ICA Catie Awards CaterArts 2008 Learning Journey


By-Laws | Committees and chairpersons


International Caterers Association National Bylaws

ARTICLE I
 Name and Office

  1. The name of this organization shall be the NATIONAL CATERERS ASSOCIATION (hereinafter ICA). AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CORPORATION HELD IN PHOENIX IN FEBRUARY 2001, THE NAME OF THE ASSOCIATION WAS OFFICIALLY CHANGED TO THE INTERNATIONAL CATERERS ASSOCIATION.
  2. The principal office of the Association shall be at a location in the USA as determined by the Board of Directors.

 

ARTICLE II
INCORPORATION

  1. ICA is an organization consisting of members at large and chapter branches as set up by the Board of Directors incorporated under the Not For Profit Laws of the state of Ohio, operating for the purposes set forth.

 

ARTICLE III
  OBJECTIVES

  1. Section 1
    1. Promote cooperative endeavors among the owners, staff and any other persons who are engaged in the business of catering.
    2. Foster and promote a spirit of fraternity and good will among its members and to advance on broad equitable lines the welfare of the catering industry.
    3. To maintain for the catering industry, a place among the other respected industries and professions.
    4. Oppose improper methods and unethical practices inimical to the right conduct of business so that honorable and fair competition may prevail.
    5. Disseminate useful information and inspire members to educate themselves in the scientific and practical features of the business.
    6. Build and maintain respect and appreciation on the part of the public for the catering industry.
    7. Promote harmonious relations with allied industries, in order that catering services and products may be sold to consumers at the lowest possible cost.
    8. Encourage the participation of its members in community and civil activities, locally and nationally.
    9. Generally, do all acts and things permitted to a non-stock corporation under the Laws of the Land.  It shall not be deemed to be within the purposes or objectives of this Association to:
      1. Enter into or act upon controversies between individual members and the catering industry.
      2. Take part in matters affecting the interest of one or more individual members of the Association as opposed to the interests of the majority of members of catering facilities operated throughout the Gentry.
  2. The Organization will be non-partisan, non-sectarian and non-profit.
  3. The Organization shall not perform service for any individual member of business,  but work specifically for the betterment of the entire catering community.

 

ARTICLE IV
MEMBERSHIP

  1. Classification of Membership:
    1. Active Member: An owner, officer or supervisor of a properly licensed, insured and sanitation approved company actively engaged in the business of  catering.
    2. Associate Member: An individual who is employed by (or who has partnered with) an Active dues - paying  Member.  This membership is available to both kitchen staff and sales staff of any Active Member.
    3. Vendor Member:  An individual and/or company who supplies products or services to caterers.
    4. Student Member: An individual enrolled in an accredited course of study  related to catering.
    5. Honorary Member: An individual selected by the Board of Directors when deemed appropriate. Honorary members may or may not pay dues.
  2. Membership in Local Chapters:
    1. Membership in your local chapter is a direct benefit of membership in the ICA.    
    2. Only members of ICA may belong to a local chapter.
    3. In no instance shall local dues be levied upon members of ICA by Local or regional chapters.
    4. Local chapters have the ability to raise funds in any appropriate manner they  choose. Local funds will be retained by the local chapter for enhancement of services to their membership.

 

ARTICLE V
MEETINGS

  1. The ICA shall hold an annual membership meeting, the place and date to be determined by the National Board of Directors. This meeting can be held in conjunction with the annual educational conference at which time the President will present the President's Report. Members should be advised at this meeting that if they desire to be on the Board of Directors, or are supporting someone they desire to see on the Board of Directors, they should bring the name to the attention of the Nomination Committee Chair.
  2. Regular membership meetings of this organization will be a minimum of one (1) annually.
  3. Special meetings may be called by a majority of the Board of Directors.
  4. Ten percent (10%) of the active membership shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business at the annual, any regular or special meeting. Where voting is concerned, proxy votes will be tallied as part of the quorum.
  5. "Robert's Rules of Order-Revised" shall be the parliamentary authority for all matters of procedure not specifically covered by these bylaws.

