2010 Board of Directors

TABB is governed by a Board of Directors elected annually by the membership. The Board is comprised of eight officers and the four chapter presidents. It meets throughout the year, as needed, to properly conduct the business of the association.

The Board manages the association through a strategic planning process that identifies the priorities that need to be addressed during the current year, and matches the resources of the association to these priorities so each task can be completed successfully.

During 2007, the Board adopted the second phase of a strategic plan that began in late 2006. The current plan is designed to revamp the association to provide the type of services and professional image that TABB members have indicated they want from the association. Under Phase 2 of the strategic plan, the Board is focusing on three important areas — education, member communication and information services, and political issues confronting our profession. The Board addressed these areas by approving a plan to revamp the BCB program, develop an all new members’ web site to provide a start-of-the-art communication tool and information resource for the membership, and by addressing – head-on –  the sensitive issue of securities transactions with state and federal regulatory agencies. Below are the components of the plan currently being implemented by the Board.

BCB Path To Excellence
In 2007, TABB announced its all new BCB Path To Excellence. The Path, as it is called, is a program that identifies those members who are seeking to obtain BCB certification and schedules education courses that allows them to acquire their BCB in the most convenient and inexpensive manner possible. Over ten TABB members are enrolled in the program and will likely become BCBs within the next 18 months. The Board is developing an education program schedule that best suits these members' needs and allows them to sit for the BCB exam as soon as possible.

New TABB Web Site For Members
The second part of the plan is to revamp the image of TABB to showcase its highly professional members who are dedicated to excellence in the business brokerage profession. To accomplish this goal, the association developed and launched this web site, which is solely dedicated to member communication and information. TABB will continue to maintain its other site - www.tabb.org - which will soon be converted to a site that solely serves the public and allows people to easily find brokers and search for businesses to buy and sell.

Texas State Securities Board
Last summer, members of the TABB Board of Directors met in Austin with the General Counsel for the Texas State Securities Board, and other agency staff, to discuss ways for business brokers to improve compliance with the Texas Securities Act. The TSSB staff made it clear that the Act did not apply to the sale of any business involving only the sale of assets, which is the type of transaction handled most by TABB members. However, there are circumstances where the Act does apply to TABB member sales, and the consequences of noncompliance are rather severe. To educate TABB members on how to comply with all portions of the Act, TABB and TSSB agreed to work together on two projects to improve awareness of the Act and compliance with its provisions.

First, the TSSB staff agreed to develop a line of questions and answers to post on the FAQ section of its web site to answer most of the questions posed by business brokers concerning the application of the Act. These questions and answers are being developed by members of the TABB Board and TSSB staff. They should be posted on the TSSB web site in the spring of 2008. TABB members will be notified when posting is made.

New Policy Manual For Members
During 2007, the TABB Board of Directors approved the drafting of a policy and procedures manual that each member can customize for their own use as a registered firm/licensee under the rules and regulations of the Texas State Securities Board. The manual is intended to serve as a guideline for members in adopting their own in-house procedures when dealing with transactions that require licensing by the TSSB. Development of the manual is in response to recent inspections of several TABB members by the TSSB. Once the manual is drafted it will be presented to TSSB staff for comment. When finished, it will be made available to all TABB members free-of-charge through this web site.

Securities & Exchange Commission Rulemaking
In September of 2007, the TABB Board of Directors voted to support the efforts of the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors before the federal Securities and Exchange Commission to establish new SEC rules for registered M & A brokers. TABB submitted a letter of support to the SEC and North American Securities Administrators Association in September. AM&AA presented its proposed rulemaking to the SEC a few weeks later. In addition, TABB contributed $5,000 to AM&AA to help defray some of the cost of pursuing the rulemaking before the SEC. TABB will closely monitor this issue in the months to come and report the final results to all members as soon as the rulemaking is finalized.

New TABB Bylaws
A primary focus of the TABB Board in 2008 was to draf a new set of bylaws for presentation to the membership. The current bylaws needed to be revamped to comply with the Texas Non-Profit Act, streamline the operations of the association, and remove procedural ambiguities. TABB needed a modern set of bylaws to govern its operations, and the 2008 Board addressed those issues. The proposed bylaws were forwarded to all members, along with proposed election procedures, and a summary of the highlights of the proposed bylaws.

New TABB Bylaws


Election Procedures

BCB Recertification Requirements
In June of 2008, the TABB Board of Directors began enforcing the recertification requirements for maintaining the BCB certification. Notice of this action was sent to all BCBs on several different occasions.

If you are a member of the association and would like to serve on the TABB Board of Directors, a chapter Board, or in some other capacity, please notify one of the members of the TABB 2010 Board of Directors.