Governance Updates

Modernizing TNAFP’s Governance Structure

The current TNAFP strategic plan approved by the Board of Directors in 2023 included an evaluation of the Academy’s governance structure to look for ways to modernize geographic representation in leadership positions, encourage better participation from members across the state, and help ensure the Academy is operating at peak efficiency. It restarted a discussion that began a decade ago but never resulted in any changes.

A volunteer workgroup of physician leaders spent more than a year reviewing previous proposals and developing a plan to achieve these objectives. The group presented its preliminary recommendations to the TNAFP Board of Directors in June 2023 and to the Congress of Delegates in October 2023, with the explicit goal of returning to the annual meeting of the Congress in 2024 with resolutions for action.

Congress approved the workgroup’s recommendations on October 28, 2024, and the modernized governance structure took immediate effect.

Congress Annual Meeting Shift
The Congress of Delegates also adopted a resolution from the Tennessee Delegation to the AAFP Congress of Delegates to move the annual meeting of the TNAFP Congress of Delegates (not the annual CME conference) from fall to spring. The TNAFP Constitution and Bylaws require Congress to meet at least annually, and the Congress has historically met during the TNAFP annual conference, which typically occurs just after the annual meeting of the AAFP Congress of Delegates each fall. Separating the Congress annual meeting (now spring, beginning in 2025) from the TNAFP annual CME conference (still in the fall) will allow the delegation to better represent TNAFP members in the national forum.