 

ARTICLE VI
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  1. Authority and Responsibility: The affairs of the association shall be governed by the Board of Directors. The Board shall have the authority to make all decisions relative to the operation and conduct of the association; employ an Association Director or Management Firm as deemed necessary; establish a headquarters office facility; determine the policies of the association and the services it offers to the membership; endorse and or authorize services to the membership by others; enter into contracts; supervise the disbursement of Association funds; and direct and control all other activities normally included in the operation of the Association.
  2. The Board of Directors shall consist of the officers and directors elected at the annual conference.. Each shall serve until their term of office expires, or  they resign, or are replaced by action of the Board. The original Founders shall be continuous members of the President's Advisory Council and shall be granted membership for life in the Association at no cost to them. Upon ceasing active service on the Board they shall be designated as Founder -Director Emeritus. The Board shall consist of a minimum of twelve (12) and a maximum of eighteen (18) members. The number shall be set by the Board.
  3. By majority vote of the Board of Directors, any Industry related member may be appointed as a non-voting "Associate Director" and be allowed to attend, as an observer, all Board or Committee meetings of ICA. An Associate Director shall not be allowed to attend Executive sessions of the Board of Directors.

 

ARTICLE VII
OFFICERS

  1. ICA shall elect the following who will be known as the Organization Board of Directors:  President, President Elect, First Vice President, Second Vice President, Secretary,  Treasurer. and other Directors as required.  The Immediate Past President shall be a member of the Board.  The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be combined. All Officers with the Immediate Past President constitutes the Executive Board.
  2. No Officer or Director shall receive any salary or fee for serving.
  3. (Revised at Board Meeting 2/18/00) The swearing in of Officers and Directors shall be held at the Annual Spring Conference of the Organization. Nominations for Board positions are open from March 1st through June 30th of each year.  Potential Board candidates may either nominate themselves or be nominated by another ICA member.  By July 15th of each year, potential nominees are contacted and asked to submit the required documentation to the Board to be considered as a candidate.  (The required documentation includes a brief bio and a signed letter of understanding of what the position entails.) 

    The Board reviews the potential candidates at the Summer Board meeting to determine eligibility and creates a slate of nominees.  By October 1st, the nominees are notified of the number of positions available and the number of candidates running for the positions. 

    Ballots are sent to all CATERING MEMBERS and VENDOR MEMBERS on November 1st.   Ballots may either be mailed back or faxed back.  The deadline for voting is November 30th. 

    By December 15th, all candidates are notified of the election results. 

    By January 1st, the membership-at-large is notified of the election results with a special insert in the CommuniCater and articles in the various trade publications.  New elected Board members attend their first Board meeting at the Spring Conference in a non-voting capacity since their terms do not officially begin until they are sworn in and assume office at the closing breakfast (or luncheon) of the Conference.  The terms of the ICA officers are as follows:

    The President, The President Elect and The Immediate Past President, shall hold office for ONE YEAR unless changed by a vote of the Board of Directors.  At no time shall a member hold one position for more than two years.

    The Vice Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer shall hold office for one year or two  years,
    depending on the needs of the Board.   The Secretary shall hold office for a maximum of
    FOUR YEARS at the will of the Board”
     (This by-law was changed by a vote of the Members at the AGM on March 1st 2004 in Sarasota     Florida)

    Two Directors (or more if vacancies occur) shall be elected each year for a one year term, followed by a one year term, followed by a two year term.   Board members may not hold more than one elected office simultaneously.  No Board member may remain a Director for more than FOUR years.

