Bylaws of the Institute for Operations Research and The Management Sciences:

Financial Services Section

Article 1 – Name

This organization shall be named the Financial Services Section of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

Article 2 - Purposes

The purposes of this Section shall be:

1. To provide a continuing, specialized focus within INFORMS on the topic of Financial Services, with the aim of identifying current and potential problems and contributions to their solutions.
2. To lead in the development, dissemination and implementation of knowledge, basic and applied research and technologies in the area of Finance and Financial Services, and to promote high professional standards and integrity in all work done in the field.
3. To support efforts to extend, unify and integrate related branches of knowledge and practice.
4. To support the free interchange of information, encourage discussion and interaction among individuals having interest in this field by providing the opportunity for these individuals to meet and to exchange information, ideas, experiences, and techniques.
5. To stimulate the type of cross-fertilization which can best be accomplished within the framework of a professional organization.
6. To encourage the education of students and the continuing education of practitioners in this field of knowledge.

Article 3 - Membership

Any member of the Institute may become a Section Member by paying the Section dues. Non-members of the Institute may become Section members by paying the special fee for non-members of the Institute. All members of the Section shall have equal rights and privileges except that only INFORMS members may hold Section offices (See Article 6).

Article 4 – Officers

1. The officers of the Section shall be a Chair, Vice Chair, and a Secretary/Treasurer. (Sections may at their discretion choose to have both a Secretary and a Treasurer.)
2. The Chair shall be the chief administrative officer of the Section and shall be responsible for the development and execution of the Section's program. He/she shall (a) call and organize meetings of the Section, (b) appoint ad hoc committees as required, (c) appoint chairs and members of standing committees, (d) manage the affairs of the Section between meetings, and (e) preside at Section Board meetings and Section membership meetings.
3. The Vice Chair shall be the principal assistant administrative officer of the Section and shall act as Chair in the absence of the Chair. He/she shall have such other duties as the Chair or the Board shall assign to him/her and normally will chair a planning committee to develop the Section's program and required budget for the coming year and conduct the annual election of officers and Board members for the Section. He/she shall become the Chair of the Section for the year after his/her term of office as Vice Chair.
4. The Secretary/Treasurer shall conduct the correspondence of the Section, keep the minutes and records of the Section, maintain contact with the Institute, receive reports of activities from those Section Committees that may be established, make arrangements for the regular meetings of the Board and the membership meetings of the Section, be responsible for the administration and disbursement of the Section funds as directed by the Section Board, prepare and distribute reports of the financial condition of the Section, help prepare the annual budget of the Section for submission to the Institute, make arrangements for the orderly transfer of all the Section's records to the Secretary/Treasurer succeeding him/her, and perform other duties usual to the office of an organization's Secretary/Treasurer. (In those cases where a Section chooses to have a Treasurer, he/she shall assume those responsibilities noted above that deal with the planning, control, and distribution of Section funds.)
5. Any Section member accepting nomination for elective office in the Section is understood to have agreed to perform the duties of that office if elected, and in particular to have agreed to attend the semi-annual regular Section meetings during his/her tenure, except as his/her attendance is prevented by unusual circumstances. If a Section elected official must miss a meeting or be temporarily unable to carry out his/her responsibilities, he/she shall advise the Chair and shall make other arrangements for the discharge of his/her responsibilities. If a Section elected official should fail during his/her tenure to attend regular Section meetings and to carry out the responsibilities of the office, he/she can be removed from office upon the initiative of two-thirds vote of the Section Board.

Article 5 – Board

1. The Board shall be the governing body of the Section and shall guide the officers in the administration of the Section's business. The Board shall consist of the elected officers indicated in Article 4, the most recent past Chair, and up to six Board Members representing to the extent practicable the varied interests of the Section members.
2. The Board may add up to five nonvoting members to the Board. The purpose of this provision is to allow representation on the Board of individuals engaged in important Section activities such as editors of newsletters, associate editors of INFORMS journals, editors of Section journals, representatives from allied societies, and representatives from the Institute newsletter.
3. Section Board meetings shall be held at least once each year, normally during the annual meeting of the Institute. Their purpose is to develop and implement service programs and to provide policy guidance for the Section officers. Special meetings can be called by the Secretary/Treasurer at the request of the Chair of a majority of Board members. Special meetings will be held within forty days of the receipt of the request and Board members will be notified by the Secretary/Treasurer of the date and place of the meeting at least two weeks prior to the meeting. All Section Board meetings shall be open to Section members.
4. A majority of the voting Board members shall constitute a quorum. In special circumstances a mail ballot can be used to vote on a Board action. In this case a majority of the voting members of the Board must vote in order for the election to be valid.
5. Board vacancies that occur between elections shall be filled as follows: a vacancy in the office of Chair shall be filled by the Vice Chair and upon the completion of this term he/she shall continue as Chair so as to complete the term for which he/she was elected; a vacancy in the office of Secretary/Treasurer shall be filled on an acting basis by a majority vote of the Board; other vacancies shall remain until the next Section election. All officials elected by the Board shall serve only until the next annual Section election.

