PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

SOCAN's Board of Directors
by Earl Rosen

SOCAN’s board of directors is elected by and accountable to you, our members. The most important way we report is at the annual general meeting, this year taking place on June 21 in Vancouver. At the AGM, the board and management report on the activities of the previous year. The reports and backup information are made available to members across the country. A summary is printed in Words + Music.

Two recent innovations provide even more information. Every year, the board publishes SOCAN’S Annual Report to Members: Governance Disclosure & Management Review, which provides an overview of board operations, SOCAN’s accomplishments and the challenges ahead. This report is available online at socan.ca. I urge you to take a look. In addition, a podcast of the AGM is available online shortly after the meeting has taken place.

Another way in which the board and management report to members is through membership meetings. So far this year, meetings have taken place in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Los Angeles and Nashville. This year’s meetings were very special, as members said goodbye to outgoing SOCAN CEO André LeBel and welcomed Eric Baptiste (interviewed in this issue) as our organization’s new CEO.

Individual board members report to the SOCAN membership through the Director’s Corner column in Words + Music. In this issue, Stan Meissner describes his role and responsibilities as treasurer.

The last year has been exciting and challenging for the board. As a result of the 2009 election, five new members were elected: writers Ben Mink, Glenn Morley and Marc Ouellette, and publishers Geneviève Côté and Edmund Glinert. There is a huge learning curve for new board members, as they are expected to quickly absorb the inner workings of SOCAN and the board’s governance processes. I appreciate the effort these new members have put in to become fully involved in board activities.

I’d also like to pay particular tribute to two board members, Bill Henderson and Rosaire Archambault, who have served on the SOCAN board since its inception 20 years ago. Their accumulated knowledge and wisdom provide the board with an excellent corporate memory. The SOCAN board has a great balance of new and experienced members, ensuring lively engagement and discussion of all the issues and challenges we face.

Keeping you informed and connected to SOCAN is a very high priority of the board. If you have any questions or comments, please write to me: president@socan.ca.


Earl Rosen is president of the music label Marquis Classics and publisher De Sade Songs. He served a previous term as SOCAN president in 2003-06.

President's Message 2010

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