AIST members will vote on a new board which will have more flexibility in the appointment of an independent director – at the annual general meeting at 10am next Monday, just prior to the opening of the CMSF conference at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Under the proposal to be put to AIST members, the position for an independent trustee member would be abandoned in favour of the flexibility to appoint any independent person to complement the six elected trustee positions and three elected fund staff positions.

This is being proposed in order to widen the universe of potential candidates at a time when the number of independent trustee members is unlikely to grow significantly.

The members will also be asked to vote on a change in name for the two board leaders – from chair and deputy chair to president and deputy president – to better reflect the honorary nature of the roles.

Nominations for the half-board election closed last Friday.

Fiona Reynolds, AIST chief executive, said yesterday that eight nominations had been received for the five available positions.

Under AIST rules, the members vote for the directors but the board decides their specific roles.

She said the number of attendees at this year’s conference would once again top the 1000 mark despite the contraction among funds managers and other service providers.