Report of the Committee on Transition
Report to the Executive Committee by the Committee on Transition revised August, 2004
Eric Maskin (chair), Guy Laroque, John Moore, Hugo Sonnenschein
Background and Mandate
In July, 2003, Julie Gordon (Secretary and Executive Director) and Robert Gordon (Treasurer) informed the Executive Committee that they wish to step down from their posts after the World Congress in London in August, 2005, by which time they will have served the Society for a remarkable period of thirty years. At its August, 2003 meeting in Stockholm, the Executive Committee thanked the Gordons for their exemplary service. It noted that their departure will truly mark the end of an era for the Econometric Society, a highly successful era thanks to their fine work. It also set up a Committee on Transition charged with (1) reassessing and perhaps redefining the positions of the Executive Director, Secretary, and Treasurer; (2) considering the desirability of democratizing of the process by which potential candidates for these posts are identified; (3) recommending specific individuals to take over for the Gordons; and
working out a timetable for the transition to the new team.
As matters currently stand, the Secretary and Treasurer are constitutionally mandated Officers of the Society (although the Constitution allows the two positions to be held by a single person). Like other officers, they are elected by the Fellows (the Constitution dictates that the Officers’ Nominating Committee shall name just one candidate for each post, but the Fellows are free to vote for names not on the ballot). The Executive Director, by contrast, is an employee of the Society, not an officer. The
position was created by the Executive Committee in 1985 and has been held since its inception by Julie Gordon.
