motions addressing policy, procedures,
services, and activities concerning SAC functions emphasizing the point of view of
the RSRs.

•

Region Student Activities Chair (RSAC) Steering Subcommittee - Comprised of theten (10) Region Student Activities Chairs. The function of this subcommittee is toprovide recommendations for SAC approval of motions addressing policy, procedures,
services, and activities concerning SAC functions emphasizing the point of view of
the RSACs.

•

Awards and Recognition Subcommittee - The function of this subcommittee is toprovide recommendations for SAC approval of motions addressing policy, content,
and issues regarding IEEE student awards and recognition programs.

•

Branch Leadership Training Subcommittee - The function of this subcommittee is toprovide recommendations for SAC approval of motions addressing relevancy,
content, and policy issues regarding the Student Branch Leadership Training
program.

•Student Professional Awareness Activities Subcommittee - The function of thissubcommittee is to provide recommendations for SAC approval of motions addressing
relevancy, content, and policy issues regarding the Student Professional Awarenessprograms and to coordinate, approve, and fund, as needed, student professionalawareness activities, including technical awareness, with emphasis on Regions 7-10.

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•Potentials Magazine Subcommittee - The function of this subcommittee is to provide
recommendations for SAC approval of motions addressing content, relevancy, andpolicy issues concerning the IEEE Potentials magazine.

•

Electronic Communications Subcommittee - The function of this subcommittee is tofacilitate SAC in fulfilling its functions, as stated in the SAC charter, in the mosteffective way possible via electronic communications. This subcommittee will also
provide recommendations on content, policy, and procedures and services associatedwith the IEEE website contest and the IEEE Student Concourse.

•

IEEEXtreme Competition Subcommittee - The function of this subcommittee is to
execute the contest and provide recommendations to SAC related to the IEEEXtreme
24 hour programming competition..

FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
1. Funding shall be provided to the Chair, Past Chair, Vice Chair, Membership, Vice Chair,
Programs, Student Professional Awareness Activities Subcommittee Chair,
IEEEXtreme Competition Chair, Industrial Representative, Awards and Recognition
Subcommittee Chair, Members - Initiative Leads, and the IEEE Potentials Editor for
attendance at the annual SAC meeting.
2. The Regions shall fund their respective Region Student Representatives and Region
Student Activities Committee Chairs for expenses incurred by attending the Committee
meeting.
3. IEEE-HKN shall fund the IEEE-HKN appointed member for expenses incurred byattending the Committee meeting.
4. The Young Professionals Committee shall fund the Young Professionals Representativefor expenses incurred by attending the Committee meeting.
5. The Technical Activities Board (TAB) shall fund the Branch Chapter Representative,
Branch Chapter Student Representative, and Technical Activities Board Representativefor expenses incurred by attending the Committee meeting.
6. IEEE-USA shall fund the IEEE-USA Representative for expenses incurred by attending
the Committee meeting.
7. IEEE Potentials shall fund the IEEE Potentials Student Editor for expenses incurred byattending the Committee meeting.
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
Meetings, voting Procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in
the MGA Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

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4.15

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE _____________________________

GENERAL
The MGA Strategic Planning Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the Past MGA
Board Chair. Changes to this charter shall be approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee shall develop MGA strategic plans in alignment with the IEEE strategicplanning process establishing broad goals for future years.
FUNCTIONS••••This Committee shall review strategic plans on an ongoing basis and recommend
revisions as necessary for approval by the MGA Board, in alignment with IEEE’s
strategic plan.
It shall establish and monitor metrics to assess progress towards achieving strategic
objectives.
It shall identify and evaluate matters of a strategic nature.
It shall report to the MGA Board on the status of activities and initiatives aligned withthe strategic plan and other strategic issues.

COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of no more than eight (8) voting members who represent themember perspective across-sections of the MGA and the IEEE:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Chair, who shall be the Past MGA Board Chair
MGA Vice President-ElectMGA Vice President
MGA Treasurer
MGA Secretary (non-voting)Up to two (2) members with outside perspective (e.g. experience as TA Vice President(chapters, conferences, society memberships) with staggered two year terms
appointed by MGA Vice President
Up to two (2) Members at Large with staggered two-year terms with consideration ofdiversity to include representation of underserved segments such as Young
Professionals, Women In Engineering and underserved geographical areas.
Members at Large shall be appointed by the MGA Board upon recommendation of the
MGA Nominations and Appointments Committee.

ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

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4.16

IEEE ADMISSION AND ADVANCEMENT COMMITTEE ___________________

GENERAL
The IEEE Admission and Advancement (A&A) Committee shall report to the MGA Board
through the MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee. Changes to this chartershall be endorsed by MELCC and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee shall implement IEEE policies, rules, and procedures related to admission,
grade assignment, and grade advancement, and for reinstatement of membership in
accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-109.2.
FUNCTIONSIn accordance with IEEE Bylaws, the Committee shall be responsible for the processing anddisposition of all applications for admission to membership and for advancement in grade
except Honorary Member and Fellow grades. The Committee may delegate to the Executive
Director's appointed representative (Managing Director – MGA) authority to elect or transfer
applicants to the grade of Student, Associate, or Member when there is sufficient evidence
that requirements have been fulfilled. (reference IEEE Bylaws I-105, I-106, I-107)
The Committee shall be responsible for the development of procedures and implementationof policies, in accordance with IEEE Bylaws, governing:
Processing of applications for membership in IEEE
Processing of applications for readmission/reinstatement to membership in IEEE
Initial assignment of grade for new members
Advancement in grade (except for Fellow or Honorary Member grades)
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of twelve (12) voting members:
•
•
•

Chair
Past Chair
Ten (10) members - one (1) representative from each Region, selected by the Region
Director, in consultation with the MGA N&A Committee, and approved by the MGA
Board

All members of the Committee shall be of Fellow or Senior Member grade.
Approximately three new members should be appointed annually to provide continuity
among the membership.
The members of the Committee may select a Vice Chair from among their members.
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements that are distributed
to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 55SENIOR MEMBER REVIEW PANELSAs a function of Committee business, ad hoc Senior Member Review Panels shall meet
periodically to review applications for elevation to Senior Member grade. More information
about the Review Panels is provided in the A&A Operations Manual.
MEETINGSBusiness of the Committee, except for the Review Panels, should be transacted by electronicmeans including telephone conference, web conference, and electronic mail. Meetings shalloccur at the call of the Chair.
FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORTExpenses for the Chair or his/her designee and costs associated with each of the Review
Panel meetings shall be funded by MGA. In years when the incoming Chair is a new
appointee, that appointee’s attendance at two Review Panels following appointment shallbe funded.
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.17

MEMBER BENEFITS PORTFOLIO ADVISORY COMMITTEE ________________

GENERAL
The MGA Member Benefits Portfolio Advisory Committee (MBPAC) shall report to the MGA
Board through the MGA Operations Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsedby the MGA Operations Committee and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
MBPAC shall provide advice and recommendations for the composition of IEEE’s member
benefits portfolio excluding technical Society benefits.
MBPAC will coordinate withorganizational units to review and assess member benefits and recommend to the MGA
Board the adoption or removal of such benefits based upon a formal benefits development
and assessment process. MBPAC shall act as advisors to the Member Benefits and Services
Assessment Team (MBSAT), a cross functional team of IEEE professional staff, on thedevelopment and implementation of the member benefits development and life-cycle
process. The member discounts roadmap and the career services roadmap will bemonitored under this committee as well.
•If an IEEE product (such as Xplore, conferences, journals) is offered with an individual
member sale option, then the MBPAC may assess and provide feedback pertaining to
the member benefit.

•

If a Section or Region develops a benefit to serve a local market, then the benefit
may be reviewed by the MBPAC for applicability to the global portfolio of member
benefits and will be reviewed by the professional staff for adherence to IEEE Strategic
Sourcing guidelines for contract law and administration, IEEE Policies, procedures,and regulations for US and non-US and corporate compliance and tax management.

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FUNCTIONS
Receive reports from organizational units of IEEE about new or proposed member
benefits and monitor and assess existing benefits that are available to IEEE members.
This is done with a focus on the value to members of the overall IEEE benefits portfolio
and MGA’s member-centric mission, to ensure that the offerings represent highperceived value.
Align the MGA benefits portfolio with the strategic direction of IEEE.
Provide recommendations on overall policy and procedures regarding establishment or
removal of IEEE member benefits.
Review proposals for new member benefits and make recommendations to thepresenting entity for approval, revision or rejection of proposals.
Review data and reports pertaining to member utilization and satisfaction with benefits
and initiate discussion with benefits “owners” about such data and potential courses ofaction to improve member response.
Oversee the member discounts roadmap.
Oversee the career services roadmap.
Report to the MGA Board on status of the member benefits portfolio.
Report to the MGA Board on status or changes to member group insurance.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of up to seven (7) voting members:•••

Chair, preferably with past experience on MBPAC
Past Chair
Five (5) members, with knowledge and experience from one or more of the following:
TAB, EAB, IEEE-USA, PSPB, Standards, and MGA (R1-6) and MGA (R7-10)

Each member will serve a one-year term and may serve up to two additional one-year
terms. A member may serve a fourth year on the committee if at least one of the years is
as Chair. It is preferable that individuals appointed to serve as Chair have at least one yearof experience on the Committee.
Non-Voting Members• One member of the professional staff from each of the following areas: MGA, PSP,TA, EA, Standards, and IEEE-USA, who serve on the MBSAT, may participate. The
Managing Directors of each respective area may make such appointments annually.
Committee Secretary• The Committee Secretary shall be a member of the IEEE professional staff as
designated by the IEEE Executive Director or his/her designee.
Additional representatives, as required, (staff or volunteer) from other interested
organizational units may attend meetings.

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The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair and MGA Secretaryshall receive all announcements and other documentation that is distributed to theCommittee, but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
Funds for this Committee are allocated through the normal IEEE budgeting process.
Members’ expenses associated with attendance at meetings are reimbursable in accordancewith IEEE policy.
Travel expenses for staff to participate in committee activities shall be funded by theappointing organizational units.
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.18

IEEE LIFE MEMBERS COMMITTEE ______________________________

GENERAL
The IEEE Life Members Committee (LMC), a joint committee of IEEE acting through the MGA
Board and the IEEE Foundation, shall provide leadership in the identification of, and support
to, the interests of the Life members (including future Life members) in activities of IEEEand the IEEE Foundation. The Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA
Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC). Changes to this charter shall beendorsed by MELCC and approved by the MGA Board and IEEE Foundation Board of
Directors.
SCOPE
The Committee shall be responsible to the IEEE Foundation for management of the IEEE
Life Members Fund (LMF) including stimulating and monitoring contributions and authorizing
disbursement. Programs and projects supported by the LMF shall be consistent with theinterests of IEEE Life members and future Life members, reflect the breadth and range ofthe engineering field, and make a significant, positive, global impact on the profession, andimprove the awareness of engineering. The Committee shall be responsible to the MGA
Board for promoting the interests of Life members and other retired members.
FUNCTIONS
Act on behalf of the best interests of Life members.
Consider suggestions for activities of interest for members who are retired, and may
make recommendations to other IEEE organization units and to the IEEE Foundation forpolicies and activities appropriate for such members.
Seek ways to encourage continued IEEE activity and involvement by Life members at alllevels of IEEE.
Partner with the IEEE Foundation to operate the IEEE Foundation Grants Program.
Participate in the raising of charitable donations for the LMF of the IEEE Foundation by
performing duties including, but not limited to, raising awareness of the programsupported through the LMF, soliciting donations, stewarding donors, and expecting each
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LMC member to make an annual donation to the LMF at the level consistent with their
comfort level.
Be responsible for the management and prudent expenditure of the LMF in support ofmeaningful activities that are of professional concern and interest to IEEE.
Take an active role in encouraging the establishment of Life Member Affinity Groups in
the Sections so that those who are at a similar stage in their careers can shareexperiences and find ways to remain active.
Publish a Life Members Newsletter as a means of keeping Life members informed ofnews of particular interest to them and to provide a forum in which suitable articles may
be published.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of not more than nine (9) members:
Voting Members• Chair, who shall have Life member status• Past Chair• Up to five (5) members, who shall normally have Life member status• Up to two (2) members, who need not but shall normally have Life member status,with at least one also being an IEEE Foundation Board member, appointed by theIEEE Foundation Board
The Committee shall elect a Vice Chair from among its members who shall assist the workof the Chair and who shall act on behalf of the Chair in the event of his/her absence orincapacity.
Corresponding Members (Non-Voting)• Region Life Member Coordinators from Regions 1-10(appointed by Region Director)
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORTThe LMC shall authorize disbursements from the LMF of the IEEE Foundation, in
accordance with the objectives and procedures of IEEE and the IEEE Foundation. The
Chair will oversee disbursement of these funds. Allowable disbursements include:
•
•

•
•
•

Activities that encourage active engagement of IEEE Life members in IEEE
Programs and projects that are consistent with the interests of IEEE Life
members and future Life members, reflect the breadth and range of theengineering field, make a significant, positive, global impact on the profession,and improve the awareness of engineering
Grants approved through the joint IEEE Foundation Grants Program
Programs selected as Signature Programs by the IEEE Foundation
Operational and fundraising costs of the LMC

The LMC shall endorse and recommend the LMF annual budget to the IEEE Foundation.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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Meeting costs and travel expenses for Committee members to participate in Committee
meetings shall be supported by the LMF.
Staff support for the Committee will be provided by the MGA department.
REPORTSThe Chair shall present periodic reports on its activities to the IEEE Foundation Board, theMGA Board, and the MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).
Information regarding the relationship of the LMC to the IEEE Foundation is shown in theIEEE Foundation’s governing documents.

4.19

IEEE.TV ADVISORY COMMITTEE ________________________________

GENERAL
The MGA IEEE.TV Advisory Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA
Operations Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsed by the MGA Operations
Committee and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee provides on-going strategic planning as it relates to IEEE.tv and its related
activities. The primary mission of the Committee is to provide IEEE.tv staff with insightfrom industry and from membership/volunteer perspectives regarding various aspects ofInternet television production, presentation, and marketing. The Committee is a crucial
source of insights about business issues and concerns, production development needs, andmember service requirements.
FUNCTIONSThe Committee shall provide input and advise improvements on IEEE.tv and its related
activities to support:
Next generation benefit / securing recruitment and retention
Increasing and enhancing public awareness about engineers’ technical fields of interest
Building a foundation for robust syndication business
Integrations into IEEE operations, with professional oversight and management
Providing members with continuing education in technology, careers, and IEEE activities
and member products

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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COMPOSITION
The Committee members are recognized as visionaries, enthusiasts, and opinion leaders.
Appointments to the Committee are selected based on the following criteria:•••

experienced and highly respected in the fields of television station management,internet broadcasting, and/or service to IEEE members
articulate about issues and needs
willing to commit to participation

Committee members are chosen to represent a mix of types of industries and informationneeds, and are asked to speak not only to the needs of their specific organization, but tothe member constituencies they represent.
The Committee shall consist of not more than three (3) voting members:
•
•

Chair
Two (2) members

Non-Voting Members may include:• One (1) member of the Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC),
appointed by the MELCC Chair• One (1) member of the MGA Finance Committee, appointed by the MGA Treasurer• Liaisons from other organizational units, included ad hoc, as appropriate to activities
o Expenses for such liaisons shall be funded by the representative organizational
unit• Other subject experts as invited by the Chair to participate ad hoc as appropriate toactivities
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.20

VTOOLS COMMITTEE _______________________________________

GENERAL
The MGA vTools Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA IT Coordination
and Oversight Committee (ITCO). Changes to this charter shall be endorsed by ITCO andapproved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee shall work with the MGA ITCO and MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support(GUOS) Committee to develop solutions to assist geographic unit volunteers, develop anddeliver training modules for developed solutions, and migrate solutions to normal IEEE ITMGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 61operations.
requested.

Additionally, it shall provide technical support to all MGA committees as

FUNCTIONS
Develop solutions compatible with the standard IEEE IT operations and support model
for member and volunteer needs.
Develop and provide training and advocacy for developed solutions.
Work closely with Region Information Management Coordinators (IMCs) to deploy thesolutions and the training.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following voting members:
•
•
•
•

Chair
Past Chair
Three (3) members who will not be serving as members of the IT Coordination andOversight Committee at the same time
One liaison from member from the MGA GUOS Committee

Non-Voting Members• Subject matter experts (SMEs) and individual project leads as designated by the Chair• Corresponding Members - Region Information Management Coordinators from
Regions 1-10 ( appointed by the Region Directors)• IEEE MGA staff, as designated by the Managing Director – MGA• IEEE IT staff, as designated by the IEEE Chief Information Officer
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, MGA
Vice Chair – Information Management, and MGA Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
shall receive all announcements and other documentation that is distributed to theCommittee, but participation in the Committee’s activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a Committee shall be as set forthin the MGA Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Board Committees).

4.21

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING (WIE) COMMITTEE __________________

GENERAL
The IEEE Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC) shall report to the MGA Board throughthe MGA Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee (MELCC). Changes to this chartershall be endorsed by MELCC and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The WIE Mission:
To facilitate the recruitment and retention of women in technical disciplines globally.
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The WIE Vision:
A vibrant community of IEEE women and men collectively using their diverse talents toinnovate for the benefit of humanity.
FUNCTIONS
Recognize women's outstanding achievements in IEEE fields of interest through IEEE
Awards nominations and other national/international award nominations.
Organize receptions workshops and forums at major technical conferences to enhance
networking and to promote membership in WIE.
Advocate women in leadership roles in IEEE governance and career advancement for
women in the profession.
Provide assistance with the formation of new WIE Affinity Groups and support ongoing
activities.
Administer the IEEE Student-Teacher and Research Engineer/Scientist (STAR) Program
to mentor young women in junior high school and high school.
Promote member grade advancement for women to the grades of Senior Member andFellow.
Facilitate the development of programs and activities that promote the entry into andretention of women in engineering programs.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of up to eleven (11) voting members:
Voting Members• Chair• Immediate Past Chair• Chair-Elect• Treasurer• Three (3) Members-at-Large• One (1) Young Professional Representative• One (1) member appointed by Vice President Technical Activities• Chair (or their designee) of the recipient of the WIE Student Branch Affinity Group of
the Year Award• Chair (or their designee) of the recipient of the WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award
recipient
Non-Voting Members• Region WIE Coordinators from Regions 1-10, appointed by Region Directors• Society Coordinators, appointed by the individual Society President
Liaison Members (non-voting)• IEEE Major Boards other than Technical Activties and MGA may appoint one (1) liaison
each to WIE• Additional IEEE organizational units, with interest in coordinating joint activities andfacilitating programs which align with WIEC’s purpose, and other professional

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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organizations with similar interests and programs, may appoint a liaison.
Coordinators and liaisons shall be non-voting members of the Committee.
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements
and other documentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in theCommittee’s activities is not required.
Membership in IEEE Women in Engineering is required for voting committee members andrecommended for non-voting committee members and liaison positions. No member of the
WIE Committee may hold more than one WIE Committee voting position simultaneously.
APPOINTMENTS, ELECTIONS AND TERMS OF OFFICEWIE Committee Membership
Committee Chair; The term of the Chair shall begin in even-numbered years, first serving
as Chair-Elect for one year and then as Chair for a two-year term. The office is electedin the odd numbered years by the eligible voting members of WIE. The Chair is ineligible
to be re-elected as Chair-Elect.
Past Chair; The Past Chair term is a two-year term and begins when the new Chair takes
office. The Past Chair normally serves as Chair of the WIE Nominations and Appointments
Committee. The Past Chair also fulfills the role of Committee chair in the event of theincapacity of the Chair. The Past Chair may reapply for a voting committee member
position after a gap of two years.
Chair-Elect; The Chair-Elect shall be elected by voting members of IEEE who are also
WIE members in good standing, and serves a one-year term. The Chair-Elect is normallyelected in odd-numbered years and serves as Chair-Elect in even-numbered years. In
odd-numbered years, the position is vacant.
Treasurer; The Treasurer is appointed by the WIE Committee and recommended by the
WIE N&A Committee through the N & A process to a one-year term. The treasurer may
be reappointed, and is ineligible to serve more than three consecutive full terms. If thetreasurer is not able to complete the term during any of the years, there will be nointerim reappointment for the partial year.
Members-at-Large; Three Members-at-Large are appointed to staggered terms by the
MGA Board, one taking office each year for a three-year term. In the event of a vacancy,
the MGA Board shall fill the unexpired portion of the vacancy.
Young Professional Representative; The Young Professional Representative is appointed
by the MGA Board. The Young Professional Representative serves a one-year term, andis ineligible to serve more than two consecutive terms.
WIE Student Branch Affinity Group Representative; The WIE Student Branch Affinity
Group Representative Representative is the chair (or their designee) of the WIE Student
Branch Affinity Group of the Year Award winner. The one-year term and begins on 1 Julyand ends on 30 June of the next year.
WIE Affinity Group Representative; The WIE Affinity Group Resprentative is the chair (ortheir designee) of the WIE Section Affinity Group of Year Award winner. The WIE Affinity
Group Representative serves a one-year term.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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Technical Activities Representative; The Technical Activities Representative is appointed
by the Vice President-Elect – Technical Activities to a one-year term. In the event of avacancy, the Vice President – Technical Activties names a replacement to complete theunexpired term.
Region Coordinators; A Region Coordinator is appointed by each Geographic Region toa one-year term. The Region Coordinators are non-voting members of the WIECommittee. Region Coordinators are invited to participate at all meetings and conference
calls of the WIE Committee.
Society Coordinators; A Society Coordinator is appointed by each Society to a one-year
term. The Society Coordinators are non-voting members. Society Coordinators areinvited to participate at all meetings and conference calls of the WIE Committee.
WIE NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE
1. General
The WIE Nominations & Appointments (N&A) Committee reports to, and is asubcommittee of, the WIE Committee. Changes to this charter shall be approvedby the WIE Committee and the MGA Board.
2. Scope
The WIE N&A Committee shall be responsible for managing the nominations andappointments process and identifying qualified candidates for elected andappointed positions of the IEEE WIEC.
3. Composition
The WIE N&A Committee shall consist of the following:a. Chair
Chair shall be the Immediate Past WIE Committee Chair. In the event of theincapacity or conflict of interest of the Immediate Past Chair, the WIE Committee
shall appoint a former WIE Chair to serve as N&A Committee Chair. The Chair isaffirmed by the WIE Committee. The Chair is not eligible to be nominated or run
for any position for which is the responsibility of WIE N&A Committee.
b. Members
The WIEC shall select at least three (3) additional members.
• WIE N&A Committee members must be at Member, Senior Member, orFellow grade and shall be IEEE WIE Members in good standing.
•Members shall be current and past WIE voting committee members. In
addition to the Chair of the WIE N&A Committee, no more than one (1)current WIE Committee member may also be a member of the WIE N&A
Committee.