Article 6 - Election and Tenure of Section Officials

1. All elected officers and Board members shall be elected in accordance with process operating concurrently with that of the INFORMS election process. By this process the Section shall annually elect a Vice Chair to serve a term of one year; two Board Members to serve terms of three years; and other officials as may be required by vacancies that have occurred since the previous election. A Secretary/Treasurer (or separate Secretary and Treasurer) also shall be elected to serve a one-year term.
2. The Vice Chair shall succeed the Chair at the completion of his/her term.
3. No officer or Board Member, other than the Secretary, Treasurer, or Secretary/Treasurer, who has served a full term, shall be eligible for immediate election to the same office. A Secretary, Treasurer, or Secretary/Treasurer may be re-nominated to the same office twice following his or her first election to that office.
4. The Chair shall appoint a Nominating Committee at least six months before the Board meeting of the Section, usually held in conjunction with the INFORMS Annual Meeting. The Nominating Committee, composed of a chair and at least two additional Section members, shall prepare a slate consisting of at least two nominees for each office to be filled. At least five months before the Board meeting of the Section, the Nominating Committee will submit its nominations to the Vice Chair who will report these nominations to the Section membership at that time by one or more of the following: a) electronic mail, b) hardcopy newsletter, or c) other written form. Additional nominations for any office may be made by a petition signed by at least six Section members. Such petitions must reach the Vice Chair at least 3 months before the Board meeting of the Section.
5. Nominees for the positions of elected officers must be Section members and INFORMS members. Nominees for Board members must be Section members and INFORMS members.
6. At least two months before the Board meeting of the Section, the Vice Chair shall forward official ballots to the Section membership. Ballots shall be issued by one of the following media: a) letter mail ballot; b) electronic mail ballot; c) web-based ballot d) a combination of letter mail and electronic mail or web-based ballot. Nominees for office shall be listed alphabetically on the ballot (and so noted) with no indication as to those nominated by the Nominating Committee and those nominated by petition. Ballots must be returned to the Vice Chair at least one month prior to the Board meeting of the Section.
7. The Vice Chair of the Section shall appoint tellers to receive ballots and to tally them as of a pre-announced time at least two weeks before the INFORMS meeting. Tellers may not be Section officers or candidates for office. The winning candidate for each position shall be the candidate receiving the largest number of votes. In the event of a tie vote for any position, the members present at the next membership meeting of the Section shall choose between the tied candidates by written ballot. Winning candidates shall attend the Board meeting as observers and shall assume their office following this meeting.

Article 7 - Section Committees

The Section Chair, with the approval of the Section Board, shall establish committees as required and shall appoint qualified chairs to head these committees. In all cases the terms of the chairs and the committee memberships shall cease upon completion of the term of the Chair who appointed them.

Article 8 - Responsibility to the Institute

1. The Section shall operate in accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Institute. Each year, normally after the INFORMS meeting, a Section annual activity report will be submitted to the Institute setting forth the significant accomplishments and activities of the Section during the previous year and outlining a rationale for the budget projections for the following year. Additional reports shall be submitted to the Institute upon request by the Institute.

1. In the event of dissolution of the Section, its assets shall become the property of the Institute.

Article 9 - Amendments

1. Proposed amendments to these bylaws may be initiated either by action of the Section Board or by a petition to the Chair signed by 5% of the membership or 15 members of the Section, whichever is smaller. The Secretary/Treasurer shall distribute copies of the proposed change to all members of the Section by electronic mail or written form not less than three weeks before the annual membership meeting. An open discussion of the proposed amendment to the bylaws shall be carried out at the following membership meeting of the Section.
2. Not more than two months after the discussion of the proposed amendment the Secretary shall distribute to all members copies of the proposed amendment along with ballot forms by electronic mail, web-based, or written form. No ballot shall be counted unless marked by a Section member to indicate his/her choice, returned to the official tellers bearing the voter's name, and received by the tellers no later than a date to be specified upon the ballot form - a date not earlier than six weeks from the date of distributing the ballot forms to the Section membership.

3. The adoption of the proposed amendment shall require an affirmative vote by at least two-thirds of the members voting, as tallied by tellers appointed by the chair. The tellers shall report the tally to the Chair within one week of the date specified for receipt of the ballots. The result of the balloting shall be announced to the membership by the Secretary.

1. If approved by the Section membership, the proposed amendment to the Bylaws shall become effective upon approval by the Institute.

Article 10 - Meetings

1. The annual membership meeting of the Section shall be held when practical at the time and place of the annual meeting of the Institute with the schedule and site to be arranged by the Secretary of the Section. The place and time of this meeting shall be announced at the INFORMS meeting, or earlier if possible. The quorum for action at the membership meeting shall be 5% of the membership or 15 members of the Section, whichever is smaller.
2. Board meetings of the Section may be held whenever a quorum can be assembled. One Board meeting a year, normally at the annual meeting of the Institute shall be considered a minimum requirement.
3. The Section officers shall meet on call of the Chair.
4. Robert's Rules of Order shall, at the option of the Board, govern all Board and Section membership meetings except in those cases where they are inconsistent with this Constitution.