2022 Atlanta Board of Trustees Meeting

Additionally, the OMA COI policy states:

“ Board members have a fiduciary duty to conduct themselves without conflict to the interests of OMA. In these capacities, they must subordinate personal, individual business, third-party and other interests to the welfare and best interests of OMA. “

While the board installation script is not as specific, the OMA COI policy is clear. Members of the board have a duty to conduct themselves without conflict of interest.

The more complicated question is to whether this loyalty was (or could be) breached by a board member giving a presentation at a competing organization.

“A conflict of interest arises when what is in a person’s best interest is not in the best interest of another person or organization to which that individual owes loyalty … A conflict of interest can also exist when a person must answer to two different individuals or groups whose needs are at odds with each other. In this case, serving one individual or group will injure the other. ” i Since the person involved (likely) both benefitted himself in giving the presentation and there were two different groups involved, it seems that both examples of COI present themselves in this example. As a reminder, this complaint is not against the presenter but rather seeks to ensure that a process is in place to protect the OMA against both examples of COI. The case in question involves Dr. Harold Bays giving a presentation for the TOS conference to aid participants in preparation to pass the ABOM exam. It was felt by the complainant that the OMA board preparation course was superior to the TOS course and that having Dr. Bays participate would be giving up this advantage to a degree. It was recognized on discussion with the Ethics Committee that having a board member participate i n a competing organization’s functions could be perceived as either benefitting or harming the OMA. The benefit could come from having a recognized OMA member being asked to speak at a competitor’s conference. Such a presentation offers both the recognition and possibly prestige to OMA since the presenter is a member of OMA. There is also an opportunity to present and disseminate material created by the OMA to a larger audience. The first builds the reputation of the OMA, and the second supports and lends importance and credibility to material created by OMA that has a purpose of distribution to a wider audience. The material in question here by example being The Obesity Algorithm . On the other hand, there could be a perception of a talent, product, or knowledge leak by having something that is perceived to belong to the OMA and which contributes to our success be offered to the competing organization. This is what the complainant was concerned about. One could ask what makes our board preparation product great. Is it the person who presents the material? It seems easy to imagine that any person could present at any organization given a correct conflict of interest policy. There have been plenty of people who belong to TOS who have presented at OMA. There did not seem to be a loss to TOS in these presentations. Is it the material that is presented? The material presented will be a combination of the input of the person who is presenting the talk and the material that is provided by the organization to help the individual prepare the talk. Lastly, is it the underlying managerial structure to the conference? The way that

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