•

Members shall serve a term of two (2) years, with reappointment
permissible for two (2) additional terms.

•

Members are selected by the sitting members of the WIE Committee during
the first quarter of the year or at the first meeting of the WIE Committee,
whichever comes first.

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A member of the WIE N&A Committee shall not be eligible to be elected or
appointed to any office for which the WIE N&A Committee makes
recommendations or nominations, unless such member resigns from the WIE N&A
Committee prior to its first meeting of the year in which the nomination shall be
made.
c. One (1) IEEE WIE Committee Staff Support, as designated by MGA. The staff
support position is non-voting.
4. Functions and N&A Process
The WIE N&A Committee shall:a. Prepare a candidate slate for the office of Chair-Elect and prepare a candidate
slate for WIEC Treasurer to be appointed by the WIEC.
b. Prepare and distribute a Call for Nominations for the offices of Chair-Elect andTreasurer. This is typically completed during the third quarter of the year
preceding the election.
c. Determine a slate of at least two, no more than three individuals for the officeof Treasurer. This N&A recommended slate shall be submitted to the WIEC.
d. Determine a slate of at least two, no more than three individuals for the officeof Chair-Elect.
e. WIEC shall submit the slate of candidates to IEEE Corporate Governance staff
by no later than 15 March of the election year.
f. Eligible candidates for WIEC Chair-Elect shall be at Senior Member or Fellow
grade and shall be IEEE WIE Members in good standing.
g. Eligible candidates for WIEC Treasurer shall be at Member, Senior Member, orFellow grade and shall be IEEE WIE Members in good standing.
h. Any candidate for appointment to any position under the purview of the WIE
N&A Committee must disclose: (a) any other offices he/she holds within IEEE,(b) any role he/she has outside the IEEE that places him/her in a position of
doing business with IEEE, and (c) any other possible source of conflict ofinterest including the completion of the IEEE Conflict of Interest DisclosureStatement.
i. In the case of WIE Committee chair positions, no candidate should beconsidered who holds a position with similar responsibilities in a subordinate
organizational unit. (For example, a Regional Treasurer cannot be the MGA
Treasurer/Finance Committee Chair.)
5. Meetings
The WIE N&A Committee meets as required using the following: Electronic mail,teleconferences and other non-face-to-face means.
6. Reports
The N&A Committee Chair shall produce progress reports on its activities asappropriate, at least once per year.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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FINANCIAL SUPPORTThe MGA Board shall cover expenses incurred by attending the WIEC meeting for the
Chair, Immediate Past Chair, Chair-Elect, Treasurer, three (3) MGA appointed Membersat-Large, one (1) Young Professional Representative, and two (2) Affinity Group and WIEStudent Branch Affinity Group Representatives.
The Technical Activities Board (TAB) shall fund the one (1) Technical Activities appointee
for expenses incurred by attending the WIEC meeting.
The Regions shall fund their respective Region WIE Coordinator for expenses incurredby attending the WIEC meeting.
The Societies shall fund their respective Society WIE Coordinator for expenses incurredby attending the WIEC meeting.
Travel expenses for additional liaisons and coordinators shall be the responsibility of theappointing organizational unit.
The MGA Board shall cover expenses incurred in the work of the Committee.
Administrative support for the Committee will be provided by the MGA department.
REPORTSA report outlining business transacted shall be provided at each MGA Board and TAB
meeting.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.22

MGA TRAINING COMMITTEE __________________________________

GENERAL
The MGA Training Committee shall report to the MGA Board through the MGA Operations
Committee. Changes to this charter shall be endorsed by the MGA Operations Committee
and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee will develop and maintain the overarching training framework to support
the MGA strategic roadmap. The Committee will ensure the appropriate content is identified
to implement this strategy in support of both members and volunteers. The Committee will
deliver training solutions in the following areas: essential, orientation, leadership, role
specific, governance, and professional development.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

page 67FUNCTIONS
Ensure content in the IEEE Center for Leadership Excellence reflects the most current
changes in policy, programs, tools, and services to meet Region, member, and volunteer
needs.
Administer the Volunteer Leadership Training (VOLT) program.
Work in cooperation with Regions in support of their training objectives.
Monitor changes and trends occurring in organizational units and technology that may
impact the training framework.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of five (5) voting members:
•
•

Chair
Four (4) members, knowledgeable about training activities

Additional subject matter experts (SME) may be included as non-voting members.
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, Past MGA Board Chair, MGA Secretary, and
MGA Vice Chair – Member Development shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that is distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
ADMINISTRATION
Information regarding committee member eligibility and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is shown in the MGA
Operations Manual – Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.23

MGA OPERATIONS MANUAL COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE _________________

GENERAL
The MGA Operations Manual Compliance Committee (MOMCC) shall report to the MGA Board
through the Past MGA Board Chair. Changes to this charter shall be approved by the MGA
Board.
SCOPE
The principal mission of the Committee is as a member and volunteer-driven forum toprovide advice and assistance in matters of non-compliance with the MGA Operations
Manual.
FUNCTIONS
Serves as the body that makes recommendations on how to resolve complaints thatoriginate from within a Geographic Organizational Unit and cases assigned to MGA via
the IEEE Ethics Reporting Line on issues concerning operations manual non-compliance.
Works collaboratively with the MGA VP, Region Directors and MGA Staff to makerecommendations on resolution as needed.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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Ensures cases received via the Ethics Reporting Line where the MOMCC is consulted areresolved in a fair and equitable manner.
Identifies the type of compliance education and training specific to non-compliance with
the MGA Operations Manual needed within the local OUs to ensure all organizational
units of the MGA Board are educated on how to resolve non-compliance locally and how
to determine when to escalate such a case.
Aims to ensure effective coordination and compliance with the IEEE policy, process andoperational procedures.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of no more than five (5) voting members:
Voting Members• Chair• Four (4) representatives. The ideal committee composition has experience in:• Region, having served as Region Director
• WIE
• YP
• At Least one (1) individual shall be from Regions 1-6• At least one (1) individual shall be from Regions 7-10
• MGA Board Secretary (ex officio, without vote)
The term of appointment for voting members shall be for one year, starting 1 January, withreappointment possible for a maximum tenure of three consecutive years.
ADMINISTRATIONThe Committee does not meet in person. Committee meetings and activities shall befacilitated by electronic mail, teleconference, and other non face-to-face means.
The MGA Past Board Chair shall receive all announcements that are distributed to theCommittee.
Information regarding committee member eligibility, and appointments, committee
meetings, voting procedures, and removal of a member of a committee is provided in
Section 4.1 (MGA Committees).

4.24

CHAPTER OPERATIONS SUPPORT COMMITTEE _______________________

GENERAL
The MGA Chapter Operations Support (CHOS) Committee shall be a committee of the MGA
Geographic Unit Operations Support (GUOS) Committee and will report to the MGA Board
through the MGA Vice Chair - Geographic Unit Operations. Changes to this charter shall beendorsed by the GUOS Committee and approved by the MGA Board.
SCOPE
The Committee is responsible to recommend to the GUOS Committee the design,development, and implementation of the support model for Chapters. It is intended toprovide resources and guidance materials for Chapter Chairs and officers to facilitate
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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Chapter operations. It shall also recommend policy for effective operation of Chapters. It
is not intended to be directly involved in Chapter activities, e.g., initiating a conference orworkshop.
FUNCTIONS
1. Support Chapter volunteers by providing insight into Chapter health, improving
infrastructure and tools, providing access to resources and best practices, andrecommending parameters to be included in the funding model for supporting
Chapters (for MGA Finance Committee to use in decisions about resource
allocation).
2. Support as needed and promote Chapter activities related to MGA objectives.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of no more than six (6) voting members
•

Chair

•

Past Chair•

Two (2) Technical Activities Board representatives, appointed by the Vice President– Technical Activities•

Two (2) members, one (1) with Region experience and one (1) with Section and or
Chapter experience.

The Region and Section/Chapter committee members must be current or prior Section,
Chapter or Region officers at the start of their two-year term.
The MGA Board Chair, MGA Board Chair-Elect, MGA Board Past Chair, MGA Secretary and
MGA Vice Chair Geographic Unit Operations shall receive all announcements and otherdocumentation that are distributed to the Committee, but participation in the Committee’s
activities is not required.
APPOINTMENTS AND TERMS OF OFFICE
1. The Committee Chair shall be appointed as outlined within Section 4.1E and serve a
2-year term beginning on 1 January.
2. The Past Chair term shall be 1-year to be served at the same time as the first yearof the new Chair.
3. In order to ensure continuity, each member is appointed for a 2-year staggered
nonrenewable term beginning on 1 January.
ADMINISTRATIONThe Committee Chair will provide a report to MGA Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
before MGA Board meetings, to include financial impact, ongoing activities, ongoingdeliverables, and future scope of work plans.
The
Committee
normally
conducts
businessthroughcorrespondence
andteleconference. Travel reimbursement for the Committee Chair shall be on an “as required”
MGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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basis and funding of travel will be the responsibility of the requiring unit.
reimbursements for other Committee members shall not normally be available.

TravelMGA Operations Manual, Section 4

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5.0

MGA OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

5.1

MGA OPERATIONS COMMITTEE CHARTER _________________________MISSIONTo oversee the financial and business management team supporting the efforts of the IEEE
Member and Geographic Activities (MGA).
RESPONSIBILITIESDevelop the MGA budget.
Track financial execution.
Identify, develop, and assist staff in making the business decisions necessary to
implement the vision and strategies of MGA.
Monitor and review MGA resources, activities, and facilities through reports by theManaging Director – MGA.
Monitor the performance of MGA in achieving the goals outlined in the MGA strategicand operational plan. Report on achievements and attainment of milestones at each
MGA Board and MGA Operations Committee meeting.
Prepare studies and reports as directed by the Vice President – Member and Geographic
Activities or Vice President-Elect – Member and Geographic Activities.
The MGA Finance, IEEE.TV Advisory, Member Benefits Portfolio Advisory, Membership
Recruitment and Recovery, Potentials Editorial Board, Sections Congress, and Training
Committees shall report to the MGA Operations Committee, as noted in Section 4.2.B.
COMPOSITION
The Committee shall consist of the following voting members:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

MGA Board Chair-Elect / Vice President-Elect – Member and Geographic Activities,
who shall be Chair
MGA Board Chair / Vice President – Member and Geographic Activities
Past MGA Board Chair
Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Vice Chair – Information Management
Vice Chair – Member Development
Treasurer
Past Treasurer
Two (2) Region Directors appointed by the MGA Board
MGA Board Secretary (ex officio, without vote)

MEETINGSThe MGA Operations Committee shall normally meet at least two times per year. All
actions taken shall be ratified by the MGA Board at the first MGA Board meeting
following those MGA Operations Committee actions.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 5

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The location of face to face meetings (if applicable) will be selected in sufficient time inorder to obtain the most reasonable hotel rates. Dates and location selection should
be made with consideration for special IEEE events and opportunity for local interaction.
FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORTThe principal financial support for the MGA Operations Committee shall be provided
through the normal budgetary processes of the MGA Board. The MGA department will
provide administrative support for the committee.
CHANGES TO CHARTER
Changes to this charter shall be approved by the MGA Board.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 5

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6.0

MGA ASSEMBLY

6.1

COMPOSITION ___________________________________________

A. Officers elected by voting members. The IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA)
Assembly shall consist of 11 delegates who shall be the 10 Region Delegates and theIEEE President.
B. The presiding officer of the MGA Assembly shall be the IEEE President. In the absenceof the President, the President-Elect shall preside and shall perform such tasks as aredelegated by the President or as may be specified in IEEE Bylaws.
C. Grade. All Delegates shall be of Fellow or Senior Member grade.

6.2

FUNCTIONS _____________________________________________

A. The MGA Assembly shall submit to the IEEE Assembly, no later than 15 August, two or
three candidates for the position of Vice President-Elect – MGA. The number ofcandidates on the slate shall be no less than three when the slate contains the names of
one or more IEEE President-Elect candidates included in the current Annual Election
ballot.
B. The MGA Assembly shall appoint the following voting members of the MGA Board who
are not directly elected by the members of the IEEE.
••••

Treasurer
Vice Chair – Geographic Unit Operations
Vice Chair – Member Development
Vice Chair – Information Management

C. The MGA Assembly shall receive from the MGA Nominations and Appointments (N&A)
Committee a list of not less than two nor more than three candidates, with biographiesand position statements, for the Treasurer and each Vice Chair position.
D. The MGA Assembly shall hold special meetings as needed to fill vacancies occurring on
the MGA Board, except for the position of Vice President-Elect – MGA, which shall befilled by the IEEE Assembly.
E. For any circumstances under the purview of the MGA Board that have not been foreseenin the IEEE Bylaws or the MGA Operations Manual, the MGA Assembly shall resolve any
personnel unavailability, which may consist of absence (temporary), incapacitation(known condition of limited duration), or vacancy (permanent).

6.3

MEETINGS _____________________________________________

A. The MGA Assembly shall hold at least one meeting each year prior to 15 August.
B. Notice of Special Meeting. Special meetings of the MGA Assembly may be called by theIEEE President, Vice President – MGA, or by any four delegates on notice to all otherdelegates. Notice of such special meetings giving the time and place of the meeting,the purpose of the meeting, and the names of those calling the meeting shall be sent to
all the delegates not less than 20 days before the date set for the meeting. The placeof such special meeting may be only at IEEE Headquarters unless otherwise authorized

MGA Operations Manual, Section 6

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by a majority vote of all delegates, such vote to be secured by or transmitted to theSecretary.
A special meeting of the MGA Assembly to fill a vacancy occurring to a MGA Assembly
appointed position must be called within 90 days following existence of such a vacancy.
C. Notice of Meetings. Any notice of meetings or other official business required by theConstitution or IEEE Bylaws to be mailed to delegates shall be sent by such routings as
shall ensure prompt delivery.
D. Waiver of Meeting Notice. A meeting of the MGA Assembly may be held without notice
if waivers of notice signed by all of the delegates are filed with the Secretary, withnotation thereof entered in the minutes of the meeting.
E. Reimbursement of Expenses. Expenses of the MGA Assembly and its meetings shall be
included in the MGA budget. Reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses is
authorized for Delegates for the purpose of attending any special or extraordinary
meeting of the MGA Assembly not associated with a meeting of the MGA Board held
contiguously with it.
F. Meeting Minutes. The MGA Secretary shall provide record-keeping and secretarial
functions for the MGA Assembly, without vote. In the absence of the Secretary, the IEEE
President shall perform this task or appoint a member of the MGA Assembly to perform
this task.

6.4

QUORUM/ACTIONS OF THE MGA ASSEMBLY _______________________

A. A quorum shall be a majority of the voting members of the MGA Assembly.
B. Action of the MGA Assembly.
Unless otherwise provided in the Certificate ofIncorporation, the Constitution, IEEE Bylaws, or the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law of
the State of New York, a majority of the votes cast at a meeting of the MGA Assemblyby the members entitled to vote shall be the act of the Assembly.

6.5

MGA ASSEMBLY APPOINTMENT AND SELECTION PROCEDURES ____________

A. A candidate for a MGA Assembly appointed position cannot be considered for another
MGA Assembly appointed position. Any candidate nominated for an IEEE Assembly orIEEE-USA Assembly appointed position may not be considered for a MGA Assembly
appointed position. In addition, a person who has been nominated to serve for the same
year as IEEE Standards Association President, IEEE-USA President, or Vice President –Technical Activities cannot be considered for a MGA Assembly appointed position.
B. There will be no nominations from the floor during the MGA Assembly meeting.
C. Candidates, in addition to those on the MGA N&A Committee slate, can be nominated nolater than 10 days prior to the MGA Assembly meeting, if the signatures of five MGA
Assembly members accompany the nomination. Candidates may only seek nominationfor one of the positions for which they have been considered by the MGA N&A Committee
using the committee’s established review processes.
Biographies and position
statements for such candidates provided to the MGA Assembly shall be those consideredby the MGA N&A Committee. Nominations, which shall remain confidential, along withMGA Operations Manual, Section 6

page 75

endorsements, shall be submitted to a designee specified by the MGA Assembly Chair
who will promptly inform the MGA Assembly of nominees qualifying under this provision.
D. In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-203.1, candidates for Vice President-Elect – MGA, in
addition to those on the MGA Assembly slate, may be nominated no later than 10 days
prior to the IEEE Assembly meeting, if the signatures of five IEEE Assembly members
accompany the nomination. Candidates may only seek nomination by petition if they
have submitted through the MGA N&A Committee’s established review processes.
E. The MGA N&A Committee Chair shall present the candidate's background andqualifications to the MGA Assembly.
F. The MGA Assembly Chair may appoint a Parliamentarian.
G. The MGA Assembly Chair shall appoint no fewer than two nor more than three Tellers.
H. The order of the appointments of the various offices will be determined by a random
drawing conducted at the MGA Assembly meeting.
I. MGA Assembly appointment selection process shall be conducted by secret ballot. The
Tellers will announce the outcome of votes without divulging tallies.
J. A simple majority vote of those MGA Assembly members voting is required to declare a
candidate successful. When there are three or more candidates for an office, approvalplurality voting shall be used. Provided that a simple majority of the ballots cast is
obtained, the candidate receiving the most votes shall be elected. Should no candidate
receive a majority of the ballots cast, the two candidates with the most votes will be
retained on the slate and a subsequent vote shall be taken. If the top two candidates
cannot be determined because three or more candidates are tied for first place, anapproval vote shall be taken to determine which two candidates remain on the slate.
Similarly, if two or more candidates are tied for second place, an approval vote shall betaken to determine which candidate remains on the slate.
K. The MGA Assembly may invite any individual to attend the MGA Assembly meeting onan ad hoc basis.

6.6

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ________________________________

A. The MGA N&A process is defined in Section 7 of the MGA Operations Manual.
For the Vice President-Elect – MGA position, the MGA Assembly Chair or their designee
will inform the candidates of the results of the selection immediately following the MGA
Assembly meeting.
For the appointments of the Treasurer and Vice Chair positions, the MGA Assembly Chairor their designee shall inform each candidate of the results immediately following the
MGA Assembly meeting. After the candidates have been notified, the current MGA Board
Chair shall announce the appointments of the Vice Chairs and Treasurer.

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7.0

MGA NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS PROCESS

A. The IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board has established a nominations
and appointments (N&A) process for various officer levels under its purview. This
process has been developed to choose the best-qualified persons for various offices
throughout the MGA organization. It was also developed to involve as many membersin the selection process as possible. It is necessary that all candidates nominated for
office are highly qualified, and it is therefore essential that all nominating
committees/individuals show great diligence and exercise judgment in making
nominations.
B. The MGA Board, MGA Assembly, MGA N&A Committee, and Regional nominating
committees are at the focal point of the MGA N&A process.

7.1

MGA NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE _________________

A. The composition of the MGA N&A Committee shall be in accordance with the committee
charter.
B. Each year, the MGA Nominations and Appointments Committee Chair shall invite MGA
and organizational units to submit qualified candidates to be considered by the MGA N&A
Committee for the various appointed offices.
C. A member of the MGA N&A Committee shall not be eligible to be elected or appointed toany office for which the MGA N&A Committee makes recommendations or nominations.
D. Any candidate for appointment to any position under the purview of the MGA N&A
Committee must disclose: (a) any other offices he/she holds within IEEE, (b) any rolehe/she has outside the IEEE that places him/her in a position of doing business with
IEEE, and (c) any other possible source of conflict of interest including the completion of
the IEEE Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement.
E. In the case of MGA committee chair positions, no candidate should be considered who
holds a position with similar responsibilities in a subordinate organizational unit. (Forexample, a Regional Treasurer cannot be the MGA Treasurer/Finance Committee Chair.)F. No individual Region should be over-represented in the MGA structure; the MGA N&A
Committee must make every effort to offer balanced slates of nominees that represents
as many Regions as possible.
G. The MGA N&A Committee may review the list of appointees/chairs whose organizational
unit exceeded its budget, and approval waivers, which is maintained by the MGA
department. The intent is to eliminate from positions with budget authority volunteers
who have unjustly exceeded their budget authority in the past.
H. The MGA N&A Committee shall prepare and submit to the MGA Assembly six slates ofcandidates as described in the MGA Operations Manual, Section 6.2, and in accordancewith IEEE Bylaws.