    The President Elect is the only officer to be automatically slated for the President’s position at the end of the President’s term.
  4. The officers of the Board may not hold office for more than one term. New Directors are elected for a one year term and can be re-elected to an additional one year term followed by a two year term. After a member is off the Board for a one year period, the member can be re-elected to the Board.
  5. Any Board Member or Officer must be expected at all times, in their business, to adhere to ethical business practices including being fully licensed, insured, maintaining proper business and tax permits, workmen's compensation coverage and any other practices and procedures normally required in the course of ethical business practices.
  6. The President's Council shall consist of the original Founders remaining active who are no longer regular members of the Board or Officers. Past Presidents and Board Members that have served on the Board may become members of this Council upon completion of their term on the Board by Council invitation only. Council Members can be asked to serve on committees. Council members will continue to receive passes to all ICA functions at guest rates so long as they remain active in Council activity. The President's council shall elect their own Chairman. The Chairman of the President’s Council can only be an original founder, or an ICA Past President. The President's Council shall collectively have one  (1) vote in Board business.

 

ARTICLE VIII
Duties of Officers

  1. The President shall preside over all meetings.  He/She shall appoint all standing committees and shall be an ex-officio member of all committees. The President shall perform such other duties as usually fall to a President.
  2. The President Elect, in the absence of the President, shall preside at all meetings, assist the President in his/her duties,  and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President or Board of Directors.
  3. The First Vice President will serve in the absence of the President or President Elect  and may, by decision of the Board of Directors, be next in line for the President Elect office.
  4. The Secretary shall keep minutes of the business and Board meetings and perform all such other duties assigned by the President or Board.  In addition, the Secretary shall submit all prepared organization bylaw changes to the ICA Headquarter office for approval by the National Board of Directors.
  5. The Treasurer shall be responsible for creating and maintaining appropriate and accurate accounts and records of all organization finances and shall make a quarterly report to all Board members within 30 days following the end of each quarter. In addition, the Treasurer must forward to the ICA Headquarter office said records as of January 31 of each year, for audit and tax return preparation.
  6. Officer vacancies, that may occur,  may be fulfilled by succession or by election of the Board.
  7. The Organization Board of Directors shall transact the business of the organization.  A simple majority vote shall govern unless otherwise specified.  The Board shall authorize all expenditures and shall not create any indebtedness in excess of organization income.

 

ARTICLE IX
Funding

  1. Old: The fiscal year of this organization shall run from January 1 through December 31 of each year. NEW: The fiscal year of this organization shall run from July 1 through June 30 of each year. (This by-law was changed by the Board at a meeting in Orlando on January 9, 2003 and was ratified by the Members at the AGM on March 1st 2004 in Sarasota Florida
  2. The Board shall adopt an annual budget covering all activities of the Association.
  3. The Association shall establish the annual dues of the members. The Association shall use it's funds or property only to accomplish the objectives specified in these By-Laws and no part of said funds shall inure, or be distributed, to the members of the Association. On the dissolution of the Association, any funds remaining shall be donated to a charity selected by a majority of the Board of Directors.
  4. The Treasurer shall make available to the membership, at the annual educational  conference, if requested , a financial report for the year just completed.

 

ARTICLE X
ICA CHAPTERS

  1. Requirements for Chapter Charter:
    Any group of eligible caterers with Five (5) or more applicants desiring to join ICA as members may become a Chapter providing no Chapter exists in that state, region or province. Charters are granted by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.

 

