CRG Leadership Council Adopts Changes to Bylaws

By DAVID MYERS on behalf of the Coffee Roasters Guild Leadership Council

After almost 3 years of operating under the current CRG Bylaws, written at the time of unification, it became clear that a few minor revisions would improve the way we function as a team, and in turn, make it easier for our successors in years to come. And in the course of making these revisions, the world-wide Covid pandemic hit, which also had an impact on the revisions. 

Here are the changes that were made:

First, we changed the name from CRG Advisory Council to CRG Leadership Council. This small change brings our guild in alignment with the Technicians and Barista Guilds in naming convention. And since language matters, this signifies that rather than being side-line advisors, we want to take an active role in leading our Guild and working with the SCA.

Second, the fixed committee structure has been replaced with Working Groups. The original heritage organizations (RG and RGE),  and the newly formed CRG operated with fixed committees. While these could be changed at any time, the format didn’t fit the needs of the organization or the skill-set of our current Leadership. The new Working Groups are formed on an ad-hoc basis to respond to specific projects, based on our Key Initiatives. These may last just a few months, like the Retreat Working Group, or last several years, such as the Sustainability Working Group. When a project is completed, the group can move on to another project. This also allows work to be divided up amongst the LC as well as engaging with our membership’s skill sets, depending on where extra help is needed.

Third, to fit the current environment with no international travel and declining budgets, the CRG in-person meetings and Annual Membership meetings have been moved to on-line. For the  Annual Membership Meeting this will allow members from around the globe to tune in for updates from the first time in Guild history. 

Last, there is a small modification for the Past Chair of the CRG-LC. As stated in the SCA Bylaws, the Past Chair of each guild serves 1 year on the SCA Board of Directors. There was no written option should the Past Chair not be able to, or choose not to serve, on the BoD. In this case, one member of the CRG Executive team may be asked to serve a term on the SCA BoD.

The updated bylaws are posted here on the CRG website and we welcome your input and support for our Guild and roasters around the world.