7.2

MGA N&A AND SELECTION/APPOINTMENT PROCESS _________________

A. The MGA N&A process is per IEEE Bylaws and this Operations Manual. The MGA N&A
Committee, MGA Board, and MGA Assembly are the principal MGA organizational units
involved and work in close cooperation.
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B. The MGA Secretary shall oversee and coordinate the MGA N&A process to ensure thatthe positions enumerated in 7.2.C are filled by 31 December of the current year or asotherwise stated in the IEEE Bylaws or MGA Operations Manual.
C. The MGA N&A process provides for filling positions of the MGA Board (Section 6.2), MGA
committee chairs, and committee members unless otherwise specified.
The positions of the MGA Board: Treasurer, Vice Chairs.
a. The MGA N&A Committee shall submit to the MGA Assembly not less than two
or more than three candidates for each position. These recommendations,
including candidate biographies and position statements, should reach the
MGA Assembly at least 30 days prior to the MGA Assembly meeting at which
the appointments will be made.
b. No candidate may be nominated by the MGA N&A Committee for more than
one position.
c. The MGA N&A Committee shall have an alternate candidate(s) approved foreach position for which the MGA N&A Committee nominated only two
candidates. The alternate(s) will be presented to the Assembly by the MGA
N&A Committee Chair, only in the event of the unavailability of a candidatefrom the formal MGA N&A slate.
d. Members may petition to be on the slate of candidates in accordance with
Section 6.5 of the MGA Operations Manual.
Appointed MGA Committee Chairs: The MGA committee chairs, unless chaired by a MGA
Vice Chair or otherwise specified.
a. The MGA N&A slate of recommended candidates may include candidates
recommended for more than one position as well as candidates if losing for a
MGA Assembly appointed position. In addition, other candidates may beconsidered with review and report by MGA N&A Committee for eligibility.
Appointed members of MGA Committees: Those members of MGA committees other than
the respective chairs, unless otherwise specified.
a. The MGA N&A slate of recommended candidates may include candidates
recommended for more than one position as well as candidates if losing for a
MGA Assembly appointed position or not selected for a MGA committee chairposition. In addition, other candidates may be considered.
D. The MGA Board Chair shall receive recommendations of qualified candidates from the
MGA N&A Committee for MGA appointments to other organizational units.
E. The MGA Secretary shall compile the MGA roster and distribute accordingly.

7.3

REGIONAL DELEGATE-ELECT/DIRECTOR-ELECT NOMINATIONS ___________

A. Each Region, in accordance with its Region bylaws, shall have a Region N&A committee.
Each Region nominating committee shall furnish to the IEEE Board of Directors by 15
March of the Region election year a slate of Region committee approved candidates forthe office of Region Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect. At the same time, a copy of the slate
MGA Operations Manual, Section 7

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shall be submitted to the MGA N&A Committee for information. The slate shall include
not fewer than two nor more than three candidates recommended for that office. The
Region nominating committee shall also solicit annually from the Sections within the
Region a list of potential candidates to be considered by the MGA N&A Committee forservice on MGA committees. (reference IEEE Bylaw I-307).
B. The Region N&A committee shall have amongst its duties that of selecting suitable
candidates from throughout the Region for nomination for the position of Region
Delegate/Director-Elect.
C. In accordance with Region bylaws, the Region shall select the nominees to be placed on
the IEEE ballot for Region Delegate/Director-Elect.
D. Candidates must be an IEEE member of Senior Member or Fellow grade.
E. If applicable, the slate shall also include candidates for those Region Vice Chair positions
that could lead to the nomination of a single candidate for Region Delegate/DirectorElect. (reference IEEE Bylaw I-307.7)
F. If a slate of one candidate for Region Delegate/Director-Elect is proposed to the IEEE
Board of Directors, it shall be accompanied by a statement explaining the circumstancesleading to a slate of one candidate.

7.4

VACANCIES _____________________________________________For any circumstance under the purview of MGA that have not been foreseen in the MGA
Operations Manual, the MGA Assembly shall resolve any personnel unavailability, which may
consist of absence (temporary), incapacitation (known condition of limited duration), or
vacancy (permanent).
Vice President – MGA. Should a vacancy occur in the office of the Vice President – MGA,
the Vice President-Elect – MGA shall fill the vacancy, thereby vacating the office of Vice
President-Elect. Having served the remainder of the Vice President term, and the term
to which he/she had been elected, the Vice President shall serve as Past Vice President.
The Past Vice President who is in office when the vacancy in the office of the Vice
President occurs shall serve one additional year.
MGA Board Chair.
In the event of the incapacity ofBoard Chair, the MGA Board Chair-Elect shall serve as MGA Board Chair.

the

MGA

Vice President-Elect. Should a vacancy occur in the office of the Vice President-Elect,
the IEEE Assembly shall fill the vacancy. The individual assuming the office of Vice
President-Elect shall complete the remainder of the three-year term in the consecutive
positions of Vice President-Elect, Vice President, and Past Vice President.
Past MGA Board Chair. If the Past MGA Board Chair is not available to serve, the positionof Past MGA Board Chair shall remain vacant.
MGA Vice Chairs/MGA Treasurer. Should a vacancy occur in the MGA Treasurer or MGA
Vice Chair positions, the MGA Assembly shall fill the vacancy. The individual assuming
one of these offices shall serve the remainder of the term.
Region Directors. A vacancy shall occur in the office of Region Director at such time as
the incumbent ceases to reside in the Region that elected that Director. If a vacancy
occurs for any reason, it shall be filled in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-301.12.
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MGA Committee Chair/Member. A vacancy shall occur in the office of a MGA committee
chair/member at such time as the incumbent resigns or they can no longer perform theduties as specified in the MGA Operations Manual. If it is not specified in the committee
charter and the individual is not appointed by the MGA Assembly, uponrecommendations by the MGA N&A Committee, the MGA Board shall appoint thesuccessor.

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8.0

MEMBER AND GEOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES AWARDS

8.1

MGA AWARDS AND RECOGNITION PROGRAM _______________________

The awards and recognition program of the Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board
is designed to promote, recognize, and reward excellence in promoting the interests of IEEE
as reflected in the operations of MGA and IEEE geographic unit activities (Regions, Councils,
Areas, Sections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, Student Branches, and Student Branch
Chapters). The program is administered by the MGA Awards and Recognition Committee(MGA ARC) and includes the awards listed below:
MGA William W. Middleton Distinguished Service AwardMGA Outstanding Section Awards
MGA Larry K. Wilson Transnational Award
MGA Diversity & Inclusion Award
MGA Leadership Award
MGA Innovation Award
MGA Achievement Award
MGA Young Professionals Achievement AwardIEEE VP Member and Geographic Activities Discretionary Award
Friend of IEEE Member and Geographic Activities Award
Detailed
information
regardingexisting
awardscan
https://mga.ieee.org/awards/mga-awards-and-recognition-program.

be

found

at:

ADHERENCE TO THE IEEE REQUIREMENTS
All awards and scholarships administered by the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities(MGA) Board and MGA Geographic Units shall comply with the requirements set forth in
the IEEE Policies and the MGA Operations Manual.
AWARD PROPOSALSAs defined in IEEE Policy Section 4.2, Awards Activities - Definitions, the generic word
"awards" shall include, but not be limited to, medals, awards, formal recognitions,scholarships, prize papers, and Honorary Membership. Student recognition and support
shall include student prizes, student awards, scholarships, and fellowships.
Detailed information regarding the awards programs of IEEE is contained in Section 4.0 of
the IEEE Policies Manual (http://www.ieee.org/policies).

8.2

HIERARCHY OF AWARDS ____________________________________As stated in IEEE Policies, Section 4.10 – Hierarchy of Awards, the following limits shallapply for any new or revised award:Award Category

Maximum Honoraria and Medals

IEEE Medal of Honor$50,000, gold medal, and bronze
replicaIEEE Medals$20,000, bronze medal

IEEE Technical Field Awards, Joint IEEE Awards$10,000, bronze medal

MGA Operations Manual, Section 8

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with National Societies, & IEEE Recognitions
Major Board, Region and Division, Society and TechnicalCouncilAwards,ParentOrganizationalUnitsacknowledged by the MGA Board, and TechnicalCommittee/Community Awards$10,000

Technical Conference Awards$5,000Area, Geographical Council or Conference, Section,
Chapter Awards, including Chapter Awards given bySocieties and Technical Councils$2,000Student Branch, and Student Branch Chapter Awards,
including Student Branch Chapter Awards given bySocieties and Technical Councils$1,000The extent of supplementary items such as plaques, certificates, bowls, replica medals, etc.,
to be presented with an award shall be guided by such items presented in the hierarchy ofcurrent awards.

TABLE A - IEEE STUDENT RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT

Educational
Program
Restraints
Minimum
AmountMaximum
AmountSecondary
School Prize

Undergraduate
Award

Undergraduate
Scholarship

None

Curriculumwith IEEE
relevance

Breadth ofsponsoring OU

Certificate

Certificate

$500*

$500

$2,500$15,000
annually

GraduateAward
Breadth ofsponsoring
OU

Graduate
Scholarship

Graduate
Fellowship

Breadth ofsponsoring
OU

Breadth ofsponsoring
OU$1,000*$2,500*$5,000*$5,000$25,000
annually$30,000
annually

There shall be no primary award evaluation constraints except educational level andgeographical location, although financial need can be used as a secondary criterion.
* The amounts are given in U.S. dollars. These limits should be modified in othergeographical areas as appropriate to account for differences in the cost of education,
availability of comparable non-IEEE sponsored support, and the impact of the recognition.

8.3

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW AWARDS ______GUIDANCE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW AWARDS

All proposals must be submitted using the MGA Awards Template found at:https://mga.ieee.org/awards. Completed proposals which have been approved by theappropriate responsible body of the Committee or geographic organizational unit
involved should be submitted to the MGA ARC Chair at mga-awards@ieee.org.
All proposals submitted on the template shall include:
1. Background. A cover letter describing the background for the new award orrevision and any committees who endorsed the proposal previously.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 8

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2. Description. Award specifications should be unambiguous and nonconflicting withexisting awards. The award should stimulate outstanding achievement. A needfor continuity of the award should be shown and the frequency of consideration.
The title of the award and the sponsor should be stated. The title should also
reflect award and purpose, when appropriate. For example, the IEEE Section 200x
Science Fair Prize in Engineering, the IEEE Section Memorial Scholarship in honorof J.C. Doe, or IEEE Region # Outstanding Volunteer Leadership Award.
3. Administration.
Specify the organizational units or unit responsible foradministering the award or scholarship. Where a third-party is used for any partof this responsibility, details of the agreement between the IEEE organizational
unit and the third-party should be clearly set forth and made a part of the proposal
by reference or otherwise.
4. Eligibility. Be very specific as to the parameters such as who may apply, if IEEEor Society membership is required, age, level of accomplishment, e.g., grade
requirements; or other limitations, restrictions, or affiliations not otherwise
prohibited or in violation of the non-discriminatory objectives of IEEE.
5. Prize Items. Identify specifically what the award or scholarship will consist of,such as cash award, certificate, plaque, featured publication, etc. If multiple
awards are permitted, specify the manner of prize sharing. The prize should bewell intentioned, meaningful, and appropriate to the purpose of the award.
Scholarships in particular should be appropriate to both the goals of the sponsor
and the probable needs of the recipient.
6. Funds. State source of funds, assurance of fund continuity. Identify how thefunding programs are managed and by whom.
7. Nominee Solicitation. Detail plans and procedures used to solicit nominees. Ifother bodies are involved, explain how they are involved.
8. Award or Scholarship Committee.
Identify membership, term of service,procedures for selection of members, responsibilities, etc. If other bodies are
involved, explain how does IEEE exercise influence and control.
9. Selection Process. Outline how the selection process is to be accomplished, e.g.
scoring, voting, or other procedures. State all the factors to be considered. Whenrecurring awards and awards of a substantive amount are concerned, continuity,
expertise, and the capability for addressing the objective should be factors.
10.Schedule. State schedule for submission of nominees, applications, committee
meetings, approval meetings, notification of recipient, annual or periodic award,
etc.
11.Presentation. State preferred method of presentation including location andschedule for award presentation. Indicate if the recipient has a preference oflocation and time.
12.Publicity. Publicity as may be appropriate and available.
publications, feature publication, or the local paper.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 8

For example, IEEE

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83

Any other information useful to the MGA ARC in reviewing this proposal can be included.
Such information may also include other similar awards of the organizational unit, what
stimulated this proposal, and any unique aspects related thereto.
NAMING OF AWARDS
All new awards must start with the name IEEE, may contain the name of an individual,
must contain the general area of coverage for an award, and may contain a phrase suchas sponsored by a funding entity(ies) or in honor of a late individual.
1. When an award is named after a person, the sponsoring entity must obtain writtenconsent from the individual that they agree to have an IEEE Award named in his
or her honor. The written consent must accompany the award or medal proposal.
Once the establishment of the award is approved, the sponsoring entity bears the
responsibility of notifying the individual of said approval.
2. When an award is named after a person, that individual shall not be eligible forthe award bearing his/her name, and not be eligible to serve on the selection
committee that bears his/her name.

8.4

MGA AWARD APPROVAL PROCESS ______________________________All proposals for the establishment of new awards or revision of existing awards by MGA
Committees, Regions, Councils, Areas, Sections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, Student
Branches or Student Branch Chapters within the organization of the MGA Board shallfollow the process as described below and be submitted as outlined in Section 8.3.
1. MGA ARC will evaluate all proposals for the establishment of new awards orrevision of existing awards in accordance with established policies and procedures
and in terms of:a. The award objectives of IEEE and MGA which are comprised by the proposal.
b. Monetary aspects, including the funding source, third-party agreements,
custody of funds, depositories, foundations, and all other issues having to dowith the fiscal integrity of the proposal.
c. Qualify completeness and merits of the proposal, and the desired results.
d. Assessment of the potential for successful implementation.
2. After a detailed review of the proposal, MGA ARC will make one of the following
recommendations:a. Return to the originating organizational unit for resubmission withrecommended modification.
b. Submit the proposal to the approving body for final approval.
c. For proposals or revisions submitted by Committees as identified herein
Section 4.1 reporting into the MGA Board, the MGA ARC shall submit the
proposal to MELCC for endorsement and MGA Board for approval. The MGA
ARC shall inform the IEEE Awards Board via a report submitted by the ARC
Chair.
3. All proposals for the establishment of new awards or revision of existing awards by
MGA Committees shall obtain endorsement from the originating Committee, and any
applicable parent Committees.
The proposal with applicable endorsements shall be sent to MGA ARC for review and
MGA Operations Manual, Section 8

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84

recommendation to MELCC, and further the MGA Board for approval.
4. All proposals for the establishment of new awards or revision of existing awards by
Regions of MGA shall obtain endorsement from the originating Committee, and theRegion Award Committee, Region Executive Committee or other as identified by the
Region.
The proposal with applicable endorsements shall be sent to MGA ARC for review andrecommendation. The Region Executive Committee shall serve as the approval bodyfor all Region originated new awards or revisions to existing awards. The Region
Director shall be responsible for including a list of all new approved or revised existing
awards within their MGA Board report accordingly.
5. All proposals for the establishment of new awards or revision of existing awards by
Councils, Areas, Sections, Chapters, Affinity Groups, Student Branches or Student
Branch Chapters of MGA shall obtain endorsement from the originating Committee,
and the Unit’s Award Committee and/or the Unit’s Executive Committee asapplicable.
The proposal with applicable endorsements shall be sent to MGA ARC for review andrecommendation. The Region Executive Committee shall serve as the approval bodyfor all Region originated new awards or revisions to existing awards. The Region
Director shall be responsible for including a list of all new approved or revised existing
awards within their MGA Board report accordingly.
Additional information on the MGA Awards and Recognition Program can be found at:https://mga.ieee.org/awards

MGA Operations Manual, Section 8

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9.0

GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNITSThe IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Operations Manual is a living document
and the Region Director may approve an exception to any of the guidelines stated in Section
9, provided the exception does not conflict with IEEE Bylaws/Policies. Each exception
approved by the Region Director will be reported to the MGA Board.
MGA encourages issues concerning compliance, management and procedural matters as
outlined within the MGA Operations Manual to be resolved with leaders within the localorganizational units under the guidance of the Region Director.
All geographic unit leaders, with the guidance of the Region Director, are responsible forhandling geographic unit non-compliance with the MGA Operations Manual at the local level
and within the processes found within Sections 2.10, 2.11 and 9.
If satisfactory resolutions cannot be achieved or if assistance is needed beyond thegeographic organizational unit leadership, individuals may use the processes found within
Section 2.10.
The authority to act as an officer of a geographic organizational unit may be suspended by
the Region Director with the concurrence of the Region Director-Elect and Past Region
Director or upon recommendation from the MGA OMCC as outlined in Section 2.11 for cause,
as follows:a. Conduct that is determined to be a material violation of the MGA Operations
Manual or that is seriously prejudicial to IEEE, or other conduct that is seriously
prejudicial to IEEE
b. Non-compliance with the MGA Operations Manualc. The geographic organizational unit has not met the minimum reporting
requirements for at least one year.
If an individual is suspended, the Region Director may appoint an individual to serve in theinterim position until an election may be held within the geographic organizational unit.
within the timeframe specified by the Region Director. Any action taken by the Region
Director must be reported to Vice President MGA and MGA Board Secretary
An individual may only be removed from office in the same manner in which they wereappointed or elected.
In order to proceed with removing an elected individual from office, with or without cause,
you must:
1. Obtain a two-thirds vote of the geographic organizational unit ExCom or 15%of the voting members must submit a petition to the Region Director to move
forward with a recall election.
2. Conduct a recall election (paper or election) via the general membership. This
individual may be removed from office by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of thetotal votes cast of the recall election.
An appointed individual may be removed from office, with or without cause in consultation
with the Section Chair and the Region Director.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 9

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In consultation with the geographic organizational unit ExCom the Region Director may
appoint an interim officer as needed until a replacement is appointed or elected.
INTERPRETATION
To the extent delegated by the IEEE Board of Directors, the MGA Board shall interpret
relevant policies and shall develop policies relating to the IEEE programs of the geographicorganizational units. Guidelines for the operations, functions, and administration ofgeographic organizational units shall be contained in the MGA Operations Manual.
OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES
To the extent delegated by the IEEE Board of Directors, the MGA Board shall recommend
policies affecting the management and operation of its geographic organizational units. The
MGA Board shall be responsible for developing its plans, schedules, and procedures. The
geographic organizational units shall operate in support of their assigned geographic area,
as provided in their respective bylaws. The MGA Board shall apprise IEEE geographic unitsof MGA policies. The MGA Board through the Vice President – MGA/MGA Board Chair may
bring reports, recommendations, or other actions by the geographic organizational units to
the IEEE Board of Directors.
MONITORING IEEE GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS
To the extent delegated by the IEEE Board of Directors, the MGA Board shall be responsible
for monitoring the operations of the IEEE geographic organizational units for adherence to
the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law of the State of New York, the IEEE Certificate ofIncorporation, IEEE Constitution, IEEE Bylaws, IEEE Policies, and the guidelines containedin the MGA Operations Manual.
WRITE-IN VOTESMGA and all of its organizational units may allow write in candidates for elections decided
by members.

9.1

REGIONS ______________________________________________
DEFINITION

In accordance with the IEEE Constitution, the territory of IEEE shall be divided, at thediscretion of the IEEE Board of Directors into geographic areas knows as Regions, whichshall be specified in IEEE Bylaws. A Region is a geographic unit consisting of a part of one,or of one or more countries, established by the MGA Board as a basic operatingorganizational unit of IEEE for management and administrative purposes to represent andfulfill the needs of the IEEE members and the missions of IEEE within the territoryprescribed.
REGION FORMATION
In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-402.1 and the IEEE Constitution, the MGA Board shallapprove the formation, dissolution, transfer, merger, or change of boundaries of any Region
including the distribution of all funds and assets in the custody of that Region at the date of
termination.
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REGION OPERATIONSRegion operations shall include the following functions:
Formulate goals and objectives for the Region.
Plan Region operations, including budget preparation and approval.
Report officer, financial operation, and meeting reports to the MGA department.
Plan and implement programs in consonance with the IEEE mission, in support of thelocal organizational units in meeting the needs of the IEEE members of the Region.
Plan and implement programs in consonance with IEEE goals and objectives for thevolunteer structure of the Region, for example, develop and implement leadershiptraining programs for volunteers and members to enhance their interpersonal skills,
group skills, and leadership abilities.
Provide leadership opportunities for interested IEEE members to take an active role
within the operations of the Region.
NAMING OF GEOGRAPHICAL UNITS
Names for Sections, Geographic Councils, and Subsections shall be descriptive of thegeographical area they encompass without reference to political designations.
Any revision to this section, 9.1.D. – Naming of Geographical Units, requires approval by
the IEEE Board of Directors using the process in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-300.4(5).
REGION BYLAWS
Each Region shall adopt bylaws that are responsive to the particular needs of the Region
for the purpose of governing the operations and administration of the Region. The Region
bylaws shall be reviewed periodically with any revisions being presented to the MGA Board
for approval.
REGION COMMITTEE
Each Region shall have a Region Committee (or Board of Governors), organized andoperated in accordance with its Region bylaws that are responsive to the particular needsof the Region. The Region Committee shall participate generally in the development of IEEE
through recommendations to the IEEE Board of Directors to the Sections within the Region.
Membership representation and participation shall be optimized within financial,organizational, and/or other restraints.
The Region Director shall serve as the Region Committee Chair.
a. The Region Director shall be selected in accordance with the MGA nominations
and appointments process and the IEEE election process. (See IEEE Bylaw I307.5 – Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect.)
The Region Committee shall consist of the following members:
a. Voting
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i. Officers: Region Chair, Region Vice Chair (Elect), Region Secretary, Region
Treasurer, and Past Region Chair.
ii. Ex officio: Each Section Chair, the Region Coordinator of Professional
Activities, where applicable, and the Chair of the Region Student Activities
Committee.
iii. Selected Appointments: The Region Chair may appoint additional voting
members. These may include Area Chairs, and the Chairs of Regioncommittees such as Membership Development, Educational Activities, andAwards and Recognition, Region Chapters Coordinator, Young
Professionals, Women in Engineering (WIE), etc. The number of additional
voting members appointed shall not be more than one-fourth the number
of officers and ex officio members, rounded up to the next whole number.
Such additional members shall be appointed on a year-to-year basis by the
Region Chair, subject to the approval of the Region Committee members
designated in (9.1.F.3.a.i) and (9.1.F.3.a.ii).
b. Voting or Nonvotingi.