ARTICLE XI
GOVERNING POLICIES
OF CHAPTERS AS SET BY
ICA NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  1. The ICA Board of Directors shall strive to promote and assist in the formation of local chapters. The object of the local Chapter shall be to provide means for furthering the objectives of ICA.  Chapters should have a minimum of four (4) general membership meetings yearly.
  2. The officers of such Chapter shall consist of a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Board of Directors.  The number of directors shall be determined by the Chapter, and its government shall be patterned after the National Association.  The Directors and Officers shall be elected by the Chapter membership.  A majority of the Board of Directors and all Committees shall consist of members.  All Officers and Directors shall serve for a period of one (1) year and shall take office at the same time as National officers.
  3. Membership in the ICA automatically provides membership in the nearest chapter.  In no instance shall local Chapters dues be levied upon members of ICA.  ICA shall remit back to the Chapter $25.00 from Each members Annual Dues as they are paid. The President of the state, region or provincial chapter shall be the representative to the ICA.
  4. For cause, any Chapter in the Association may be suspended by a majority two-thirds (2/3) vote of the ICA National Board of Directors.  Sufficient cause for such Chapter suspension shall be violation of the constitution and/or bylaws, or any rule of practice properly adopted by ICA or any other conduct prejudicial to the interest of the Association.  In the event a Chapter is dissolved for any reason, the Chapter officers shall be required to disperse assets in the treasury by paying all debts and obligations with any remaining funds forwarded to ICA.
  5. In the event a Chapter is suspended, a statement of the charges shall be mailed by registered mail to the current Chapter President and Secretary at least 30 days prior to the date final action by ICA National Board of Directors is to be taken.  During this period, the charges shall be considered and the Officers shall have the opportunity to appear in person or authorize a representative of the Chapter to present any defense to such charges before final action is taken thereon.
  6. An accounting and report of local finances shall be made to the Chapter membership once a year by the Chapter Treasurer.  A copy of this report shall be sent to ICA.
  7. The Chapter shall refrain from issuing public position statements on state, provincial or national political and/or industry issues on behalf of ICA.

ARTICLE XII
Dissolution of Chapter

The Chapter may be dissolved at any time by a two-thirds vote of all members present at any regular or special meeting of the members upon 30 days written notice to members or by a two-thirds vote of the ICA National Board of Directors at a duly scheduled Board meeting, upon a finding that the Chapter has violated ICA or organization bylaws and providing that 30 days written notice of such vote has been given by ICA to the Chapter President.  Upon such dissolution, any funds remaining in the Chapter account after auditing and payment of debts lawfully incurred shall be immediately forwarded to ICA Headquarters.

ARTICLE XIII
AMENDMENTS

Any amendment to these Bylaws may be adopted by a three-fourths majority vote of the ICA National Board of Directors.

 

ARTICLE XIV
Dissolution

The ICA may be dissolved at any time by a two-thirds vote of all members present at any regular or special meeting of the members upon 30 days written notice to members or by a two-thirds vote of the ICA National Board of Directors at a duly scheduled Board meeting. Upon such dissolution, any funds remaining in the Organization account after auditing and payment of debts lawfully incurred shall be donated to a Charity of the Board's choice

 


Committees and chairpersons

Joining one of the ICA’s committees will provide you with satisfaction of giving back to your fellow caterer members and the ICA, the opportunity to shape the future of the ICA, and enjoy completing tasks that while they are catering-related are different from your every day catering life.

A sampling of the committees and responsibilities follows. To volunteer, or to learn more about what’s involved before saying “I do” , contact the ICA office.

 

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

The Communications Committee has several sub-committees or areas of responsibility.  Since this is such a major committee, traditionally a Board Member chairs the Communications Committee.
Liese Gardner of MECCA  works with this committee on the creation of the CommuniCater.

The Communications committee is responsible for:

  1. overseeing the content, creation, editing, printing and distribution of The ICA membership newsletter, The CommuniCater. 
  2. maintaining the ICA web-site   www.icacater.org
  3. developing and creating the ICA pages in catersource Magazine
  4. developing and creating the ICA e-mailed newsletter, ICA Broadcast News & Ideas
  5. creating press releases about the catering industry and ICA members’ successes for industry publications.

 

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE - 

Our annual educational conference is the most important event of the year for the Association; traditionally the President or a Vice President of the ICA serves as the Chairman of this committee.

 The Conference committee is responsible for:

  1. the CATIE Awards Gala Event sub-committee.  This sub committee is responsible for the actual event, including site selection, caterer selection, food & beverage procurement from sponsors, theme, transportation, entertainment, etc.  
  2. coordinating and organizing Club ICA and the ICA Resource Room
  3. coordinating the Annual Meeting of the Corporation and ICA networking event, the Dine-Around, and the Owner’s Forum

 

VENDOR COMMITTEE

The Vendor Committee is responsible for:

  1. increasing vendor membership and participation in the ICA
  2. increasing corporate sponsorship of our Conference
  3. creating a vendor membership benefits package to be sent to vendors annually
  4. marketing Corporate Sponsors and Vendors to ICA members

 

COOKBOOK COMMITTEE

Currently in the planning stages, this committee will be responsible for creating a blueprint for an ICA cookbook featuring member chefs and designed for the general public. Projects will include researching publishers and obtaining proposals to present to the ICA Board, determining and designing the content, working with the publisher to complete the book, and marketing and selling the finished book.
 

