“Board Advisers”

THE RCM Board has recently appointed Board Advisers to assist “in promoting effective strategies for membership development, enhancing club fellowship, improving (the Club’s) public image, and ensuring the efficient management of projects for the Rotary Club of Manila.” Apart from appointing the regular set of officers who have been working hard in ensuring a magical year, several others were tapped to give complementary support to the Board. This is indeed a wise move on the part of President Jujut’s Board; for truly, getting inputs especially from past officers and veteran members will certainly be a helpful addition. It also shows the Board’s openness to get and perhaps adopt the views and recommendations of other RCMers.

Three Board Advisers were appointed by the Board – Past President Archit Bartolome, Past President Hermie Esguerra, and yours truly. As former presidents of the Club, PPs Archit and Hermie indeed possess the exposure and a wealth of experience (and wisdom) to assist the current Board in, among others, “promoting effective strategies” to improve the all-around performance of our Club. These two past presidents have already been at the driver’s seat and would certainly be able to help the Board this Rotary year.

As for me, it was actually a big surprise when President Jujut informed me about the appointment. As everyone knows, I am relatively new to the Club and have only served under two Presidents – PP Hermie and IPP Raffy. I can only hope that my experience in these two years (and my professional experience outside of RCM) will be enough to enable me to judiciously and competently perform my new role. This is truly a humbling appointment, and I can only say “thank you” to President Jujut and the members of the Board for trusting me enough to be of any meaningful help and assistance.

The majority of our current Board are actually veteran directors who have served for a couple of years already (some having served in the District level, in fact), and I believe that they have the experience to lead the Club. In its collective wisdom, the Board has however decided, and rightly so, to get the perspective and inputs especially on setting policies and strategies on important matters. Notably, the appointment letter identified these key areas: membership development, club fellowship, public image, and project implementation.

I believe that seeking advice from our two past presidents as Board Advisers (and on occasion the Council of Past Presidents) will provide additional and helpful) perspectives and options for the Board. I personally look forward to being of help the best way I can.