Other Appointments: Additional committee members and liaison
representatives necessary to ensure the effective functioning of theRegion Committee may be appointed on a year-to-year basis by
the Region Chair subject to the approval of the Region Committee
members designated in (9.1.F.3.a.i) and (9.1.F.3.a.ii). These
positions may be voting or nonvoting as designated in the Region
bylaws or appointment, subject to the limitation on voting
members as stated in (9.1.F.3.a.iii)

For a particular Region Committee meeting, the Section Chair, with the prior agreementof the Region Chair, may appoint an alternate representative who shall have the right tovote.
No alternate representative may be appointed for a Region Committee meeting otherthan for Section Chairs.
The Region Committee may establish an Executive Committee (ExCom) to act on its
behalf between meetings of the Region Committee.
a. All actions of the ExCom are subject to ratification by the Region Committee.
The Region Committee may, by majority vote of members present at its next
following meeting, overrule any act or decision of the ExCom.
b. The composition of the ExCom shall be stated in the Region bylaws.
With the exception of the Student Representative, each member of the Region
Committee shall be an IEEE member of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior
Member, or Fellow grade.
REGION COMMITTEE OFFICERS
Pending installation of the first Region Director of a Region, the President of IEEE shallappoint a Chair pro tem of the Region Committee, with the approval of the ExCom, and the
Chair pro tem shall appoint a Secretary-Treasurer pro tem.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 9

page 89An elected or appointed Vice Chair/Director-Elect as provided for in the Region bylaws
serves the Region Committee. Any election of a Vice Chair and/or Delegate DirectorElect must conform to the provisions of IEEE Bylaws. The Vice Chair or Director-Elect
shall chair the Region Committee meetings in the absence of the Chair, conducting otherRegion Committee business in the absence or inability of the Chair to do so, andperforming such other duties as assigned by the Chair.
The Region Chair may appoint a Secretary and a Treasurer or a combined SecretaryTreasurer as provided in the Region bylaws and approved by the Region Committee.
The duties of these officer(s) shall include correspondence, the keeping of the minutesof the Committee meetings, mailing notices, handling of funds, the keeping of financial
records, the submission of a report to the IEEE Board of Directors at the end of eachyear to be sent to the Executive Director, and such other duties as are assigned by the
Chair.
The Region Past Chair shall be the most recent Past Region Director residing within the
Region.
The names of the newly elected/appointed officers of the Region Committee shall bereported to the IEEE MGA department within 20 days following appointment.
REGION NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Each Region shall establish a Region Nominating Committee. The Chair and members
shall be appointed in accordance with the Region bylaws. If not specifically stated, theRegion Director shall make the appointment. No potential candidate for Director-Electcan serve on the Nominating Committee. The Chair, for the coming term, shall beidentified by 1 December. There shall be a minimum of three members on thecommittee, including the Chair. The committee membership should represent thediversity within the organizational unit it serves.
The duties of the Region Nominating Committee shall include the preparation of a slateof candidates recommended for the office of Region Delegate Director-Elect. The Region
Nominating Committee shall also be responsible for the annual solicitation within the
Region of names of potential candidates to be considered by the IEEE Nominations andAppointments Committee and the MGA Nominations and Appointments Committee forservice on IEEE committees and boards.
A broad call for nominations for candidates for Region Director-Elect shall be distributed
within the Region at least 90 days prior to the Region Nominating Committee meeting.
The call for nominations shall indicate the deadline for submission and where
nominations are to be sent.
a. The position description for an IEEE Director, as approved by the IEEE Boardof Directors, shall be distributed with the call for nominations. The description,
as well as any special skills requested by the IEEE Board of Directors, shall be
consulted when candidates are being reviewed by the Nominating Committee.
These position descriptions are available on the IEEE website.
b. All potential candidates shall complete and submit the nominations form which
requires submission of a biography, list of IEEE activities, and position
statement, for evaluation by the Nominating Committee.
Unless otherwise noted in the Region bylaws, the slate of candidates for Director-Elect
as supported by the Nominating Committee shall be forwarded to the Region Committee
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who will determine the final slate of candidates. In accordance with IEEE Bylaws, theslate of candidates must be forwarded to the election staff for submission to the IEEE
Board of Directors no later than 15 March.
The voting shall be done by secret ballot. Approval plurality voting should be used
when there are three or more candidates (vote for any and all you approve of) or
selection plurality voting when there are less than three candidates (vote for one
or the other).
The slate submitted to the IEEE Board of Directors must have a minimum of two
candidates. Specific procedures relative to the submission of slates with less than
two names must be provided in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-307.7 –Single
Nomination Slates. It is a recommended best practice that the slate contains nomore than four candidates.
REGION FUNDS
Each Region Committee shall conduct its activities within the IEEE Constitution, IEEE
Bylaws, IEEE Policies, MGA Operations Manual, and other rules externally imposed whichby law affect the membership and activities of IEEE. Funds within the geographic unit, from
whatever source derived, are the property of IEEE, and should not be used for purposes
other than the normal operations of the geographic unit as defined in IEEE Bylaws or
published interpretation of policy, without prior authorization of the MGA Board and/or theIEEE Board of Directors, unless otherwise provided.
Subject to budget limits approved by the MGA Board, the MGA Finance Committee shallauthorize the transfer of funds to the respective Region treasuries, the amounts thereof
to be decided in consultation with the respective Region Directors.
Regions shall have the right to obligate their funds for all purposes necessary to promote
their objectives except that no Region or any officer or representative thereof shall haveany authority to contract debts for, pledge the credit of, or in any way bind IEEE for
those activities specifically prohibited in the IEEE Constitution, IEEE Bylaws, IEEE
Policies, or MGA Operations Manual.
Regions shall establish appropriate bank accounts for accounting of Region funds.
Regions 1-6 shall establish Concentration Banking accounts as their only bank accounts.
Regions 7-10 are strongly encouraged to establish Concentration Banking accounts astheir only bank accounts.
a. Accounts established in the name of IEEE must be reserved for the purpose
for which they are established, without co-mingling of funds.
b. Regions may establish a reserve fund at least equal to one half of the total
budgeted yearly expenditures. All IEEE reserves must be invested in the IEEE
Investment Fund.
c. All IEEE Regions must provide for the signatures of at least one volunteer andone additional volunteer signature as an alternative. In addition, the signatureof the IEEE Senior Director – Financial Services, or his/her designee, shall be
designated as an alternative.
This will provide assurance to the IEEE
organizational unit and to IEEE of the availability of one additional alternative
signature.

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EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT
Reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses, as authorized by the Region Committee,
shall be provided to attend Region Committee meetings and other authorized meetings.
Reimbursement shall be at Region expense, and the formula governing reimbursement
shall be under the jurisdiction of the Region Committee and consistent with overall IEEE
policies on reimbursement established by IEEE.
The Region Committee, in determining the amount of such reimbursement, shall take
into account circumstances which may affect Sections of small size or which are remotely
located.
REGION ASSESSMENTS
Upon approval of the IEEE Board of Directors, a voluntary or mandatory fee may be charged
to members residing in a Region for specified services for the benefit of members within the
Region. The IEEE Board of Directors will determine whether the fee is to be voluntary or
mandatory in a particular circumstance depending on the nature of specific services to beprovided. See also IEEE Bylaw I-108 – Dues, Assessments, and Fees.
REGION PUBLICATIONS
Any Region (or group of Regions) may issue a local publication. A Region publication may
be a newsletter and/or a journal/magazine. Information carried in a newsletter is notexpected to be archival, where journals/magazines have archival value. Additional
information is available in the IEEE Policies or IEEE Publication Services and Products Board(PSPB) Operations Manual.
REGION COMMITTEE MEETINGSThe Region Committee shall hold at least one meeting each year, at an appropriate timeand place.
A quorum for a Region Committee meeting shall consist of a majority of the membersof the Committee or their alternates and shall include representatives from at least halfof the Sections in the Region.
The Region Director or, in the event of his/her unavailability, the Region Committee Vice
Chair, shall be responsible for calling the necessary number of Region Committee
meetings and designation of the location of meetings.
Minutes of Region Committee meetings shall be forwarded to the MGA Secretary.
REGION STUDENT ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
Each Region shall establish a Region Student Activities Committee to be responsible to the
Region Committee. The Region Student Activities Committee shall be concerned with theencouragement of student activities in the Region including Student member and Student
Branch operations, general supervision of student activities and meetings when held on a
Region basis, and the fostering and coordination of activities with the Sections.
The Region Student Activities Committee shall be composed of its Chair, all Counselorsin the Region, the Region Student Representative, (other student appointees as

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appropriate), and any MGA Student Activities Committee (SAC) members residing in the
Region, ex officio.
The Region Director shall appoint the Chair of this Committee and the Region Student
Representative from among the Region membership, for a two-year term of office that
corresponds with or overlaps with that of the Region Director. The Chair of the Region
Student Activities Committee (Graduate Student Member grade or higher) and theRegion Student Representative (Student Member or Graduate Student Member) shallserve, ex officio, on the MGA SAC.
REGION DISSOLUTION
Regions failing to maintain reasonable activity may be dissolved and the Sections therein
may be absorbed into other Regions, the boundaries of which are to be correspondingly
altered.

9.2

ZONES ________________________________________________

Effective 1 January 2023
Zones may be formed in Regions by the MGA Board for better representation of theirmembers. The Zone boundaries shall be approved by the MGA Board.
In Regions with Zones, the Region shall appoint a Zone Representative to the MGA Board.
The method of appointment of Zone Representatives shall be specified in the Region bylaws.
The Region Director and Zone Representative shall originate from different Zones in their
Region.
Region 8 shall have Europe, Greenland, Turkey, Israel, and the countries of Asia north of
Iran, west of Pakistan, north and west of Afghanistan, and north of Mongolia and China, as
Zone 8.A, and Africa and the countries of Asia located west of Pakistan and not included in
the previous definition as Zone 8.B.
Region 10 shall have North Asia as Zone 10.A, and South Asia & Pacific as Zone 10.B.
Effective 1 January 2028
Region 8 shall have Europe, Greenland, Turkey, Israel, and the countries of Asia north of
Iran, west of Pakistan, north and west of Afghanistan, and north of Mongolia and China, as
Zone 8.A, and Africa and the countries of Asia located west of Pakistan and not included in
the previous definition as Zone 8.B.
There are no other zones defined.

9.3

AREAS ________________________________________________
DEFINITION

An Area is a part of a Region, consisting of several Sections, states, provinces, or countries
which may be established by the Region Committee as a management and administrative
organizational
unit
of
IEEE
to
fulfillthecommunication
needs
and
management/administrative missions of the Region within the territory prescribed.
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The Region Director may appoint Area Chairs to serve a one- or two-year term during
the incumbency of the Region Director.
The Area Chair acts on behalf of and at the direction of the Region Director on specificassignments related to the management and administration of the Region.
The Area Chair(s) may serve on the Region Committee with the approval of the Region
Committee.

9.4

GEOGRAPHIC COUNCILS _____________________________________
DEFINITIONA Council may be formed by agreement of a group of contiguous Sections, and it exists attheir pleasure. It is intended to act as a subordinate committee of the Sections, and they
have the right to direct its operation. It is formed by the Sections to do only those delegatedtasks that can be best done together by the Sections rather than singly by each Section.
The Sections retain their recognition as the basic operating, executive, and administrative
unit of IEEE. The Region Director and the MGA Board shall approve the formation of aCouncil.
COUNCIL FORMATIONPetition Processa. The petition shall contain the signature of the Chairs of the contiguous Sections
forming the Council.
b. The petition shall be submitted to the Managing Director – MGA for verification.
Approval Process
a. Following verification, the petition shall be approved by the Region Committee
before submission to the MGA Board.
b. Region Director presents recommendation for approval of Council formation to
the MGA Board.
COUNCIL BYLAWS
There shall be Council bylaws for the purpose of governing the operations andadministration of the Council. The bylaws shall indicate the purposes of the Council.
Council bylaws shall name the Council and identify the Sections included in the Council.
Council bylaws shall provide for the election of the Council Committee either by direct
membership election of the affected IEEE members or by vote of the Section
representatives.
Council bylaws shall specify the election procedure for balloting, according to theprovisions of this Operations Manual (see Section 9.3.G).
Council bylaws shall specify the officers of the Council Committee, and, when applicable,
the Council Executive Committee (ExCom).

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Council bylaws shall specify the fiscal year of the Council. The fiscal year shall be thecalendar year.
If agreed to by the participating Sections, Council bylaws shall provide for theestablishment of Chapters and Affinity Groups and for the administrative and financial
management of them after formation.
The suggested format and language for Council bylaws is available.
Council bylaws, and any revisions, should be submitted to the MGA department forreview to determine their compliance with IEEE Bylaws and IEEE Policies. The Council
shall approve Council bylaws, Sections comprising the Council, and the Region
Committee.
Recommendation for the approval of Council bylaws shall be submitted to the MGA Boardby the Region Director.
COUNCIL COMMITTEE
Each Council shall have a Council Committee, which shall consist of at least the Council
Chair, the Council Vice Chair, the Council Secretary, the Council Treasurer, and theCouncil Student Activities Committee Chair, if such committee exists, and one
representative of each Section in the Council appointed by the Section ExCom.
The Council Committee shall hold at least one meeting each year, within the Council
geographic boundaries.
a. A quorum for a Council Committee meeting shall consist of a majority of themembers of the Committee and shall include representatives from at least halfof the Sections of the Council.
b. The Council Chair or, in the event of his/her unavailability, the Council Vice
Chair, shall be responsible for calling the necessary number of Council
Committee meetings.
COUNCIL OFFICERS
The Council officers are the Council Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, except
where the latter two offices are combined, in which case, there shall be three Council
officers only. All officers shall be elected annually as provided in the Council bylaws.
Each member of the Council Committee shall be an IEEE member of Graduate Student
Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade.
The Council Chair shall be Chair of the Council Committee.
Pending election of the first Chair of the Council, the Region Director shall appoint a
Chair pro tem of the Council Committee, and the Chair pro tem may appoint a Secretary
and Treasurer pro tem.
The Council Chair shall serve as Chair for all meetings of the Council, the Council
Committee, and the Council ExCom where such ExCom exists.
The Council Vice Chair shall assist the Chair in the coordination of all Council activities.
At the request of the Chair or in the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair shall Chair
meetings of the Council, Council Committee, and Council ExCom.
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The duties of the Council Secretary shall include correspondence, the keeping of theminutes of the Committee meetings, mailing notices, submission of officer reports and,if appropriate, submission of Society Chapter meeting and officer reports to the MGA
department at the end of each year, and such other duties as are assigned by the Chair.
The duties of the Council Treasurer shall include the development of a Council budget
for approval by the Council, accounting of all Council funds, keeping financial records,
and submitting the geographic unit annual financial report of the Council to the IEEE
Senior Director – Financial Services.
The term of office for all officers shall normally be one year, but may continue until a
successor has been duly elected and takes office. The term of office shall normally befrom 1 January through 31 December. The consecutive period of service in any one
office shall normally not exceed two years. All officers shall not serve in any one position,in any single organizational unit, more than six years in total. Exceptions requireapproval by the Region Director who will annually report such exceptions to the MGA
Board.
The names of the newly elected/appointed officers of the Council shall be reported by
the Council Secretary to the IEEE MGA department within 20 days following
election/appointment.
COUNCIL NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Each Council shall establish a Council Nominating Committee. The Council Chair shallappoint the Nominating Committee Chair. With the consent of the Council, the mostrecent Council Past Chair shall serve as Nominating Committee Chair. All constituent
Sections shall have a representative on the Nominating Committee.
The duties of the Council Nominating Committee shall include the preparation of a slateof candidates recommended for the offices of Council Chair, and such other members of
the Council elected at-large, in accordance with the Council bylaws, to be submitted forapproval by the Council Committee.
Except as noted in IEEE Bylaws, the slate shall include not less than two nor more than
three candidates recommended for each office.
The Council Nominating Committee shall also be responsible for the annual solicitation
within the Council of names of potential candidates to be considered by the Council
Nominating Committee.
COUNCIL ELECTION PROCESS
Six months prior to the date of election, the Council Nominating Committee Chair shallissue a call for nominations for all positions elected at-large to all voting members of theCouncil through an appropriate medium.
Council Committee members and Section Chairs shall submit nominations within one
month of the call for nominations.
The Council Nominating Committee shall verify the candidates’ eligibility and willingness
to serve. The Council Nominating Committee shall also gather position statements andbiographies of the potential candidates, as appropriate.
The Council Nominating Committee will select from all such submissions candidates foreach position to be elected at-large, and submit the slate of candidates to the Council
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Committee for ratification. The slate of candidates, at least two but not more than threecandidates, shall be communicated to the voting members of the Council not less thansix weeks prior to the election date. In addition, provision shall be made in thecommunication for petition candidates for these offices.
Petition candidates shall require the signatures of a minimum of one percent of the voting
members of the Council, with at least 10% of the signatures coming from eachconstituent Section. No more than 25 signatures shall be required from each constituent
Section.
The entire slate of candidates for office shall be communicated to the voting membersof the Council not less than two weeks prior to the election date.
The election process shall be by secret ballot.
The Chair of the Council shall submit the names of three members of the Council toserve as a Tellers Committee, to the Council Committee for approval. After the tally of
votes, the Tellers Committee shall report the results of the election to the Council Chair.
The Council Chair shall inform each candidate for office of the results of the election prior
to announcing the results to the Council.
The names of the newly elected/appointed officers of the Council shall be reported to
the IEEE MGA department within 20 days following election/appointment.
COUNCIL FUNDS
Each Council Committee shall conduct its activities within the IEEE Constitution, IEEE
Bylaws, IEEE Policies, MGA Operations Manual, and other rules externally imposed whichby law affect the membership and activities of IEEE. Councils shall have the right to obligate
their funds for all purposes necessary to promote their objectives, except that no Council
or any officer or representative thereof shall have any authority to contract debts for, pledge
the credit of, or in any way bind IEEE for those activities specifically prohibited to individual
Sections. Funds within the geographic unit, from whatever source derived, are the propertyof IEEE, and should not be used for purposes other than the normal operations of thegeographic unit as defined in IEEE Bylaws or published interpretation of policy, without priorauthorization of the MGA Board and/or the IEEE Board of Directors, unless otherwise
provided.
Financial support for Council activities shall be obtained from the Sections comprising
the Council or from income producing activities, such as symposia and conferences,sponsored by the Council, or as otherwise provided by the Region.
If a Council is the sponsoring unit of a Society Chapter or Affinity Group, it is eligible toreceive the rebate allowed for Society Chapters or Affinity Groups. Rebate funds areintended to support the activities of Society Chapters or Affinity Groups.
Councils may establish appropriate bank accounts for accounting of Council funds.
Councils within the United States are strongly encouraged to use IEEE Concentration
Banking accounts as their only bank account. All geographic unit accounts shall havesignature cards with at least two volunteer signatures, one volunteer as the primary
signatory and one additional volunteer as an alternate. Where government or banking
regulations prohibit such a requirement, an exemption may be requested.
Councils may establish a reserve fund at least equal to one half of the total budgeted
yearly expenditures.
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All unit funds management shall adhere to a fiscal year 1 January - 31 December.
SECTIONS JOINING OR WITHDRAWING FROM A COUNCIL
A neighboring Section wishing to join an existing Council may do so with the approval of
its own ExCom, the Council ExCom, the Region ExCom, and the MGA Board. The
recommendation for approval of the Section joining the Council is presented to the MGA
Board by the Region Director.
After a Section has been a part of a Council for two years, the Section ExCom may callfor a vote of the Section membership to withdraw from the Council.
The results of the Section vote will be reported to the Region Director. In the event that
the Section membership has voted to withdraw from the Council, the Region Director
will present this recommendation to the MGA Board for approval. A Council shall bedissolved if it consists of only one Section.
COUNCIL REQUIREMENTS FOR ACTIVITY
Councils are required to submit to IEEE MGA staff a report of the previous year’s financial
activity by the third week of February each year. Failure to comply with this requirement
shall be reported to the Chairs of the participating Sections and the Region Director.
If a Council is a sponsoring unit of a Society Chapter or Affinity Group, it must also
submit the meeting and officer reports of those units on an annual basis, in order toqualify for the rebate allowed for Society Chapters or Affinity Groups.
Councils exist at the pleasure of the Sections comprising them. A Section or Sections
may petition the Region Director to intervene in Council operations in the event of an
insoluble dispute. The Region Director, at his or her discretion, may ask the MGA Board
for assistance in resolving the dispute.
COUNCIL PROBATIONIn the event that a Council fails to submit the required financial, and, where appropriate,
Society Chapter or Affinity Group meeting and officer reports are not submitted for two
years, the Council will be placed on probation.
The Council, member Sections, Region Director, and the MGA Board will be informed by
the Managing Director – MGA.
COUNCIL DISSOLUTION
After one full year on probation, a Council which has not submitted the required financial
reporting, will be subject to dissolution by the MGA Board at the recommendation of theRegion Director.
The MGA Board may dissolve any Council for any reason deemed sufficient by the MGA
Board, and any remaining funds and assets in the custody of that Council shall revert toIEEE.
The Region Director may request of the MGA Board that the dissolved Council’s funds be
divided equally among Sections which had been members of the Council.