CULINARY LEARNING JOURNEYS

This committee oversees the Culinary Learning Journeys offered by the ICA, entertains proposed journeys from prospective Chairs, and supports each Journey by managing the marketing, budgets, and logistics.

 

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

The chairman of the Awards and Nominations Committee is traditionally the Immediate Past President of the ICA.   The Awards and Nominations Committee (formerly two separate committees) is an important committee, active on an as-needed basis, responsible for two distinct areas. 

AWARDS

The committee is responsible for:

  1. accepting nominations for awards to be presented at the annual educational conference. 
  2. purchasing and engraving of awards to be presented.
  3. presenting the awards at the winter conference.

NOMINATIONS…

The committee works with the Executive Director to assure that:

  1. each January, determining, along with the Secretary of the ICA, what, if any, Board positions are becoming available for the following year. 
  2. “opening” nominations on the floor of the Annual General Meeting and recording any names that are brought forth.
  3. accepting nominations from the time of the A.G.M. until June 30th of that year.
  4. create a dossier on each potential Board candidate, which is presented to the entire Board at the Summer Board meeting, thus creating a slate of candidates
  5. creating Ballots to be mailed during the first week of November.
  6. counting the votes that are cast.
  7. notifying the ICA President and Board of Directors of the results
  8. notifying selected (and non-selected) candidates, to let them know the results.
  9. notifying the Communications Committee of the results of the election.

 

FINANCE

Traditionally, the chairman of the Finance Committee is the Treasurer of the Association. 

The Finance Committee Chairman is responsible for:

  1. working with the President and ALL the committee chairmen to create the annual budget
  2. allocating funds to each committee, for the work of that committee
  3. creating the year-end financial reports.
  4. working with the Executive Committee to create and maintain a five year financial plan for the ICA
  5. assisting the accountant with all tax forms and audits.
  6. setting up Master Accounts with conference / meeting hotels

 

MARKETING

This committee is responsible for creating and implementing a blueprint to market the ICA regionally, nationally and internationally via print media,  publications, and association conferences. 

 

CATIE AWARDS COMMITTEE  

The CATIE Awards are a registered trademarked name of the industry awards owned by the International Caterers Association. 
Each year, at the winter ICA/catersource educational conference, CATIE Awards are presented at a gala event.

  1. The CATIE Awards Committee is responsible for:
  2. Reviewing the categories of awards offered each year
  3. Creating the criteria with which the awards are given out
  4. Creating an application form for the award nominations
  5. Creating a Detailed Specs list and Entries Guideline to accompany the Entry Form
  6. Accepting the completed award applications
  7. Formulating a judging panel to review the applications
  8. Organizing the awards ceremony
  9. Working with the Communications committee to disseminate the news announcing the winners

 

EDUCATION COMMITTEE  

The Education Committee is responsible for two distinct areas of education:

  1. the ICA/catersource Conference each winter and CaterArts summer conference
  2. Industry-related conferences (e.g. HostEx in Toronto, the NRA Show in Chicago, the State Restaurant Assoc. shows in NYC, Michigan, etc.)

The chairman is responsible for:

  1. Working with the Conference chairman (or their designee) to create an education package for our  conferences
  2. Working with the Culinary Council to utilize this Council at our conferences, as well as other Industry conferences
  3. Creating a comprehensive package of education that the ICA can offer to industry trade shows
  4. Working to create a balance of food, décor, service, marketing and management seminars.
  5. Creating a list of topics and expert speakers on each topic for future reference.

 

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

The Membership Committee has many sub committees including Membership Growth, Membership Retention, and Membership Benefits.  

The Membership Committee is responsible for: