The ITA’s boards and committees explained

The Officers and Committees Chart shows the structure of the ITA but the following article will explain in more detail how the various management boards and committees are constituted and what their roles are within the association.
There are eight officer positions in the ITA hierarchy: president; vice presidents for Japan, India, Europe and USA; chairman; vice-chairman and honorary treasurer. All these posts are elected at annual general meetings together with members of the International Executive Management Board (IEMB) and it is this board that runs the ITA. The IEMB oversees the administration of the ITA, policies, finances, election of members, organisation of technical conferences, support for industry exhibitions and the interests of the Association’s members.
All officers are de facto members of the IEMB and the additional board members are representatives from the ITA’s four regional boards: the Asia Pacific Management Board (APMB); Indian Management Board (IMB); North American Management Board (NAMB) and the European Management Board (EMB). The additional representatives normally include the regional board chairman and area vice president. All the regional boards, subcommittees and the Secretariat, which is responsible for the general daily administration of the ITA, report to the IEMB.
However, because the IEMB can only meet occasionally for logistical reasons the Administration Sub Committee (ASC) of nominated officers, which meets several times per year, is empowered to run the ITA on a day to day basis with only major policy, constitutional and financial decisions requiring IEMB ratification.
Each ITA management board has a chairman elected by that board. It is responsible for promoting the benefits of ITA membership in its area, attracting new members, assisting members with queries on technical matters and most importantly ensuring that the views of members in the region are fully reflected at IEMB meetings. A regional board is also responsible, together with the Secretariat and any local co-organiser, for the successful running of technical conferences in its area.
At present the regional management boards are responsible for ITA matters in countries/areas as follows:-
APMB: South East Asia including Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Australia and New Zealand.
IMB: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
NAMB: USA, Canada and Mexico.
EMB: EU, CIS and Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and all non EU countries in Europe.
Some countries/areas are overseen at present by the Secretariat including Central/South America, Africa, UAE, Arab States and Pakistan, in some cases with the support of local representative offices. The NAMB, which oversees one of the largest membership sections, has its own technical subcommittee to support its members in the region.
Finally the ITA has three subcommittees:-
Financial Subcommittee: reports to the IEMB/ASC on ITA income and expenditure and liaises with the ITA’s accountants and bankers.
Papers Awards Committee: assesses the technical presentations made at all ITA conferences and decides on the awarding of the biennial speaker prizes at the Association members’ lunch at every Tube Dusseldorf exhibition.
Technical Management Committee (TMC): formed from ITA technical experts from the four regional board areas this important committee deals with technical queries from and advice to ITA members and oversees the selection of speakers and timetables for conferences.
It is because of this carefully structured organisation that the ITA can justifiably claim its pre-eminence as the world’s largest and most influential personal membership association of tube and pipe engineers and other industry professionals.