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9.5

SECTIONS ______________________________________________
DEFINITION

A Section is the basic operating organizational unit of IEEE, constituted by a minimum offifty (50) IEEE voting members and established with the approval of the MGA Board bypetition of those who live/work in relatively close proximity to be served by activities thatmeet their needs and further the missions of IEEE.
The Section shall have for its purpose the advancement of the theory and practice ofIEEE designated fields and the maintenance of high professional standards among its
members, with special attention to such aims within the territory of the Section, all inconsonance with the IEEE Constitution, IEEE Bylaws, IEEE Policies, MGA Operations
Manual, and Region bylaws.
All Sections shall be exclusively those of IEEE. Management of an IEEE Section shall be
exclusively by IEEE members and not jointly with members of any other organization,society, or group. However, IEEE Sections may cooperate with other organizations inholding joint meetings and may invite members of such organizations and the public totheir meetings.
With the approval of the Region Director(s), two or more Sections may join in mutual
support of the following activities: joint publications; joint meetings, conferences, or
symposia; joint Society Chapter or Affinity Group meetings; student activities; and such
related activities as may be approved from time to time by the MGA Board. If in pursuingsuch joint activities it appears desirable to establish a formal aggregation of contiguous
Sections, to be called a Council, and to be governed by bylaws, this may be done underprovisions herein.
SECTION TERRITORY
The territory of the Section is approved by the MGA Board, and may be enlarged, reduced,
or otherwise altered by the MGA Board at any time, in accordance with IEEE Bylaws.
The territory of a Section shall be entirely within the territory of one Region.
An IEEE member of a Section shall be determined by the preferred mailing address,
except where such member requests membership in a contiguous Section.
SECTION FORMATION
A petition for the formation of a Section shall be signed by not fewer than fifty (50) IEEE
voting members, having a mailing address within the territorial boundaries proposed in
the petition. Each individual who signs the petition shall be an IEEE member, in goodstanding, of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade. In
lieu of their signatures on the petition, IEEE will accept an email message from an IEEE
member stating his/her agreement to the formation. These emails must include thename of the member, IEEE membership number, and a brief statement of support of thepetition. These messages are to be sent to the petition organizer who is requested to
cut and paste these emails, preserving the email header information, into one document.
The petition shall include the following:a. Proposed name and territorial boundaries of the Section.

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b. The name, member number, membership grade, and contact information of
the organizer of the Section. The organizer shall be of IEEE Graduate Student
Member or higher grade and must be an IEEE member in good standing.
c. A business plan that includes mission and goals, planned meetings andactivities for initial six months. Following receipt of this information, MGA staff
shall distribute to the Region Director (or their designee) for review andfeedback to be provided to organizer.
d. Endorsement from the Region Director (or their designee).
The petition shall be presented to the Managing Director – MGA for verification prior to
submission to the MGA Board. MGA Staff will confirm the validity of the petition, andconcurrence of the surrounding Sections.
The Region Director presents the recommendation for approval of Section formation to
the MGA Board.
SECTION MANAGEMENTThe Section affairs shall be managed by an Executive Committee (ExCom) consisting of
the elected officers. The number of voting members elected must be at least one greaterthan those appointed.
Chapter and Affinity Group chairs, as elected by theirmembership, are considered “elected” official, as is the Past Section Chair.
All Chapters and Affinity Groups in the Section shall have voting representation either
individually or collectively on the Section ExCom, and the Subsection Chairs shall be exofficio members with voting power.
In Sections with at least one Student Branch, it is recommended that the Section ExCom
select a Section Student Activities Chair (SSAC) and a Section Student Representative(SSR) as voting members of the Section ExCom. The SSAC is an active Section memberof Graduate Student Member Grade or above while the SSR is an active Student Member
or Graduate Student Member in a Student Branch of the Section.
A quorum is required for administrative meetings. A majority of the voting members of
the committee shall constitute a quorum. These meetings shall be conducted inaccordance with Robert’s Rules of Order (latest version) as the standard parliamentary
authority.
Reasonable efforts should be made to notify all members of Section meetings andactivities. Methods of communication could be, but are not limited to, email distributions(in keeping with IEEE email policies), postings on Section websites, social media venues,
or hard copy distributions.
SECTION GOVERNING AND OPERATING DOCUMENTS
Section Bylaws: All Sections are required to operate in accordance with the IEEE
Constitution, IEEE Bylaws, IEEE Policies, and the MGA Operations Manual. The use of
Section bylaws shall be allowed when required to meet the requirements of local laws.
All such required Section bylaws shall be submitted for review to the Region Director,
who will then forward to MGA staff for review and to obtain IEEE Legal and Compliancedepartment legal approval before submission to the MGA Board for approval.
Local Operating Procedures: Sections may maintain local operating procedures
documents, which may be used to record the administration and operational processes
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of the Section. These documents shall not contain any exceptions to the MGA Operations
Manual.
Addendums: Sections requiring exceptions to the MGA Operations Manual shall submit
an addendum request to the Region Director for review. If the request meets with theapproval of the Region Director, it shall then be presented to MGA staff for review before
submitting to the MGA Board for approval.
SECTION OFFICERS
At a minimum the officers of the Section shall include a Chair, a Vice Chair, a Secretary,
and a Treasurer. The Section may combine the offices of Secretary and Treasurer. A
Section may define in its local operating procedures document if the Vice Chair shall
automatically become the Chair at the conclusion of their term.
With the exception of the Section Student Representative, each member of the Section
ExCom shall be an IEEE member, in good standing, of Graduate Student Member,
Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade.
Pending election of the first officers of the Section, the Region Director shall appoint a
Chair pro tem of the SectionExCom, and the Chair pro tem may appoint a Secretary andTreasurer pro tem.
The Section Chair shall serve as Chair for all meetings of the Section and the Section
ExCom.
The Section Vice Chair shall assist the Chair in the coordination of all Section activities.
At the request of the Section Chair or in the absence of the Section Chair, the Section
Vice Chair shall chair meetings of the Section, Section Committee, or Section ExCom.
The duties of the Section Secretary shall include correspondence, the keeping of theminutes of the committee meetings, mailing notices, and submission of meeting andofficer reports to the MGA department at the end of each year and such other duties as
are assigned to him/her by the Chair.
The duties of the Section Treasurer shall include the development of a Section budget
for approval by the Section, accounting of all Section funds, keeping financial records,
and submitting the financial operations report of the Section to the IEEE Senior Director– Financial Services.
Officer Terms and Eligibility:a. All officers shall be elected by Section members of Graduate Student Member,
Member, Senior Member, and Fellow grade. Elections for all officers shall takeplace every one or two years, in accordance with the term of office as definedby the Section.
b. The term of office for all officers shall be one or two years. A Section must
define the officer term as one or two years and record it in its local operatingprocedures document; if the officer term is not recorded in the local operatingprocedures document, it shall be two years. An individual may continue in theposition until a successor has been duly elected and takes office with approvalof the Region Director.
c. The term of office shall normally be from 1 January through 31 December.
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d. The consecutive period of service in any one office shall normally not exceed
four years. All officers shall not serve in any one position, in any single
organizational unit, more than six years in total. Exceptions to this rule requireapproval by the Region Director who will annually report such exceptions to
the MGA Board.
Any vacancy occurring during the year shall be filled by a majority vote of the Section
ExCom.
SECTION NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Each Section shall appoint a Nominating Committee of three or more Section members
not then officers of the Section. A member of the Section Nominating Committee whodoes not resign from the Committee prior to the meeting at which nominees are selected
is not eligible to be nominated for any office to be filled by the Section ExCom.
The duties of the Section Nominating Committee shall include the preparation of a slateof candidates recommended for the offices of Section Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary,
Treasurer (or Secretary/Treasurer), and such other members of the Section elected atlarge, to be submitted for approval by the Section ExCom.
Except as noted in IEEE Bylaws, the slate shall include not less than two nor more than
three candidates recommended for each office.
In the case where the slate, as submitted by the Nominating Committee to theSection ExCom for ratification, consists of a single candidate, the Section ExCom
may recommend to the Region Director the approval of proceeding with theelection process with a single candidate slate.
The Section Nominating Committee shall also be responsible for the annual solicitation
within the Section of names of potential candidates to be considered for positions on the
Section ExCom.
The Section Nominating Committee shall respond on behalf of the Section to calls forelected positions for Councils, and Regions as appropriate. Nominations for such
positions shall be submitted to the Section ExCom, as appropriate, for ratification.
SECTION ELECTION PROCESS
Six months prior to the date of election, the Section Nominating Committee Chair shallissue a call for nominations for all positions elected at-large to all voting members of theSection through an appropriate medium.
Section members shall submit nominations within one month of the call for nominations.
The Section Nominating Committee shall verify the candidates’ eligibility and willingness
to serve. A candidate must be a member of the Section to hold office in that Section.
The Section Nominating Committee shall also gather position statements andbiographies of the potential candidates, as appropriate.
The Section Nominating Committee will select from all such submissions at least two but
not more than three candidates for each position elected at-large, and submit the slateof candidates to the Section ExCom for ratification.

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In the case where the slate that is submitted for ratification consists of a single
candidate, the Section ExCom may recommend to the Region Director theapproval of proceeding with the election process with a single candidate slate.
The slate of candidates for elected office shall be communicated to the voting membersof the Section not less than six weeks prior to the election date. In addition, provision
shall be made in the communication for petition candidates for these offices.
In addition to the candidates nominated by the Section Nominating Committee,
individual voting members eligible to vote in such election may nominate candidates bypetition.
In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-307.17, the number of signatures required on apetition shall be determined as follows. For all positions where the electorate isless than 30,000 voting members, signatures shall be required from 2% of theeligible voters.
For all positions where the electorate is more than 30,000 voting members, 600
signatures of eligible voters plus 1% of the difference between the number of
eligible voters and 30,000 shall be required.”
The petition shall be completed at least 28 days before the date of the election.
The entire slate of candidates for office shall be communicated to the voting membersof the Section not less than two weeks prior to the election date.
The election process shall be by secret ballot.
The Section Chair shall submit the names of up to three members of the Section to serve
as a Tellers Committee, to the Section for approval. After the tally of votes, the Tellers
Committee shall report the results of the election to the Section Chair. The Section Chair
shall inform each candidate for office of the results of the election prior to announcing
the results to the Section membership.
SECTION FUNDSThe MGA Board shall be responsible for distributing rebate funds to the Sections inaccordance with a stated set of objectives and a plan of distribution prepared by the MGA
Geographic Unit Operations Support Committee and submitted for approval to the MGA
Board.
There shall be no Section assessments for Sections in Regions 1 - 7. Upon approval by
the IEEE Board of Directors, emergency or extraordinary expenses may be provided byvoluntary contribution from the membership of the Section.
For Sections in Regions 8 - 10, an assessment may be established. A Section or groupof Sections within a single country can apply to the IEEE Board of Directors through theRegion Director for an assessment to fund an office and/or staff to improve interaction
with the national society in that country. A business plan for the proposed expenditures
and the results of a ballot sent to all members showing clear support for this action shallbe included on the application.
Funds within the Section, from whatever source derived, are the property of IEEE, andshall not be used for purposes other than the normal operations of the Section as definedin IEEE Bylaws or published interpretation of policy, without prior authorization of the
MGA Board and/or the IEEE Board of Directors, unless otherwise provided.
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Funds derived from member dues (rebate funds) shall not be used for scholarships,
fellowships, and other education awards. The awards activities shall be supported byfunds from activities all or in part specifically directed to such usage. Contributions may
be accepted for such use and donations should be encouraged by the use of tax-exempt
mechanisms, where available.
Sections shall have the right to obligate their funds for all purposes necessary to promote
their objectives, except that no Section or any officer or representative thereof shallhave any authority to contract debts for, pledge the credit of, or in any way bind IEEEfor those activities specifically prohibited in the governing documents of IEEE or
published interpretation of policy.
The Section may serve nonmembers or groupsannouncements and other Section publications.

wishingtoreceivemeeting

Sections may accept local voluntary financial contributions.
Chapter and Affinity Group funds provided to the Section through the annual rebate areintended for the support of those subunits. Chapters and Affinity Groups shall be fundedat a minimum at the level of the annual Rebate.
Sections shall establish bank accounts for all IEEE funds.
a. Sections are encouraged to utilize the IEEE Concentration Banking Program asa depository for all IEEE funds, if possible.
b. Accounts established in the name of IEEE shall be reserved for the purpose forwhich they are established, without co-mingling of funds.
c. All geographic unit accounts shall have signature cards with at least two
volunteer signatures, one volunteer as the primary signatory and one
additional volunteer as an alternate. In addition, all IEEE geographic units
accounts must have the IEEE Senior Director – Financial Services as asignatory thereon (IEEE Policies, Section 11.3.A.3). Exemptions must be
requested as part of the geographic unit annual financial report, and approvedby the Region Director.
Custody Accounts (Regions 8 - 10): The purpose of the Custody Account shall be tofacilitate the payment of IEEE products and services in US funds through a direct depositof the Section rebate, while supporting Section activities through the collection of funds
in local currency. Services supported by the Custody Account include, but are not limited
to, payment for initial membership application, membership renewal, and the purchaseof IEEE products.
Reserves: Sections may establish a reserve fund at least equal to one half of the total
budgeted yearly expenditures.
All unit funds management must adhere to a fiscal year 1 January - 31 December except
where government or banking regulations prohibit such a requirement. Such exceptions
must be reported to the MGA Board through the Region Director.
Sections shall submit a financial operations report to the IEEE Senior Director – Financial
Services. Upon request, staff shall provide the Region Director with a summary of each
Section's financial report.

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page 104SECTION EXPENSES
Ordinary expenses of the Section shall be defrayed by the funds supplied by IEEE either
directly or by allocation from the Region.
Emergency or extraordinary expenses may be provided by voluntary contribution fromthe membership of the Section.
SECTION PUBLICATIONSAny Section that publishes a periodical shall inform the MGA Board of the establishment
thereof and shall provide the Region Director and IEEE MGA department with copies thereof,
as published. (See Section 11 of this Manual and/or IEEE Policies, Section 6)
SECTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
A Section shall be required to maintain a membership of not fewer than twenty-five (25)IEEE members of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade.
A Section shall be required to hold not less than five (5) meetings per year. Chapter
and/or Affinity Group meetings may be counted in fulfilling Section meeting
requirements.
The Section Secretary or Secretary/Treasurer shall submit an annual report of meeting
activities and the roster of officers to MGA department staff.
The Section Treasurer or Secretary/Treasurer shall submit the geographic unit annual
financial report to IEEE MGA department staff. The incoming and outgoing Section
Chair/Treasurer must sign this report. The incoming Section Chair and Treasurer shallalso submit an IEEE Disclosure Statement.
Sections are required to submit their annual financial reports and annual officer andmeeting reports by the deadlines defined in the Geographic Unit Rebate Schedule to beeligible for the dues rebates. A 10% bonus will be paid for complete reports received by
the third Friday in February. Exceptions for payment of the dues rebate to those units
submitting the required reports after the defined deadlines shall be at the discretion of
the Region Director, and a 10% penalty shall be applied to all such exceptions.
SECTION PROBATION
Failure of a Section to meet the minimum required activities as described in Section
9.4.L. for a period of one year shall result in the Section automatically being placed on
probation, effective 1 January of the following year.
Probation means that in addition to a report to the MGA Board, the Section will not be
eligible for rebates until the Section comes into compliance with the minimum
requirements. In addition, the MGA Board may take such action as deemed appropriate
in the circumstances.
Funds in the possession of a Section that was under probation for more than one (1)year will be transferred by the MGA Board into a custody account until either the:a. Section comes into compliance with minimum requirements and repossesses thefunds; or

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b. Region Director has requested that the funds be dispensed to the Section for
rejuvenation; orc. Section is dissolved (in accordance with Section 9.4.N)
The Managing Director – MGA or the Vice President – MGA shall inform the Section Chair
and the Region Director of the probation.
SECTION DISSOLUTION
The MGA Board may dissolve any Section for any reason deemed sufficient by the MGA
Board and take the necessary action to transfer any remaining funds and assets in thepossession of that Section under the custody of IEEE MGA. If appropriate, the funds ofthe dissolved Section shall be divided proportionally among the Sections to which themembership is reassigned.
If the probation of a Section continues for a second year, and in the absence of plans toreactivate the Section acceptable to the Region Director and the MGA Board, the Region
Director with the concurrence of the MGA Board shall dissolve the Section, with membersin that Section territory reassigned to another Section approved by the Region Director
and the MGA Board. The Managing Director – MGA shall so inform the members
previously constituting the Section.
The MGA Board may waive the provisions herein regarding dissolution of a Section incase war or any other force majeure affects such Section, for the period of the duration
thereof and for at least six months thereafter. Responsibility for waiving requirements
for the activity level of Sections with respect to probation shall be assigned to therespective Region Directors.

9.6

SUBSECTIONS ___________________________________________
DEFINITION

A Subsection shall be a part of a Section or Region, constituted by a minimum of twenty(20) IEEE voting members, and established with the approval of the MGA Board bypetition of those who live/work in relatively close proximity to be served by the activities
that further the mission of IEEE.
SUBSECTION PETITION FOR ESTABLISHMENT
A Subsection may be established subject to the same limitation and control pursuant to thefollowing conditions:
A petition for the formation of a Subsection shall be signed by not fewer than twenty(20) IEEE members, in good standing, of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior
Member, or Fellow grade, having mailing addresses within the territorial boundaries
proposed in the petition. In lieu of their signatures on the petition, IEEE will accept anemail message from an IEEE member stating his/her agreement to the formation. Theseemails must include the name of the member, IEEE membership number, and a brief
statement of support of the petition. These messages are to be sent to the petition
organizer who is requested to cut and paste these emails, preserving the email header
information, into one document.
The petition shall include the following:a. Proposed name and territorial boundaries of the Subsection.
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b. The name, member number, membership grade, and contact information of
the organizer of the Subsection. The organizer shall be of IEEE Graduate
Student Member or higher grade and must be an IEEE member in goodstanding.
c. A business plan that includes mission and goals, planned meetings andactivities for initial six months. Following receipt of this information, MGA staff
shall distribute to Region Director (or their designee) for review and feedback
to be provided to organizer.
d. Endorsement from the Region Director (or their designee) or the Section
Executive Committee (ExCom).
The petition shall be presented to the Managing Director – MGA for verification prior to
submission to the MGA Board. MGA staff will confirm the validity of the petition andconcurrence of the surrounding Sections.
Region Director presents recommendation for approval of Subsection formation to the
MGA Board.
MANAGEMENT OF SUBSECTION
The management of the Subsection mirrors that of a Section. These procedures include,
but are not exclusive of nominations, elections, officers, and publications. Pleasereference Sections 9.4.D through 9.4.H of this manual.
In the case of a Subsection, the phrase ‘Region Director’ in sections 9.4.G.3 and9.4.H.4 shall be interpreted to mean the ‘Chair of the parent Geographic Unit,’
i.e. the Section Chair or the Region Director, whichever is applicable.
Reasonable efforts should be made to notify all members of Subsection meetings andactivities. Methods of communication could be, but are not limited to, email distributions(in keeping with IEEE email policies), postings on Subsection websites, social media
venues, or hard copy distributions.
SUBSECTION FUNDS
The parent organization (Region or Section) shall be responsible for distributing funds
to its Subsections in accordance with a stated set of objectives and a plan of distribution,
which shall be in consonance with the missions of IEEE and MGA. Funds within thegeographic unit, from whatever source derived, are the property of IEEE, and should not
be used for purposes other than the normal operations of the geographic unit as definedin IEEE Bylaws or published interpretation of policy, without prior authorization of the
MGA Board and/or the IEEE Board of Directors, unless otherwise provided.
There shall be no Subsection assessments.
Subsections are encouraged to utilize the IEEE Concentration Banking Program as adepository for all IEEE funds, if possible.
a. All geographic unit accounts shall have signature cards with at least two
volunteer signatures, one volunteer as the primary signatory and one
additional volunteer as an alternate. In addition, all IEEE geographic units
accounts must have the IEEE Senior Director – Financial Services as asignatory thereon (IEEE Policies, Section 11.3.A.3). Exemptions must be
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page 107requested as part of the geographic unit annual financial report, and approvedby the Region Director.
SUBSECTION EXPENSES
Ordinary expenses of the Subsection shall be defrayed by the funds supplied by the Region
or Section in agreement with the Region or Section budget. Emergency or extraordinary
expenses may be provided by voluntary contributions from the membership of theSubsection.
SUBSECTION PROBATIONAs established by the MGA Board, the minimum number of meetings to maintain
Subsection status shall be five (5) per year. The minimum membership of theSubsection shall not be less than fifteen (15) IEEE members of Graduate Student
Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade. Meetings held by a Chapter in
conjunction with the Subsection may be counted in fulfilling these requirements.
The Subsection is required to submit an annual report of meeting activities and the rosterof officers to the Managing Director – MGA. A financial report shall be submitted annuallyto the MGA department.
Failure of a Subsection to maintain these minimum required activities shall be reported
to the Region Director and the MGA Board and may result in the Subsection being placedon probation. The Managing Director – MGA or the Vice President – MGA shall informthe Section Chair (if appropriate), Subsection Chair, and the Region Director of theSubsection probation.
Probation in this case means that the MGA Board may take such action as deemed
appropriate in the circumstances, particularly that if the Subsection does not come into
compliance with these minimum requirements, with the Region Director’s
recommendation, the Subsection may be dissolved.
SUBSECTION DISSOLUTION
The MGA Board may dissolve any Subsection for any reason deemed sufficient by the MGA
Board and any remaining funds and assets in the custody of that Subsection shall revert toIEEE. The Region Director may request that the funds of the dissolved Subsection be
returned to the parent IEEE Section or Region.
If the probation of a Subsection (see Section 9.4.M) continues for a second year, theRegion Director, with the concurrence of the Region Committee and the MGA Board,shall take appropriate action in this matter.
The MGA Board may waive the provisions herein regarding dissolution of a Subsection
in case war or any other force majeure affects such Subsection, for the period of theduration thereof and for at least six months thereafter. Responsibility for waiving
requirements for the activity level of Subsections with respect to probation shall beassigned to the respective Region Director.
SUBSECTION ELEVATION TO SECTION
A petition shall be submitted requesting a Subsection be elevated to a Section as
currently named and within its defined territory.

