The National Association of Dental Laboratories (NADL), National Board for Certification in Dental Laboratory Technology (NBC), and The Foundation for Dental Laboratory Technology (FDLT) are seeking individuals to fill open seats on the 2018 NADL Board of Directors, 2018 NBC Board of Trustees, and 2018 FDLT Board of Trustees.
New board members will be elected, or appointed, in the fall of 2017 and will take office on Jan. 1, 2018.
The boards guide the organization through proven leadership, a shared vision, and support for the missions of the association. If you enjoy collaborating with other professionals and have a desire to give back to your profession, then the NADL, NBC, and FDLT want you.
Qualities of an Effective Board Member
- Serving as an association leader is both an honorand a reward. It requires a proven commitment to the organization and its missions and goals.
- Participating fully in association activities requires extra time and expense for attending meetings.
- Well-developed interpersonal skills and ability to communicate are essential to effective teamwork.
- An effective board member brings expertise and experience to provide value, but such experience and expertise should not drive the policy-making process.
- Intuitive and interpretive skills enable leaders to understand the people around them, internalize the data they receive, recognize the relationships that exist between systems within their world, and integrate all these elements into a coherent whole.
- Focusing on policy-making, not the day-to-day operations of the organization, is what makes an effective board.
NADL
The NADL is a nonprofit trade association with voluntary membership. It was founded in 1951 to ensure that the domestic dental laboratory industry could remain competitive and profitable by recruiting and retaining skilled technicians while providing high-caliber products and services to the dental industry. Since then, the NADL has branched out by offering business training and access to relevant services to ensure laboratories can work to their highest potential. The NADL is the voice of the industry at the national level.
NBC
The NBC was established in 1957 to provide professional certification to both dental technicians and dental laboratories. It is not a membership organization, but rather a certifying body. CDTs and RGs are not required to be members of the NADL, but are sometimes eligible for discounts on NADL products and meetings.
FDLT
The Foundation is the newest of the three organizations. It was created in 2008 through both financial seed money from the NADL and intellectual property from the NBC to provide a mechanism to ensure the future viability of dental laboratory education. The main focus is to advance the profession of dental laboratory technology by developing educational curriculum and programs that will be relevant and accessible to technicians and other members of the dental team. The Foundation provides grants, scholarships, and resource coordination to deliver direct support to dental laboratory schools.
All three of the organizations work together on behalf of the industry to ensure that your needs are heard and met. Each organization fills a role within the industry and your involvement is important.
To view eligibility requirements for board service, visit the News Page on each organization’s website. Candidates interested in serving will be required to read and sign a board application in order to be considered for board service.
Contact Sarah at shackney@executiveoffice.org or 800-950-1150 to request a board application. A short candidate biography and digital headshot should be submitted with the completed form. All applications must be submitted by email to shackney@executiveoffice.org by 5 PM EST on Friday, March 31, 2017. No late submissions will be considered.
