Mayor Emeritus, Councillor Tom Aditya is the Chairman of the Bristol Multi-Faith Forum. He is supported by the Secretary and the BMFF Board of Trustees, in the mission for inter-faith community cohesion and inter-cultural social harmony and to promote community well-being.
Former Chairpersons of the Bristol Multi-Faith Forum include Reverend Simon Bale and Reverend Tracey Lewis.
The Chairman serves as the leader of the board of trustees, responsible for ensuring its effective functioning and overall effectiveness in directing the BMFF. They facilitate discussions, guide decision-making, and set the tone for the board’s activities, while also maintaining a good relationship with other board members, the staff and volunteers.
The chair’s key responsibilities include:
Leadership: The chair provides leadership to the board of trustees and steering group, ensuring its roles and responsibilities.
Meeting Facilitation: The Chair preside over board meetings, ensuring they are well-structured, productive, and focused on strategic matters.
Guiding the Discussion: The Chair directs the flow of conversation, ensuring it stays on topic and moves towards the intended goals.
Agenda Setting: The chair sets the agenda for board meetings, ensuring it aligns with BMFF’s strategic goals and includes relevant information.
Adhering to Agenda: The Chair ensures the meeting follows the established agenda and that all items are addressed.
Encouraging Participation: The Chair actively seeks input from all members, ensuring diverse perspectives are heard and that no one dominates the conversation.
Managing Time: The Chair keeps the meeting on schedule, ensuring that all agenda items are addressed within the allotted time.
Maintaining Focus: The Chair helps the group stay focused on the main issues and avoids digressions.
Decision-Making: The Chair guide the board towards informed and effective decision-making, facilitating open and constructive discussions.
Board Effectiveness: The chair is responsible for creating the conditions for the board and individual trustees to be effective, including setting expectations for the style and tone of discussions.
Dealing with Conflict: The Chair helps to manage disagreements and conflicts, ensuring respectful and constructive dialogue.
Applying Rules: The Chair applies and enforces the forum’s rules and procedures, such as voting procedures or conflict of interest policies.
Communication: The Chair communicate effectively with the board, the secretary and other stakeholders, ensuring transparency and accountability. The chair works closely with the staff, providing support and guidance while also ensuring the board’s role in oversight and accountability is maintained.
Working with the Secretary: The Chair works closely with the secretary to ensure proper documentation and record-keeping.
External Representation: The chair represents the BMFF to external stakeholders, communicating the board’s vision and strategic direction. The Chair shall be responsible for representing the forum’s interests to other groups or stakeholders.
Governance: The Chair play a vital role in ensuring strong governance practices and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Setting the Tone: The Chair sets the overall tone and atmosphere of the meeting, fostering an environment of trust and cooperation.
Board Evaluation: The chair leads the board in its annual review of its performance and the performance of the staff and volunteers.
Reporting and Accountability: The Chair shall be responsible for reporting on the forum’s activities and ensuring accountability to the larger organization.
The Chair’s responsibilities include Facilitation and Leadership; Ensuring Rules and Procedures, Representing the Forum, Ensuring Accountability and acts as the spokesperson.