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page 108The proposed Section should have not fewer than fifty (50) IEEE members of Graduate
Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade, identified as being within
the territorial boundaries of the Subsection at the time of the petition.
The petition shall provide the name, address, and contact information of the current
Chair of the Subsection and the petition organizer. A petition organizer shall be an IEEE
member of Graduate Student Member or higher grade.
The petition shall be presented to the Managing Director – MGA for verification.
The petition shall be provided to the Region Director.
The parent geographicorganizational unit shall be contacted by the Region Director for feedback in regards tothe elevation of the Subsection to a Section.
The Region Director will review the petition and feedback from the parent geographicorganizational unit and recommend the appropriate action prior to submission to the
MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support Committee for review.
The Region Director shall present the recommendation for approval of the elevation of a
Subsection to a Section to the MGA Board.

9.7

CHAPTERS______________________________________________
DEFINITION

A Chapter shall be a technical subunit of a Region, one or more Sections, or a Geographic
Council. There may be single Society Chapters, joint Society Chapters, and TechnicalCouncil Chapters. A Chapter shall comprise a minimum of twelve (12) IEEE voting membersof a Society, or group of Societies in the case of a joint Chapter, and shall be establishedby petition to the parent geographical and technical organizational units concerned to fulfill
the mission of IEEE. In case of a Technical Council Chapter, a minimum of any twelve (12)IEEE voting members of Council Member Societies in the parent geographical unit shall be
required to petition to the geographic unit and to the Technical Council.
IEEE members of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade who
belong to an IEEE Society and a geographic unit which has formed a Technical Chapter ofsuch Society are considered Chapter members.
All references to “Chapter” in Section 9.6 are inclusive of both Chapter and Joint Chapter.
IEEE Technical Society Chapters shall conduct activities within the scope of the technicalfield of interest of the sponsoring Society/Societies. IEEE Technical Council Chaptersshall conduct activities within the technical field of interest of the Technical Council.
A Chapter functions in a manner similar to that of a committee of the Section/Council.
In instances where Section/Council territorial geography may warrant and Society
member interests are sufficient to support multiple Chapters of a Society, additional
Chapters, suitably identified, may be formed and operate under the current applicable
procedures.
CHAPTER FORMATIONPetition Process. A petition to establish a Chapter shall contain the following:a. Name of the Section(s)MGA Operations Manual, Section 9

page 109

b. Name of the sponsoring Society(ies)c. Name of the organizer (who becomes interim Chair pending election of aregular Chair at a later organization meeting). The organizer shall be of IEEE
Graduate Student Member or higher grade and must be an IEEE member ingood standing.
d. Signatures of at least twelve (12) IEEE members, in good standing, of
Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade, who aremembers of the Society(ies) and Section(s) involved. Each petition to form aTechnical Council Chapter will be signed by at least twelve (12) IEEE voting
members of a Society which is a Member Society of the Technical Council. In
lieu of their signatures on the petition, IEEE will accept an email message froman IEEE member stating his/her agreement to the formation. These emails
must include the name of the member, IEEE membership number, and a brief
statement of support of the petition. These messages are to be sent to thepetition organizer who is requested to cut and paste these emails, preserving
the email header information, into one document.
e. The petition for a Chapter shall be submitted to the Section/Council Executive
Committee (ExCom) for written approval and forwarded with this written
approval to the Managing Director – MGA. The Managing Director – MGA shallforward a copy of the petition to the President(s) of the Society(ies) for
verification to the Managing Director – Technical Activities for information.
f. A business plan that includes mission and goals, planned meetings andactivities for initial six months. Following receipt of this information, MGA staff
will distribute to Region Director (or their designee) for review and feedback
to be provided to organizer.
g. A Joint Chapter may be established by the procedures defined herein to cover
the territory of two or more contiguous Sections, or a Council, or the interestsof two or more Societies within the territory provided the necessary approval
is obtained by all concerned. That petition shall identify the organizational unit
assuming responsibility for the Chapter management. That organizational unit
shall receive rebates for the Chapter meetings. These funds are intended forthe support of Chapter activities.
Approval Processa. The Chapter shall be considered established after MGA staff have ascertainedthat the Region Director and the Society President(s) have no objection to its
formation. A list of formations shall be transmitted to the MGA Board and theTechnical Activities Board (TAB).
b. The Managing Director – MGA shall so notify the Society President, and theSection/Council Chair.
CHAPTER MANAGEMENT
Responsibility for Chapter management shall rest with the Section/Council, which shall havecontrol of all financial and other assets of the Chapter in carrying out its activities.
A Chapter may maintain its own accounting of income and disbursements, either within
separate sub-accounts of the Section treasury or within a separate bank account as
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page 110approved by the Section ExCom. Funds in such an account may include income received
by the Chapter from Societies and Technical Councils and the Chapter's share of income
and disbursements associated with programs sponsored or cosponsored by the Chapter
and with operations of the Section. Such funds shall remain the designated assets of the
Chapter.
If, upon petition by a Chapter to maintain a separate bank account, the Section withholds
its approval, or if the Section decides to eliminate an existing account, the Section shallfirst seek the approval of the Vice Presidents of MGA and Technical Activities stating thereasons for its decision.
Those Chapters having separate bank accounts shall submit a year-end financial
statement to the Section by 15 January for the previous fiscal year.
The managing Section shall be responsible for auditing, proper accounting, andsubmitting, with its annual financial report, a Chapter financial statement to the IEEE
Senior Director – Financial Services.
Reasonable efforts should be made to notify all members of Chapter meetings. Methodsof communication could be, but are not limited to, email distributions (in keeping withIEEE email policies), postings on Chapter websites, social media venues, or hard copy
distributions.
CHAPTER OFFICERS
Officers of the Chapter shall be at least a Chair, a Vice Chair, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
The Chapter may combine the offices of Secretary and Treasurer.
Each member of the Chapter Committee shall be an IEEE member of Graduate Student
Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade and a member of the parent Society.
Officers of a Joint Chapter must be a member of at least one parent Society. The Chapter
Chair shall serve as Chair for all meetings of the Chapter, the Chapter Committee, andthe Chapter ExCom where such ExCom exists.
To be an officer of a Technical Council Chapter, an individual must be an IEEE
voting member of a Society which is a Member Society of the Technical Council.
The Chapter Vice Chair shall assist the Chair in the coordination of all Chapter activities.
At the request of the Chapter Chair or in the absence of the Chapter Chair, the Chapter
Vice Chair shall chair meetings of the Chapter, Chapter Committee, or Chapter ExCom.
The duties of the Chapter Secretary shall include correspondence, the keeping of theminutes of the Committee meetings, mailing notices, and submission of meeting reports
to the parent Section Secretary or Secretary/Treasurer at the end of each year and suchother duties as are assigned to him/her by the Chair.
The duties of the Chapter Treasurer shall include the development of a Chapter budget
for approval by the Section, accounting of all Chapter funds, keeping financial records,
and submitting a financial record to the Section.
Officer Terms and Eligibility:a. All officers shall be elected by Chapter members of Graduate Student Member,
Member, Senior Member, and Fellow grade. Elections for all officers shall takeplace every one or two years, in accordance with the term of office as defined
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by the parent geographical unit that assumes responsibility for the Chapter
management.
b. The term of office for all officers shall be one or two years. The parent
geographical unit that assumes responsibility for the Chapter management
must define the officer term as one or two years and record it in its local
operating procedures document; if the officer term is not recorded in the local
operating procedures document, it shall be two years. An individual may
continue in the position until a successor has been duly elected and takes
office.
c. The term of office shall normally be from 1 January through 31 December.
d. The consecutive period of service in any one office shall normally not exceed
four years. All officers shall not serve in any one position, in any single
organizational unit, more than six years in total. Exceptions to this rule requireapproval by the Chair of the parent geographical unit that assumes
responsibility for the Chapter management who will annually report suchexceptions to the Region Director.
The names of the newly elected/appointed officers (voting and non-voting) of the
Chapter shall be reported to the IEEE MGA department, via the Section or Council
Secretary, within 20 days following election/appointment.
CHAPTER NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Section/Council bylaws shall provide for appointment by the Chapter Chair of a
Nominating Committee of three or more Chapter members not then officers of the
Chapter. The Chapter Chair, in accordance with this Operations Manual shall appoint its
Chair.
The duties of the Chapter Nominating Committee shall include the preparation of a slateof candidates recommended for the offices of Chapter Chair, and such other membersof the Chapter elected at-large, in accordance with the Section/Council bylaws, to besubmitted for approval by the Chapter Committee.
Except as noted in IEEE Bylaws, the slate should include not less than two nor more than
three candidates recommended for each office.
In the case where the slate, as submitted by the Nominating Committee to the
Chapter Committee for ratification, consists of a single candidate, the Chapter
Committee may recommend to the Chair of the parent Geographic Unit thatassumes responsibility for the Chapter management, the approval of proceedingwith the election process with a single candidate slate.
The Chapter Nominating Committee shall also be responsible for the annual solicitation
within the Chapter of names of potential candidates to be considered for positions on
Chapter committees according to the Section/Council bylaws.
CHAPTER ELECTION PROCESS
Six months prior to the date of election, the Chapter Nominating Committee Chair shallissue a cCall for nominations for all positions elected at-large to all voting members of
the Chapter through an appropriate medium.

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page 112Chapter members must submit nominations within one month of the call for
nominations.
The Chapter Nominating Committee must verify the candidates’ eligibility and willingness
to serve. A candidate must be a member of the Chapter to hold office in that Chapter.
The Chapter Nominating Committee shall also gather position statements andbiographies of the potential candidates, as appropriate.
The Chapter Nominating Committee will select from all such submissions candidates foreach position to be elected at-large, and submit the slate of candidates to the Chapter
Committee for ratification. The slate of candidates, at least two but not more than threecandidates, shall be communicated to the voting members of the Chapter not less thansix weeks prior to the election date. In addition, provision shall be made in thecommunication for petition candidates for these offices.
In the case where the slate that is submitted for ratification consists of a single
candidate, the Chapter Committee may recommend to the Chair of the parent
Geographic Unit that assumes responsibility for the Chapter management, theapproval of proceeding with the election process with a single candidate slate.
In addition to the candidates nominated by the Chapter Nominating Committee,
individual voting members eligible to vote in such election may nominate candidates bypetition.
In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-307.17, the number of signatures on a petition
for a Chapter officer position shall be required from 2% of the eligible voters,
provided the electorate is less than 30,000 voting members.
The petition shall be completed at least 28 days before the date of the election.
The entire slate of candidates for office shall be communicated to the voting membersof the Chapter not less than two weeks prior to the election date.
The election process must be by secret ballot.
The Chair of the Chapter shall submit the names of up to three members of the Chapter
to serve as a Tellers Committee, to the Chapter for approval. After the tally of votes,
the Tellers Committee shall report the results of the election to the Chapter Chair. The
Chapter Chair shall inform each candidate for office of the results of the election prior toannouncing the results to the Chapter and the Section/Council.
To be able to vote in an election for such officers for Technical Council Chapters, anindividual must be a voting member of the Society and/or a member of the Society which
is a Member Society of the Technical Council.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF CHAPTER FUNDS
Section/Councils shall be responsible for distributing funds to its Chapters in accordancewith a stated set of objectives and a plan of distribution, which shall be in consonance withthe missions of the IEEE, MGA, and Technical Activities. Additionally, Technical Council
Chapters will receive funding in the same manner as Society Chapters. Chapters areentitled to receive the funds generated by their own activities, including dues rebates(earned during the preceding year as computed by the dues rebate formula). Such funds
shall remain the designated assets of the Chapter. Funds generated by more than a single
geographic unit should be shared as determined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
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Funds within the Chapter, from whatever source derived, are the property of IEEE, andshall not be used for purposes other than the normal operations of the Chapter as definedin IEEE Bylaws or published interpretation of policy, without prior authorization of the
MGA Board and TAB, unless otherwise provided.
Funds derived from member dues shall not be used for scholarships, fellowships, andother education awards. The awards activities shall be supported by funds from activities
all or in part specifically directed to such usage. Contributions may be accepted for such
use and donorship should be encouraged by the use of tax-exempt mechanisms. All
funds derived from whatever permitted source designated for these purposes shall bedeposited in properly authorized separate accounts, foundations, or other approved
depositories under agreement, direction, or control of the organizational unit, withadequate provisions for ensuring the proper use of the funds or proceeds there from. A
properly executed agreement will include provisions for disposition of residual funds
should any approved program be discontinued.
Chapters shall have the right to obligate their funds for all purposes necessary to
promote their objectives, except that no Chapter or any officer or representative thereof
shall have any authority to contract debts for, pledge the credit of, or in any way bindIEEE for those activities specifically prohibited in the governing documents of IEEE or
published interpretation of policy.
The Chapter may serve nonmembers or groups wishing to receive meetingannouncements and other Chapter publications.
Chapters may accept local voluntary financial contributions.
Chapters may establish appropriate bank accounts for accounting of Chapter funds.
a. Accounts established in the name of IEEE must be reserved for the purpose
for which they are established, without co-mingling of funds.
b. Chapters may establish a reserve fund at least equal to one half of the total
budgeted yearly expenditures.
c. All geographic unit accounts shall have signature cards with at least two
volunteer signatures, one volunteer as the primary signatory and one
additional volunteer as an alternate. In addition, all IEEE geographic units
accounts must have the IEEE Senior Director – Financial Services as asignatory thereon (IEEE Policies, Section 11.3.A.3). Exemptions must be
requested as part of the geographic unit annual financial report, and approvedby the Region Director.
d. Chapters are encouraged to utilize the IEEE Concentration Banking Program
as a depository for all IEEE funds, if possible.
e. All unit funds management must adhere to a fiscal year 1 January - 31
December.
JOINT CHAPTER
A Joint Chapter comprising the members of more than one Society or contiguous Sections
may be established by the procedures defined herein, provided, however, that the petition
to establish a Joint Chapter shall contain at least twelve (12) signatures and that eachSociety or Section involved shall be represented by at least three (3) signatures.
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CHANGE OF JOINT CHAPTER STATUS
The status of a Chapter may be changed from single to joint, or vice versa, or from one
joint combination to another, without submission of a petition. The change in status will
become effective following approval of the request for change by the Region Director(s),Society President(s), Section ExCom, and other organizational units involved.
CHAPTER REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP AND MEETING ACTIVITY
A Chapter shall be required to maintain a membership of not fewer than ten (10members of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade, andto hold not less than two (2) technical meetings per year, or to maintain a level of activity
acceptable to the Region Director and the Society President(s).
Meeting Activity
a. A Chapter may schedule a technical meeting in coordination with the ExComof the parent geographical unit within whose boundaries the meeting is to beheld, if deemed necessary.
b. All members in the parent geographical unit shall be advised of all meetings
held in their geographical unit, including those organized by Chapters, using
electronic communication tools provided by MGA and/or via posting on theparent geographical unit’s website. In addition, a special notice may be sent
to the members of the Chapter that organizes a meeting.
c. A Chapter shall submit annually a report on the meetings held within the past
year and any changes to its roster of officers in a timely manner using
electronic reporting tools provided by MGA.
d. The parent geographical unit that assumes responsibility for the Chapter
management shall receive meeting credit for Chapter activity and shalldisburse the Chapter rebate and activity bonus (if applicable) to the Chapter
based on reported Chapter activity, in accordance with Section 9.6.G.
Year-end membership statistics of a Technical Council Chapter will include all IEEE
members who belong to any Society which is a Member Society of the Technical Council.
CHAPTER PROBATION
Failure of a Chapter to meet the minimum required activities as described in Section
9.6.J for a period of one year shall result in the Chapter automatically being placed on
probation, effective 1 January of the following year. A Chapter probation period shalllast three consecutive years. The Chapter will not be eligible for rebates until it comes
into compliance with the minimum requirements.
Annual notice of delinquency will be given to all concerned.
A report of delinquent Chapters will be presented to the MGA Board.
TECHNICAL CHAPTER DISSOLUTION
With the concurrence of the ExCom of the parent geographical unit that assumed
responsibility for the Chapter management, the Chair(s) of any other parent
geographical unit(s) when applicable, the President(s) of the parent technicalorganizational unit(s), and the Region Director, a Chapter may be dissolved.
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A Chapter shall be dissolved automatically if it has failed to meet the requirements asstated in Section 9.6.J for three consecutive years and annual notice of the delinquency
has been given to all concerned. Such dissolution will be reported to the MGA Board at
its November Board meeting, and reported to the President(s) of the parent technicalorganizational unit(s).
Following dissolution, any remaining funds and assets in the custody of the
Chapter shall revert to the parent geographical unit that assumed responsibility
for the Chapter management.
CHAPTER REINSTATEMENT
A Chapter can be reinstated following the automatic dissolution at the November Board
meeting when the following conditions have been met. The parent organizational units
concerned shall have secured both the interest to reactivate the Chapter and a volunteer
to serve as the Chapter Chair. This information shall be reported to MGA staff no later
than 60 days following the date of dissolution.
Reinstatement of the dissolved Chapter shall be reported to the MGA Board at its
February meeting. As of that MGA Board meeting date, the Chapter shall be consideredreinstated. The parent Society/Societies shall be informed of the reinstatement of the
Chapter.
Any meetings held and reported during the year of reinstatement will apply to that year’s
rebate and activity bonus. Previous years’ meeting reports will not apply to the Chapter’s
rebate or activity bonus.

9.8

STUDENT BRANCHES _______________________________________
DEFINITION

A Student Branch is a basic operating organizational unit of an IEEE Section or Region,
constituted by a minimum of twelve (12) IEEE members of Student Member or Graduate
Student Member grade at a particular college, university, or technical institute, to represent
and fulfill the needs of the members and the missions of IEEE. Each Branch shall conduct
its activities within the IEEE Constitution, IEEE Bylaws, IEEE Polices, MGA Operations
Manual, and other rules externally imposed, which by law affect the membership andactivities of IEEE.
STUDENT BRANCH FORMATION
Based on the recommendation of the Region Student Activities Chair, a Student Branchformation may be approved by the appropriate Section Chair and Region Director andreported to the MGA Board.
A petition to form a Student Branch must be signed by twelve (12) or more IEEE
members of Student Member or Graduate Student Member grade and by at least three(3) IEEE members of Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade, of which no less than
two are faculty members teaching in IEEE designated fields, who shall endorse thepetition. Under special circumstances, in particular if the faculty does not containsufficient IEEE members of Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade, a faculty memberof Graduate Student Member grade who is not also one of the petitioners, is acceptable
as an endorser of the petition. All signees shall belong to the Section under which theStudent Branch will reside.

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Information on the educational programs offered in IEEE designated fields at theeducational institution shall be completed and submitted to IEEE Student Services.
In certain instances, where there is assurance that formation of the Branch will stimulate
additional membership, the Section Chair and the Region Director may approve thepetition with fewer than twelve (12) signatures.
The Section Executive Committee (ExCom) shall be informed of the establishment of aStudent Branch, Joint Student Branch, and Section Student Branch.
STUDENT BRANCH COUNSELOR
At each Student Branch there shall be a Branch Counselor who shall be an IEEE member
teaching in IEEE designated fields.
The appropriate Section Chair, based upon the recommendation of the Student membersof the Branch, and in accordance with the practices for the establishment of otherstudent organizations at the educational institution involved, shall appoint the Counselor.
The appointment or reappointment shall normally be for two years.
Each Branch Counselor is charged with promoting the welfare of IEEE at the institution,
particularly in matters relating to student activities.
STUDENT BRANCH CONSTITUTION
Each IEEE Student Branch shall adopt and conform to a Student Branch constitution with acopy submitted to IEEE Headquarters. The Branch constitution shall provide for the
management of the Branch affairs by an ExCom consisting of the elected officers and anyother members as may be specified.
STUDENT BRANCH OFFICERS
Officers of the Branch shall include at least a Chair, a Vice Chair, a Secretary, and a
Treasurer, or a Secretary-Treasurer.
Each Student Branch Chapter Chair shall serve as an ex officio member of the Branch
ExCom.
JOINT STUDENT BRANCH
IEEE, by action of the MGA Board, may join with another engineering or technical Society
to co-sponsor a Joint Student Branch upon the recommendation of the Region Student
Activities Committee Chair with the approval of the Section Chair and Region Director.
The petition for the establishment of the Joint Branch must be signed by the IEEE
Counselor, or a representative of the faculty (who must be an IEEE member in goodstanding) of the educational institution involved, in the event a Counselor has not been
appointed, and by twenty (20) or more Student members of IEEE.
Each Joint Student Branch shall adopt and conform to a Joint Student Branch
constitution, which shall have been submitted to and approved by both the MGA Boardand the co-sponsoring Society.

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SECTION STUDENT BRANCH
The normal organizational unit for the conduct of IEEE student activities is the Student
Branch associated with an educational institution. However, when circumstances do not
permit the normal organizational arrangements within the boundary of a Section, the MGA
Board may authorize the formation of a Section Student Branch open for membership to
those Student Members or Graduate Student Members, attending institutions located within
the Section having curricula, which would normally qualify for Student Member or Graduate
Student Member status, who are not members of an IEEE Student Branch.
Such authorization shall be requested in a petition, signed by not less than twelve (12)such IEEE members of Student Member or Graduate Student Member grade, endorsedby the Section ExCom, and approved by the Section Chair and Region Director.
Upon the establishment of the Section Student Branch, the Region Director shall appoint
a qualified Section Student Branch Advisor.
The Section ExCom shall be responsible for the organization and activities of the Section
Student Branch, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Student Branch
constitution.
STUDENT BRANCH REPORTING AND FUNDSIEEE Student Branches and Joint Student Branches shall have the right to obligate theirfunds for all purposes necessary to promote their objectives, except that no IEEE Student
Branch, Joint Student Branch, or any officer or representative thereof, shall have any
authority to contract debts for, pledge the credit of, or in any way bind IEEE for those
activities specifically prohibited in the Student Branch constitution or in the Student Branch
operations guide. Funds within the geographic unit, from whatever source derived, are theproperty of IEEE, and should not be used for purposes other than the normal operations of
the geographic unit as defined in IEEE Bylaws or published interpretation of policy, without
prior authorization of the MGA Board and/or the IEEE Board of Directors, unless otherwise
provided.
A Student Branch is required to submit the Student Branch Officer Reporting Form, theStudent Branch Annual Plan, and hold not less than four (4) activities per year for IEEE toissue each such Branch the applicable rebate(s) as outlined within Section 3.4.I.
STUDENT BRANCH EXPENSES
An IEEE Student Branch, IEEE Section Student Branch, or Joint Student Branch may defray
expenses by assessment of its members as provided in its constitution and, in addition, may
accept non-compulsory financial contributions.
Nonmember students of the institution where a Student Branch is established may
attend the Student Branch meetings under such conditions as may be prescribed by theStudent Branch. Within the budgetary conditions established by the IEEE Board of
Directors, partial reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses may be authorized
by the Region Director for the Counselor of each Student Branch, for the Advisor of each
Section Student Branch, for the Student Branch Chair, and the Student paper first prize
winner, if any, from any Branch to attend one meeting within the Region each year.

