NAID Members Asked to Ratify Bylaws: The Results & What’s Next?

April 9, 2018

In March, the NAID Board of Directors unanimously approved bylaws that would result in a merger between NAID and PRISM International. As with all such bylaws changes, member ratification was required.

Following the publication of a document addressing all member questions, the ratification decision was put to NAID Active Members by secret ballot between March 26 and April 6. As with all NAID electronic ballots, the voting process was conducted by an independent service, which was retained specifically to ensure its accuracy and integrity.

In the end, 85% of all voters favored ratifying the amended bylaws. According to NAID President Eric Haas, the board never expected unanimous agreement. “When you have this amount people voting on any issue, especially one representing this type of change, there are going to a lot of opinions,” said Haas. “Of course, we were delighted that such an overwhelming majority agreed with the board’s decision.”

That being the case, the ball is now in the PRISM International court. Similar to NAID, their Board of Director’s also unanimously approved the bylaws change and now await member ratification. The association has announced that its members will decide whether or not to move forward at their general membership meeting on May 8. Comments and sentiments surrounding the decision are generally positive and the outlook for moving forward is optimistic.

If all goes as anticipated, the merged umbrella entity, i-SIGMA (International Secure Information Governance & Management Association), will form over the summer. As structured in the bylaws, NAID and PRISM International will remain the main outward-facing brands. An i-SIGMA Interim Board of Directors, formed by the combined NAID and PRISM International boards will lead the organization until such time as general elections are held in 2020.