Message From the President: All Hands‐On Deck

Greetings from an astonishingly beautiful end-of-summer day in Rhode Island, USA. The mornings are crisp and cold and the day time hot enough to induce longings for a swim or ice cream or both. Whether you live in the Southern or Northern Hemisphere, the season will have turned quite a bit by the time you read this. The natural progression of the seasons is one of the many wonders to marvel at (Fig. 1), as the hurly-burly of day-to-day life can seem exasperating. ASLO, too, has seasonal progressions. Unlike the calendar or academic year, the ASLO year starts on 01 July, and it is then when the “new” Board commences its work. The annual elections will have brought in new Members at Large who join the existing Board while those who have served their 3-yr terms will have rotated off (Avid readers will recall me thanking incoming and departing Board Members in my last message from the President; Menden-Deuer, 2024). This sequential renewal of the Board ensures continuity and transfer of purpose and knowledge. The Board holds monthly meetings virtually in addition to in-person Board Meetings preceding our annual conference and the Ocean Sciences meeting every other year. With new leadership starting on 01 July 2024 and to ring in ASLO's new year, I led the first virtual ASLO Board Meeting as President on 16 July 2024. This first board meeting was focused on familiarizing everyone with the ASLO structure, function, and operations so the Board Members are empowered to be knowledgeable and effective trustees of our society. Moreover, I presented a vision for our activities that maintain our strengths and promote a thriving ASLO. Together we went through an overview of ASLO, aka ASLO 101, introducing all people who work for and with ASLO in the Business Office, at our publishing partner Wiley, and our management partner Bostrom. Please let me know if you are interested in this overview and I am happy to share. I am grateful everyone made time to attend the meeting. It was really nice and beneficial to be together, even if virtually. While ASLO's structure is consistent over time, it can be a bit of a mystery to newly elected Board members when you don't have frequent or direct involvement in ASLO operations. To ground us and provide guidance, we reviewed our mission statement which stresses to foster, create, advance, and promote. These charges provide the foundation for the Board's pursuit to maintain the supportive functions of ASLO operations. Personally, preparing for this first Board Meeting was a major lift and took a lot of my time and effort. I am grateful I had this opportunity—I learned a lot and it allowed me to focus on priorities. In the course of preparing, I also realized leading is different than participating and I did not feel I had enough competency in chairing a meeting. Thus, I put in a practice session at my family's Saturday lunch, following Robert's rules. While we might have forgotten to adjourn for lunch, my children certainly appreciated being “recognized by the Chair” for their uninterrupted turn to speak. The actual Board Meeting also went smoothly and was enjoyable. The Board committed to learning and doing the job of being Board Members, which requires engagement and preparedness, amongst other charges. The duties of Board Members are neither trivial nor free of challenges. Please thank our Board Members when you have the opportunity. The Board is, of course, ruled by a strict code of ethics, which we reviewed. Board Members are fiduciaries of the organization. A fiduciary responsibility is, at times, interpreted to pertain solely to financial aspects. And proper and sustainable handling of resources, including finances is certainly a primary and key commitment necessary for the long-term well-being of ASLO. But any Board Member's commitment goes further. The term fiduciary is rooted in the Latin term for “trust” and, in this manner, expands far beyond finances. This trust is important because ASLO thrives when members are engaged, feel welcome and represented. Any violations of this trust, even perceptions of favoritism or bias, can alienate members and translate into decaying loyalty. ASLO operations provide clear guidance and strong guardrails that have served society well. The Board is committed to these principles, including transparency and fairness. I have placed a strong emphasis on how, through the election of Board Members, the secretary, treasurer, and presidents, ASLO members put their trust in us to guide the organization and to innovate. Thankfully, we have dedicated staff for day-to-day operations, so our Board can focus on long-term goals and strategic visioning that include identification of challenges, opportunities, and implementation of effective structures that meet those challenges and leverage opportunities. The Board has at times to do a balancing act of maintaining confidentiality (e.g., contracts with business partners) while preserving the very important emphasis on transparency. Our operations and by-laws, which anyone can access, are clear and give precise directives. Another challenge is to balance conflicting goals, such as maximizing sustainability while offering accessible, in-person meetings globally. Through your vote, Board Members have received the tremendous opportunity to lead and sustain our fabulous organization, to promote you—our members, guide our society, and to innovate. Everything we do is to support our members, enhance aquatic sciences, and its recognition in and utility to society. I look forward to working together with the Board to making our collective vision a reality. Beyond setting the stage and giving charge to the board at the first Board Meeting, we also set sail for the virtual Board Meetings held September through December that will focus on (1) membership empowerment, recruitment, and retention; (2) ASLO's contribution to diversifying aquatic sciences; and (3) considering our revenue and expenses in detail as the economics of publications and conferences have changed since the pandemic. The last meeting will likely address the budget for the next year. I look forward to working with the board, establishing accessible procedures for all the tasks in the ASLO seasons and steering our society through the upcoming years as we navigate the post-pandemic “new normal.” Irrespective of the season, I hope to emphasize the strength of our community and the pride we can take in what aquatic scientists contribute to the common good. I thank Laura Falkenberg for her feedback and thoughtful editing of this message.