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STUDENT BRANCH PROBATION
Failure of an IEEE Student Branch or IEEE Section Student Branch to maintain aminimum of ten (10) IEEE members of Student Member or Graduate Student Member
grade and to hold at least three (3) meetings each year shall place the Branch on
probation.
a. The Region Director, the Region Student Activities Committee Chair, theSection Chair, and the Counselor (or in the event a Counselor has not been
appointed, a representative of the faculty of the educational institution or otherinstitute involved) shall be informed of the probation by the Managing Director– MGA who shall also call to their attention the requirements for maintaining
the Branch.
Failure of a Joint Student Branch to maintain a minimum of ten (10) IEEE members ofStudent Member or Graduate Student Member grade and to hold at least three (3)meetings each year shall be reported by the Managing Director – MGA to the MGA Board,and similar action as for delinquencies of IEEE Student Branches shall be taken following
formal notification to the co-sponsoring society.
STUDENT BRANCH DISSOLUTION
The MGA Board may, after consultation with the Region Director, dissolve an IEEE Student
Branch or IEEE Section Student Branch or withdraw its sponsorship and support of a Joint
Student Branch for any reason deemed sufficient. Any remaining funds in the custody ofthat Branch, or Joint Branch, attributable to IEEE sponsorship, shall revert to IEEE.
If the probation (see Section 9.7.J) continues for a second year, the IEEE sponsorshipshall be withdrawn automatically, and the Branch shall be dissolved. This action will be
ratified by the MGA Board.
The MGA Vice Chair – Member Development or the Managing Director – MGA shall report
Branch dissolutions to the MGA Board and notification will be sent to the Region Student
Activities Committee Chair, the Section Chair, and the IEEE Counselor of the dissolved
Branch.

9.9

STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTERS _________________________________
DEFINITION

A Student Branch Chapter is a technical subunit of a Student Branch constituted by aminimum of six (6) IEEE members of Student Member or Graduate Student Member gradeof a Society and established by petition to the parent Student Branch and Society concernedto represent and fulfill the needs of the members and the missions of IEEE. A Student
Branch Chapter functions in a manner similar to a committee of the Student Branch.
STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTER ESTABLISHMENT
A petition to establish a Student Branch Chapter, in the required form supplied by IEEE,
must contain at least:a. Name of Student Branch, signatures of its Student Branch officers, andsignature of the Counselor.
b. Name of the sponsoring Society.

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page 119c. The signatures of at least six (6) IEEE members of Student Member or
Graduate Student Member grade who are members of the Student Branch andof the Society involved, the signature of the Faculty Advisor of the Student
Branch Chapter selected by the petitioning Student Member or Graduate
Student Member, who shall be a member of the Society, and the name of one
Student petitioner who will serve as interim Chair until establishment of theStudent Branch Chapter is authorized.
The petition for the Student Branch Chapter shall be submitted to the Manager of Student
Services at the IEEE Operations Center. The Region Director and the Society President
shall consider the Student Branch Chapter established following approval of the petition.
The Region Director, the Society President, the Region Student Activities Chair, and theRegion Student Representative shall be informed of the Student Branch Chapter
approval.
The Region Student Activities Committee Chair, the Region Director, and the Society
President shall consider the Student Branch Chapter established following approval of
the petition.
STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTER MEMBERSHIPThe Student Branch Chapter members shall elect a Student Branch Chapter Chair and anyother officers deemed necessary for its successful operation in accordance with the Branch
constitution.
STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTER MANAGEMENT
The responsibility for Student Branch Chapter management rests with the Executive
Committee (ExCom) of the Branch. The Student Branch Chapter Chair shall serve as an ex
officio member of the Branch ExCom in coordinating and planning activities and programs.
All Student Branch members shall be advised of all meetings held under the auspices of
the Branch including those organized by a Student Branch Chapter.
STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTER REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP, MEETINGS, AND ACTIVITY
A Student Branch Chapter is required to maintain a membership of not fewer than five (5)IEEE members of Student Member or Graduate Student Member grade, and to hold not lessthan two (2) technical meetings per year, and maintain a level of activity acceptable to theSociety President, the Region Director, and the Region Student Activities Committee Chair.
STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTER DISSOLUTION
The MGA Board may, after consultation with the Region Director and the Society President,
dissolve an IEEE Student Branch Chapter or withdraw its sponsorship and support of a Joint
Student Branch Chapter for any reason deemed sufficient. The MGA Board, with theconcurrence of the Advisor, the Society President, the Region Director, and the Region
Student Activities Committee Chair, a Student Branch Chapter may be dissolved. All
Student Branch Chapter dissolutions will be reported to and ratified by the MGA Board.
JOINT STUDENT BRANCH CHAPTER
A Joint Student Branch Chapter comprising the members of more than one Society orStudent Branch may be established, provided that the petition to establish a Joint Student
Branch Chapter shall contain at least six (6) signatures and that each Society or Student
Branch involved shall be represented by at least three (3) signatures.
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9.10

AFFINITY GROUPS ________________________________________

DEFINITION
Affinity Group is defined in IEEE Bylaw I-402.10; an Affinity Group shall be a non-technicalsubunit of a Region, one or more Sections, or a Geographic Council. An Affinity Group shallcomprise a minimum of six (6) IEEE voting members, who are members of the geographic
unit(s) involved, and established by petition to the parent organizational unit(s) orcommittee concerned to fulfill the mission of IEEE. “Parent organizational unit” as used inthis manual refers to an organizational unit or committee.
The following groups have been acknowledged by the MGA Board as parent organizational
units as defined above and described in their charters: Consultants Network, IEEE Young
Professionals Committee, IEEE Life Members Committee, and IEEE Women in Engineering
Committee. No parent organizational unit shall be formed when the topic matter is within
the domain of a technical group, as determined by the Societies’ fields of interest.
All references to “Affinity Group” in Section 9.9 are inclusive of both Affinity Group and Joint
Affinity Group.
An Affinity Group functions in a manner similar to that of a committee of theSection/Council.
Any group wishing to be recognized as a parent organizational unit that may establish
Affinity Groups as defined in IEEE Bylaw I-402.10 shall do so by petition to the MGA
Board. This petition is to supply the organizational unit's charter, which shall address atleast the following: role and responsibilities, organization structure, the manner in which
the organizational unit is governed in the IEEE organization, and its funding method. It
is expected that the need and sustainability of Affinity Groups related to thisorganizational unit shall have been substantiated by prior Section/Council-levelcommittee and/or pilot experiences. A report of these experiences should accompany
the petition.
AFFINITY GROUP FORMATION
A petition to establish an Affinity Group shall contain the following:a. Name of the Section/Sections or Council.
b. Name of the parent organizational unit.
c. Name of the organizer (who shall become interim Chair pending election of aregular Chair at a later organization meeting). The organizer shall be of IEEE
Graduate Student Member or higher grade and must be an IEEE member ingood standing. In the case of an IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group,
the organizer shall also be a member of IEEE Women in Engineering.
d. Signatures of at least six (6) IEEE members, in good standing, of Graduate
Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade who are membersof the Section(s) or Council involved, and who indicate they will join the Affinity
Group, if established. In the case of an IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity
Group, a minimum of 3 of the 6 IEEE members shall also be a member of IEEE
Women in Engineering. In lieu of their signatures on the petition, IEEE will
accept an email message from an IEEE member stating his/her agreement to
the formation. These emails must include the name of the member, IEEEMGA Operations Manual, Section 9

page 121

membership number, and a brief statement of support of the petition. Thesemessages are to be sent to the petition organizer who is requested to cut andpaste these emails, preserving the email header information, into one
document.
e. A business plan that includes a mission and goals, planned meetings andactivities for the initial six months. Following receipt of this information, MGA
staff will distribute to the Region Director (or their designee) for review andfeedback to be provided to the organizer.
f. Written approval of the Section/Council Executive Committee (ExCom).
The petition shall be forwarded to the Managing Director – MGA.
The Managing Director – MGA shall forward a copy of the petition to the IEEE parent
organizational unit for approval.
The Affinity Group shall be considered established after MGA staff have ascertained that
the Region Director and IEEE parent organizational unit have no objection to its
formation. A list of formations shall be transmitted to the MGA Board.
The Managing Director – MGA shall so notify the MGA Board, the IEEE parent
organizational unit, and the Section Chair.
An Affinity Group or Joint Affinity Group may be established by the procedures defined
herein to cover the territory of two or more contiguous Sections, or a Council, provided
the necessary approval is obtained by all concerned. The petition shall identify the
Section assuming responsibility for the Affinity Group management. That Section shallreceive the Affinity Group member rebates for the Affinity Group meetings.
AFFINITY GROUP MANAGEMENT
Responsibility for Affinity Group management shall rest with the Section/Council, whichshall have control of all financial and other assets of the Affinity Group in carrying out
its activities.
Reasonable efforts should be made to notify all members of Affinity Group meetings.
Methods of communication could be, but are not limited to, email distributions (inkeeping with IEEE email policies), postings on Affinity Group websites, social media
venues, or hard copy distributions.
AFFINITY GROUP OFFICERS
Officers of the Affinity Group shall include at least a Chair, a Vice Chair, a Secretary, and a
Treasurer. The Affinity Group may combine the offices of Secretary and Treasurer.
Each member of the Affinity Group Committee shall be an IEEE member of Graduate
Student Member, Member, Senior Member, or Fellow grade. In the case of IEEE Womenin Engineering Affinity Group Committee members, each IEEE member shall also be amember of IEEE Women in Engineering.
The Affinity Group Chair shall serve as Chair for all meetings of the Affinity Group andthe Affinity Group Committee.
The Affinity Group Vice Chair shall assist the Chair in the coordination of all Affinity Group
activities. At the request of the Affinity Group Chair or in the absence of the Affinity
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Group Chair, the Affinity Group Vice Chair shall chair meetings of the Affinity Group andthe Affinity Group Committee.
The duties of the Affinity Group Secretary shall include correspondence, the keeping of
the minutes of the Committee meetings, mailing notices, and submission of meeting
reports and roster of members and officers to the Section/Council at the end of eachyear, and such other duties as are assigned by the Chair.
The duties of the Affinity Group Treasurer shall include the development of an Affinity
Group budget for approval by the Section/Council, accounting of all Affinity Group funds,
keeping financial records, and submitting a financial record to the Section/Council.
Officer Terms and Eligibility:a. All officers shall be elected by Affinity Group members of Graduate Student
Member, Member, Senior Member, and Fellow grade. Elections for all officers
shall take place every one or two years, in accordance with the term of office
as defined by the parent geographical unit that assumes responsibility for theAffinity Group management.
b. The term of office for all officers shall be one or two years. The parent
geographical unit that assumes responsibility for the Affinity Groupmanagement must define the officer term as one or two years and record it in
its local operating procedures document; if the officer term is not recorded in
the local operating procedures document, it shall be two years. An individual
may continue in the position until a successor has been duly elected and takes
office.
c. The term of office shall normally be from 1 January through 31 December.
d. The consecutive period of service in any one office shall normally not exceed
four years. All officers shall not serve in any one position, in any single
organizational unit, more than six years in total. Exceptions to this rule requireapproval by the Chair of the parent geographical unit that assumes
responsibility for the Affinity Group management who will annually report suchexceptions to the Region Director.
The names of the newly elected/appointed officers voting and non-voting of the Affinity
Group shall be reported by the Affinity Group Chair to the MGA department within 20
days following election/ appointment.
AFFINITY GROUP NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Section/Council bylaws shall provide for appointment by the Affinity Group Chair of a
Nominating Committee of three or more Affinity Group members not then officers of theAffinity Group. The Affinity Group Chair, in accordance with this Operations Manual,
shall appoint its Chair.
The duties of the Affinity Group Nominating Committee shall include the preparation ofa slate of candidates recommended for the offices of Affinity Group Chair, and such othermembers of the Affinity Group elected at-large, in accordance with the Section/Council
bylaws, to be submitted for approval by the Affinity Group Committee.
The approved slate shall include not less than two nor more than three candidates
recommended for each office.
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page 123In the case where the slate to be approved, as submitted by the Nominating
Committee to the Affinity Group Committee for ratification, consists of a single
candidate, the Affinity Group Committee may recommend to the Chair of theparent Geographic Unit that assumes responsibility for the Affinity Groupmanagement, the approval of proceeding with the election process with a single
candidate slate.
The Affinity Group Nominating Committee shall also be responsible for the annual
solicitation within the Affinity Group of names of potential candidates to be considered
for positions on Affinity Group committees according to the Section/Council bylaws.
GROUP ELECTION PROCESS
Six months prior to the date of election, the Affinity Group Nominating Committee Chair
shall issue a Call for nominations for all positions elected at-large to all voting membersof the Affinity Group through an appropriate medium.
Affinity Group members shall submit nominations within one month of the call for
nominations.
The Affinity Group Nominating Committee shall verify the candidates’ eligibility andwillingness to serve. The Affinity Group Nominating Committee shall also gather position
statements and biographies of the potential candidates, as appropriate.
The Affinity Group Nominating Committee will select from all such submissions
candidates for each position elected at-large, and submit the slate of at leasy two but
not more than three candidates, to the Affinity Group Committee for ratification.
In the case where the slate that is submitted for ratification consists of a single
candidate, the Affinity Group Committee may recommend to the Chair of theparent Geographic Unit that assumes responsibility for the Affinity Groupmanagement, the approval of proceeding with the election process with a single
candidate slate.
The ratified slate of candidates shall be communicated to the voting members of theAffinity Group not less than six weeks prior to the election date. In addition, provision
shall be made in the communication for petition candidates for these offices.
In addition to the candidates nominated by the Affinity Group Nominating Committee,
individual voting members eligible to vote in such election may nominate candidates bypetition.
In accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-307.17, the number of signatures on a petition
for an Affinity Group officer position shall be required from 2% of the eligible
voters, provided the electorate is less than 30,000 voting members.
The petition shall be completed at least 28 days before the date of the election.
The entire slate of candidates for office shall be communicated to the voting membersof the Affinity Group not less than two weeks prior to the election date.
The election process shall be by secret ballot.
The Chair of the Affinity Group shall submit the names of up to three members of theAffinity Group to serve as a Tellers Committee, to the Affinity Group for approval. Afterthe tally of votes, the Tellers Committee shall report the results of the election to the
MGA Operations Manual, Section 9

page 124Affinity Group Chair. The Affinity Group Chair shall inform each candidate for office ofthe results of the election prior to announcing the results to the Affinity Group and theSection/Council.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF AFFINITY GROUP FUNDS
Section/Councils shall be responsible for distributing funds to its Affinity Groups inaccordance with a stated set of objectives and a plan of distribution, which shall be inconsonance with the missions of the IEEE, MGA, and the parent organizational unit. Affinity
Groups are entitled to receive the funds generated by their own activities, including dues
rebates (earned during the preceding year as computed by the dues rebate formula). Funds
generated by more than a single geographic unit should be shared as determined in a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Funds within the Affinity Groups, from whatever source derived, are the property ofIEEE, and shall not be used for purposes other than the normal operations of the Affinity
Group as defined in IEEE Bylaws or published interpretation of policy, without priorauthorization of the MGA Board, unless otherwise provided.
Funds derived from member dues shall not be used for scholarships, fellowships, andother education awards. The awards activities shall be supported by funds from activities
all or in part specifically directed to such usage. Contributions may be accepted for such
use and donations should be encouraged by the use of tax-exempt mechanisms.
All funds derived from whatever permitted source designated for these purposes shallbe deposited in properly authorized separate accounts, foundations, or other approved
depositories under agreement, direction, or control of the organizational unit, withadequate provisions for ensuring the proper use of the funds or proceeds there from. A
properly executed agreement will include provisions for disposition of residual funds
should any approved program be discontinued.
Affinity Groups shall have the right to obligate their funds for all purposes necessary to
promote their objectives, except that no Affinity Group or any officer or representative
thereof shall have any authority to contract debts for, pledge the credit of, or in any way
bind IEEE for those activities specifically prohibited in the governing documents of IEEEor published interpretation of policy.
The Affinity Groups may serve nonmembers or groups wishing to receive meetingannouncements and other Affinity Group publications.
Affinity Groups may accept local voluntary financial contributions.
All unit funds management must adhere to a fiscal year 1 January - 31 December.
Affinity Groups may establish appropriate bank accounts for accounting of funds.
a. Accounts established in the name of IEEE must be reserved for the purpose
for which they are established, without co-mingling of funds.
b. Affinity Groups may establish a reserve fund at least equal to one half of thetotal budgeted yearly expenditures.
c. All accounts shall have signature cards with at least two volunteer signatures,
one volunteer as the primary signatory and one additional volunteer as analternate. In addition, all IEEE geographic units accounts must have the IEEE
Senior Director – Financial Services as a signatory thereon (IEEE Policies,
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page 125Section 11.3.A.3) Exemptions must be requested as part of the geographic
unit annual financial report, and approved by the Region Director.
d. All Affinity Groups are encouraged to utilize the IEEE Concentration Banking
Program as a depository for all IEEE funds, if possible.
JOINT AFFINITY GROUP
A Joint Affinity Group comprising IEEE members of more than one parent organizational
unit may be established by the procedures defined herein, provided, however, that thepetition to establish a Joint Affinity Group shall contain at least six (6) signatures and thateach parent organizational unit involved shall be represented by at least three (3)signatures.
CHANGE OF JOINT AFFINITY GROUP STATUS
The status of an Affinity Group may be changed from single to joint, or vice versa or fromone joint combination to another, without submission of a petition. The change in statuswill become effective following approval of the request for change by the Region Director(s),Affinity Group Chair, Section/Council ExCom, and other organizational units involved.
AFFINITY GROUP REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP AND MEETING ACTIVITY
An Affinity Group shall be required to maintain a membership of not fewer than six (6)IEEE members, and to hold not less than two (2) group-interest meetings per year, or
to maintain a level of activity acceptable to the Section/Council Chair and Region
Director.
Meeting Activity
a. An Affinity Group may schedule a group interest meeting in coordination with
the ExCom of the parent geographical unit within whose boundaries themeeting is to be held, if deemed necessary.
b. All members in the parent geographical unit shall be advised of all meetings
held in their geographical unit, including those organized by Affinity Groups,
using electronic communication tools provided by MGA and/or via posting on
the parent geographical unit’s website. In addition, a special notice may besent to the members of the Affinity Group that organizes a meeting.
c. An Affinity Group shall submit annually a report on the meetings held within
the past year and any changes to its roster of officers in a timely manner using
electronic reporting tools provided by MGA.
d. The parent geographical unit that assumes responsibility for the Affinity Groupmanagement shall receive meeting credit for Affinity Group activity and shalldisburse the Affinity Group rebate and activity bonus (if applicable) to theAffinity Group based on reported Affinity Group activity, in accordance with
Section 9.9.G.
AFFINITY GROUP PROBATION
Failure of an Affinity Group to meet the minimum required activities as described in Section
9.9.J for a period of one year shall result in the Affinity Group automatically being placedon probation, effective 1 January of the following year. An Affinity Group probation period

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shall last three consecutive years. The Affinity Group will not be eligible for rebates until itcomes into compliance with the minimum requirements.
Annual notice of delinquency will be given to all concerned.
A report of delinquent Affinity Groups will be presented to the MGA Board.
AFFINITY GROUP DISSOLUTION
An Affinity Group dissolution can occur in the following ways:
With the concurrence of the ExCom of the parent geographical unit that assumed
responsibility for the Affinity Group management, the Chair(s) of any other parent
organizational unit(s) when applicable, and the Region Director, an Affinity Group may
be dissolved.
An Affinity Group shall be dissolved automatically if it has failed to meet the requirements
as stated in Section 9.9.J for three consecutive years and annual notice of thedelinquency has been given to all concerned. Such dissolution will be reported to the
MGA Board at its November Board meeting and reported to the Chair(s) of the parent
technical organizational unit(s).
Following dissolution, any remaining funds and assets in the custody of the Affinity
Group shall revert to the parent geographical unit that assumed responsibility for
the Affinity Group management.
AFFINITY GROUP REINSTATEMENT
A dissolved Affinity Group can be reinstated following the automatic dissolution at theNovember Board meeting when the following conditions have been met. The parent
geographical or organizational units concerned must have secured both the interest toreactivate the Affinity Group and a volunteer to serve as the Affinity Group Chair. This
information shall be reported to the MGA staff no later than 60 days following the dateof dissolution.
Reinstatement of the dissolved Affinity Group shall be reported to the MGA Board at its
February meeting. As of that MGA Board meeting date, the Affinity Group shall beconsidered reinstated. The parent Affinity Group or Affinity Groups shall be informed of
the reinstatement of the Affinity Group.
Any meetings held and reported during the year the unit was reinstated will be applied
to that year’s rebate and activity bonus. Previous years’ meeting reports will not apply
to the Affinity Group rebate or activity bonus.

9.11

STUDENT BRANCH AFFINITY GROUPS ____________________________An Affinity Group, as a unit of an IEEE Student Branch, is permitted. The administration ofsuch Affinity Groups shall follow the process for Student Branch Chapters, Section 9.8.
Signatures of at least six (6) IEEE members of Student Member or Graduate Student
Member grade are required to establish a Student Branch Affinity Group. In the case of anIEEE Women in Engineering Student Branch Affinity Group, each IEEE member shall also bea member of IEEE Women in Engineering. The Region Director, the Affinity Group Chair,
the Region Student Activities Chair, and the Regionl Student Representative shall be
informed of the Student Branch Chapter approval. Each Student Branch Affinity Group shallhave an advisor who shall be:
MGA Operations Manual, Section 9

page 127a. A faculty member of IEEE Graduate Student Member grade or higher, notnecessarily an Affinity Group member but with a strong commitment for its
goals,
or;b. An Affinity Group member of the Section.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 9

page 12810.0

CONFERENCES

The objective of a conference is to provide a forum for the communication of advancementsin the field of the conference, both through formal paper presentations and informal
discussions. All IEEE conferences are to be governed according to the policies contained
withinIEEE
Policies
Section10
whichis
locatedathttps://www.ieee.org/documents/ieee_policies.pdf.
This section of the MGA Operations Manual is consistent with IEEE Policies Section 10, andincludes additional content that is specific to MGA organizational units.
The IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board encourages the formation of new
conferences and the participation of geographic organizational units in existing conferences.
In support of IEEE’s commitment to enhancing transnational participation in IEEE meetings,
MGA and its geographic organizational units may organize and sponsor meetings, seminars,
symposia, conferences, and other educational and scientific programs to benefit the public
on matters related to the interests of IEEE members.
IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events (MCE) provides additional information and resources
for conference organizers at http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events.

10.1

PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING A CONFERENCE ________________________The prime objective of IEEE conferences is to provide IEEE members, other individuals andorganizations with information and exhibits to assist in the advancement of electrical andelectronics engineering and the related arts and sciences.
To accomplish this objective, the IEEE shall:
A. Encourage Conference Steering and/or Organizing Committees to develop programs
suitable to the needs of attendees, speakers and other participants for which eachconference is intended.
B. Encourage all IEEE organizational units to conduct conferences, which should benefit
the interests of IEEE membership and the greater technical community.
C. Encourage cooperation between organizational units to promote, plan, organize andschedule conferences and exhibitions in a timely fashion within the stated field ofinterest.

10.2

TYPES OF CONFERENCES ____________________________________

Refer to IEEE Policies, Section 10.0, for the defined types of meetings which include
Conferences, Symposia, Workshops, Tutorials, Short Courses, Expositions, Conventions,Standards Meetings, Administrative Meetings, Section/Chapter Meetings, Student Activities
and Other.

10.3

CONFERENCE BUDGETS _____________________________________

A detailed conference budget should provide all needed financial information, clearly
indicate the extent of participation of each organizational unit, and be consistent withanalysis of the attendance and financial results of any preceding conference on the same
subject. Conference Chairs shall submit budgets to the sponsoring organizational unit(s) as
MGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 129far in advance as is feasible, but at least in time for the sponsoring organizational unit(s) tomeet the requirements of IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.4.
Refer to IEEE Policies Section 10.1.6 for detailed information concerning conference budget
requirements. Additional content concerning this topic can also be found athttps://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/managing_conference_
finances.html

10.4

CONFERENCE INVOLVEMENT __________________________________

Sponsorship relates to the responsibilities and accountabilities of an organizational unit withrespect to financial, technical, publicity, and administrative aspects of a conference. For aconference to be considered an IEEE conference, it must be sponsored by at least one IEEE
organizational unit. If multiple organizational units are sponsoring a conference, at least
one of the organizational units must be an IEEE organizational unit.
An IEEE organizational unit is defined in the IEEE Bylaw I-107 as a subset of the entire IEEE
membership that has been formed to carry out particular educational, geographic,
professional, technical, or other appropriate activities of interest and service to those whoare members of that organizational unit as permitted by law. Each IEEE organizational unit
shall be an integral part of the IEEE and not a separate organization. Therefore, IEEE
organizational units include but are not limited to Boards, Societies, Regions, Areas,
Sections, Chapters, Councils, Student Branches, Student Branch Chapters, Affinity Groups
and Committees.
IEEE organizational units engaged in conference sponsorship may not enter into any typeof sponsorship arrangement with a “For Profit” organization. Non-compliance with theprovisions of this approval policy may result in denial of approvals for subsequent events.
“For Profit” organizations can, however, provide donations, as indicated in IEEE Policies,
Section 10.1.23.
The three types of conference sponsorship available to IEEE organizational units aredescribed below:
SOLE SPONSORSHIP
Sole sponsorship indicates full and sole organizational unit involvement in a conference. If
an IEEE organizational unit agrees to sponsor a conference, they accept complete
responsibility for the technical, financial, publicity and administrative aspects of theconference. As a result of sole sponsorship, the organizational unit:
•
•
•
•
•
•

will approve the conference as indicated in IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.4, and in thisMGA Operations Manual, Section 10.5.D & E.
will receive the surplus or be liable for any deficit resulting from a conference, (IEEE
Policies, Section 10.1.9).
will be responsible for assuring the timely resolution of any legal issues.
will be responsible for issuing any loans that the conference might need and assuring
subsequent repayment, (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.7).
will be responsible for proper usage of the IEEE name (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.6)
and the IEEE logo, (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.17).
Conferences where the IEEE has sole sponsorship, the rights to the conference name,slogan, copyright for publications, Internet domain, and/or logo are owned by IEEEand not Conference Steering and/or Organizing Committees.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 130

FINANCIAL CO-SPONSORSHIP
Financial Co-Sponsorship indicates a shared involvement among several organizations, oneof which is an IEEE organizational unit. Other co-sponsoring organizations could be IEEE
organizational units or other “Not-for-Profit” non-IEEE organizations.
Financial Co-Sponsorship indicates a shared and significant involvement in the technical,
financial, publicity and administrative areas of the conference. The relationship between
sponsoring organizations should be explicitly defined in terms of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding, see IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.5.
As a result of financial co-sponsorship, the organizational unit:• will approve the conference as indicated in IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.4 and as per
this MGA Operations Manual, Section 10.5.D & E.
• will receive the surplus or be liable for any deficit resulting from a conference, (IEEE
Policies, Section 10.1.9).
• will be responsible for assuring the timely resolution of any legal issues.
• will be responsible for issuing any loans that the conference might need and assuring
subsequent repayment, (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.7).
• will be responsible for proper usage of the IEEE name (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.6)
and the IEEE logo (IEEE Policies 10.1.7).
• will be responsible for ensuring that the IEEE organizational unit is provided with theoption of a no cost exhibit booth, exhibit table or other means of promoting IEEE
membership and activities during the conference (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.5).
TECHNICAL CO-SPONSORSHIP
1. Technical Co-Sponsorship indicates direct and substantial involvement by theIEEE organizational unit solely in the organization of the technical program.
The IEEE organizational unit has no financial involvement in the conference.
The organization that has financial sponsorship of the conference must be
explicitly identified in the supporting documentation and promotional material
for technical co-sponsorship to be granted. Technical co-sponsorship requires
specific approvals as indicated in General Approvals, Endorsements, &Notifications – Organizational Unit Approval (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.4) andas per this MGA Operations Manual, Section 10.5.D & E.
The IEEE organizational unit should encourage members to submit papers andattend the conference. The IEEE organizational unit may assist in publicity
through the availability of the appropriate IEEE organizational unit mailing lists
and on the organizational unit’s website. The relationship between sponsoringorganizations shall be explicitly defined in terms of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.5). Technical co-sponsorship
does not guarantee that the papers accepted for presentation at the conference
will be eligible for inclusion in the IEEE Conference Publications Program (CPP),
which handles post-conference distribution of conference papers in all media.
Inclusion in the CPP should be specifically addressed in the MoU regulating thetechnical co-sponsorship, with the concurrence of the CPP staff. The IEEE namemay not be used in the conference title (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.16), but,the IEEE brand/logo and/or IEEE organizational unit brand/logo may be usedin conference publications and promotional materials (IEEE Policies, Section
10.1.17). The non-IEEE organization shall provide the IEEE organizational unit
MGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 131

with the option of a no cost exhibit booth, exhibit table or other means ofpromoting IEEE membership and activities during the conference (IEEE
Policies, Section 10.1.5).
2. For any technically co-sponsored conference in which there is no (0%) IEEEfinancial interest the MGA co-sponsor shall arrange (via an approved MoU) forrecovery of IEEE operation costs in the form of TCS fees. Effective for
conferences for which the creation of the MoU starts after 1 January 2018 andbefore 31 December 2022, the fees are $1000 per event plus $15 for each
paper that is optionally published in Xplore. For conferences for which thecreation of the MoU starts after 1 January 2023, the fees are $1450 per event
plus $22 for each paper that is optionally published in Xplore.As an exception
to this general policy, MGA will continue to pay those fees if the external (nonIEEE) financial sponsor has a National Society Agreement with IEEE or has a
Sister Society Agreement with one or more of the IEEE Societies.
CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIP APPROVAL AND CROSS ENDORSEMENTMGA organizational units that report to a Section, and those that report directly to a Region
in the case when a Section is not formed, must obtain Executive Committee (ExCom)
approval from their MGA organizational parent (Section / Region) for all conference
sponsorship types and plans. Conference sponsorships planned by a Geographic Council orCouncil subunit must receive approval from the Council ExCom.
A Geo-Unit ExCom's approval of a sub-unit's conference sponsorship includes an
acknowledgment of on-going responsibility and accountability for the financial, technical,
publicity, and administrative aspects of the conference.
MGA organizational units that plan to sponsor a conference outside of their establishedgeographic territory, as well as any conference sponsored by a Council or a Council subunit,
must obtain the cross endorsement of the Section ExCom from the geographic territory inwhich the event is planned, or from the Region ExCom when a conference is to be conductedin a territory that is outside of a currently formed Section.
EXCOM APPROVAL AND CROSS ENDORSEMENT
Section or Council ExCom (voting member) approval and Section ExCom cross endorsement
decisions shall be reported and provided to conference sponsors by two of the following
ExCom representatives; Chair, Treasurer or Secretary (ExCom Vice Chair or Activities Chair
shall substitute if the designated ExCom representative(s) also holds the position ofconference chair, co-chair or treasurer for the respective event). Officer information isdrawn from the Geographic Roster.
The Region Director and Region Conference Coordinator shall be required to report on
approval of conference sponsorship and cross endorsement requests for MGA organizational
units reporting directly to a Region (Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer shall substitute if
the designated ExCom representative(s) also holds the position of conference chair, cochair or treasurer for the respective event).
If a conference sponsorship or cross endorsement approval request is being denied, thereporting ExCom member must provide the conference sponsor with specific reason(s) for
the rejection.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 132

APPEALS PROCESS
If the requested ExCom approval or cross endorsement is denied, giving specific reason forrejection of the conference, IEEE conference sponsorship will be rejected. Within 15 daysof a rejection, the IEEE conference sponsor(s) can file an appeal to the IEEE Region Director
who presides over the territory that encompasses the location of the conference, with copy
to the respective Region Conference Coordinator. The review and decision process is
expected to be completed within 30 days of the appeal. The decision of the Region Director
shall be final.

10.5

ORGANIZING A CONFERENCE __________________________________In order to conduct a successful conference a number of working committees should beorganized under the direction of the Conference Committee
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Program Committee
Publications Committee
Publicity and Public Relations Committee
Finance Committee
Audit Committee (as required)
Exhibits Committee (when needed)
Local Arrangements Committee
Registration CommitteeAwards Committee (if appropriate)

Additional information concerning the organizing, planning and scheduling of a IEEE
Conference can be found at http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events.

10.6

CONFERENCE FILING INFORMATION _____________________________

As soon as possible – but no later than 12 months before the conference – an IEEE
conference application should be submitted to IEEE MCE at
http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/conf_app.html.
The submission of a conference application must allow adequate time for all contracts and/or
sponsorship plans to be properly reviewed and approved by appropriate IEEE organizational
unit(s).

10.7

INSURANCE FORMS ________________________________________

Conferences are responsible for obtaining insurance coverage for the conference andassociated events. IEEE can provide such coverage as stipulated in the IEEE FinanceOperations Manual FOM.5 which is located athttps://www.ieee.org/documents/financial_ops_manual.pdf
Additional information concerning the IEEE Conference Insurance Program is located athttps://www.ieee.org/about/volunteers/risk_insurance/conference_insurance.html

10.8
COOPERATION OF TECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL & GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONALUNITS IN CONFERENCES _________________________________________
Successful conferences are based on the strong cooperation of both technical/ professionaland geographic organizational units. Such cooperation is crucial to the success of all IEEEMGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 133conferences. If both technical/professional and geographic organizational units are involvedin the organization of the conferences as early as possible – preferably before any
arrangements have been made – it may be able to ensure that activities are run smoothly
and that volunteers are available to assist in running the conferences. Such involvement
should precede the selection of the conference location.

10.9

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING/AGREEMENT (MOU/MOA) __________A Memorandum of Understanding/Agreement (MoU/MoA), sets forth the relationship andobligations of the involved parties. A MoU/MoA is required when two or more organizational
units agree to provide co-sponsorship or technical co-sponsorship/technical cooperation toa conference. These organizational units may be all IEEE organizational units or IEEE andnon-IEEE organizations as indicated in IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.2. Authorization toapprove a MoU/MoA shall reside with the appropriate approving organizational unit asindicated in General Approvals, Endorsements, & Notifications – Organizational Unit
Approval (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.4).
Each MoU/MoA shall be negotiated and finalized at least six (6) months in advance of theconference, and shall include the terms and conditions set forth in the application form,
including the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Financial sponsorship and responsibilities of each organizational unit. Thesearrangements are needed for both liability and surplus distribution purposes (IEEE
Policies, Section 10.1.9 and 10.1.27).
Ownership of the Intellectual Property associated with a conference including use of
the conference name, slogan, copyright for publications, and/or logo ownership.
A clause specifying whether the conference proceedings will be submitted to the IEEE
Conference Publications Program (CPP), which includes posting of the proceedings in
IEEE’s electronic database of articles (IEEE Policies, Section 10.1.27).
Provisions for dissolving the relationship.
Compliance with IEEE and other non-IEEE organization policies.
Assignment of conference management and other administrative responsibilities tothe appropriate organizational units.
General conference management accountabilities such as assignment of chairs,organizational unit chairs for Conference Organizing Committees, steering committee
obligations, location of the conferences, associated exhibitions, etc.
How the IEEE organizational unit will be directly and substantially involved in thetechnical program.
The technical paper review process, including a clear identification of the level ofpaper review, if the conference proceedings will be submitted to the IEEE Conference
Publications Program (CPP).
Provisions ensuring the non-IEEE organization supplies the IEEE organizational unit
with an option to promote IEEE membership and activities at no cost during theconference. If the conference has an associated exhibition, the IEEE shall be provided
with the option of having an exhibit booth. If the conference does not include an
associated exhibition, the IEEE shall be provided with the option of having an exhibit
table or other means of promoting the IEEE.

When a conference is sponsored jointly with another non-IEEE organization, the IEEE
organizational unit shall assure that the IEEE financial responsibility is limited to the IEEE
organizational unit's financial capabilities and does not extend to IEEE's corporate
resources.
MGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 13410.10 CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS __________________________________
Conferences typically produce proceedings that are provided at the conference to attendees
and/or are available for sale after the conference. Ownership of these publications isdetermined by copyright.
Refer to IEEE Policies Section 10.1.20 for detailed information concerning Conference
Publications.
Reference:
IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events (MCE) is the primary link between the conference andIEEE Headquarters. IEEE MCE has many services to offer - some gratis, others for a nominal
fee. You may inquire about these services at http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events or
via email to ieee-mce@ieee.org.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 10

page 135

11.0

MGA PUBLICATIONS

11.1

OBJECTIVES OF GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT PUBLICATIONS _______The purpose of IEEE publications is to further the aims of IEEE with respect to advancing
the theory and practice of electrical and electronics engineering and related arts andsciences throughout the world; enhancing the professional standing of its members; andpromoting the constructive utilization of technology for the public welfare. Region andSection publications are important vehicles for exchange of information and interaction
among members in the Region/Section area. These publications meet the technical,
professional, and informational needs of membership, which may be specific to thegeographical area.
The IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board may authorize
newsletters, periodicals, magazines, proceedings, and other publications, as it
may deem necessary for effectively disseminating and publicizing its activities.
The MGA Board shall abide by the existing policies and procedures as establishedby the Publication Services and Products Board (PSPB) and referenced in IEEE
Policies.
Objectives of the Region/Section publications include:•

Enhancing communication among members, and between IEEE and its
members.

•

Acting as an educational force in developing the technical capabilities ofmembers.

•

Presenting, in appropriate publications, information on matters of professionaland societal concern to the membership in the geographical area.

•

Disseminating information among members about important technicalachievements and developments from institutions and industries in the
Region/Section.

•

Bringing out publications of archival value covering important technicaldevelopments and achievements from institutions and industries in the
Region/Section.

•

Publishing important papers or talks, including applications
information, presented at the Region/Section meetings.

oriented

Any Region or Section may issue a local publication. A group of contiguous Sections orRegions may also issue a common or joint publication. The organizational unit
(Region/Section) responsible for the publication shall inform the MGA Board, accordingly,
and shall provide copies of such publications to IEEE headquarters as published. The
objectives of such publications shall be consonant with the objectives of IEEE.
A Region/Section publication may be a newsletter and/or a journal/magazine.
Information carried in a newsletter is not expected to be archival, whereas
magazines/journals have archival value.
Before a Region/Section publication is approved and initiated, the organizational unit
responsible must ensure that there is a proper financial plan and that necessary financial
and other support is available for the publication. In addition, the organizational unit
MGA Operations Manual, Section 11

page 136

responsible must also appoint a suitable editorial committee and/or publicationscommittee, does not apply to a newsletter, to insure a smooth publications operation.
The members responsible for bringing out the publication (whether in an editorial
capacity or some other capacity) must be cognizant of the policies and procedures, which
are applicable to all IEEE publications. For this purpose, IEEE Policies must be consulted.
All IEEE publications, including Region/Section publications must carry the IEEE logo andthe words "IEEE" in the title of the newsletter/magazine/journal. Guidelines covering
the use of the IEEE logo and the word IEEE are given in the PSPB Operations Manual.
IEEE journals/magazines, including those published by Regions/Sections containmaterial of archival value. IEEE copyright policies and procedures applicable forpublication of such material are outlined in IEEE Policies, Section 6.3.1 – IEEE Copyright
Policies, and the PSPB Operations Manual.
Region/Section publications may carry socio-technical material of interest to members.
Publication of such material must adhere to IEEE policies and procedures on presentationof socio-technical material. Guidelines for presentation of socio-technical material are
given in the PSPB Operations Manual.
Advertising is permitted in the Region/Section publications.
Guidelines andrequirements to be followed with regard to advertisements carried in the Region/Section
publications are listed in the PSPB Operations Manual.
General guidelines for the publication of newsletters by Regions/Sections are given in
the PSPB Operations Manual. Magazines or journals published by Regions/Sections are
expected to contain at least 60% material, which has archival value. A Region/Section
magazine must be normally published at least four times every year. General guidelines
for publication of magazines and journals by Regions/Sections are given in the PSPB
Operations Manual.
Second class mail facility can be utilized for distribution of IEEE publications within the
United States provided certain minimum requirements are met. Regulations concerninguse of second class mail facility for IEEE publications within the United States are listed
in IEEE Policies, Section 6.5. - Second Class Mailing Permits. For other countries, thelocal post office may be consulted to obtain information regarding provisions for use of
reduced rate postage for mailing IEEE publications.

MGA Operations Manual, Section 11

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12.0

REVISIONS TO THE MGA OPERATIONS MANUAL

12.1

OPERATIONS MANUAL REVISIONS ______________________________

Proposed changes to the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Operations Manualand the reasons therefore shall be distributed to all voting members of the MGA Board atleast fifteen (15) days before the stipulated MGA Board meeting at which the vote shall betaken. A majority of the votes cast of the members present at the meeting shall be required
to approve any new MGA operation guideline revision or to amend or revoke any existing
MGA operation guideline. The MGA Operations Manual will be forwarded to the IEEE Boardof Directors for information purposes.
Certain updates to this MGA Operations Manual may be made without MGA Board
approval. These changes shall be limited to:•••administrative, formatting, and grammatical changes
changes to reflect updates to other IEEE governing documents, including but notlimited to IEEE Bylaws, IEEE Policies, and the Finance Operations Manualchanges to reflect updates to formal processes or procedures approved by the IEEE
Board of Directors or the MGA Board

MGA staff will report these changes to the MGA Board.
Additionally, the IEEE Board of Directors has identified that changes related to specificresponsibilities directed to the major organizational units shall be reviewed and approvedby the IEEE Board of Directors using the process in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I-300.4(5).
The following chart indicates the sections of this manual for which the MGA Board is
responsible, which shall follow that process, and for which review and consent shall beobtained by additional Major Boards or committees, as indicated, prior to submission to theIEEE Board of Directors.
MGA MANUAL SECTION/
ACTIVITY
1.3 Objectives
9.1.D Naming of
Geographical UnitsMGA Operations Manual, Section 12

INVOLVED OU(S) REVIEW/CONSENTMGA Board

Deliberation: MGA Board
Review/Consent: MGA Board
Approval: MGA Board
Deliberation: MGA Board
Review/Consent: MGA Board
Approval: MGA Board

page 138