Reimagining the CWBA’s Leadership Structure: Final Reflections
- Emma Garrison
- Jun 3
- 5 min read
Editor’s Note:This is the final post in a five-part series documenting the CWBA’s multi-year effort to restructure its leadership. Catch up on the journey here:
“The past didn’t like to be changed. It was obdurate.”
— Stephen King, 11/22/63
In March at the ABA Bar Leadership Conference, I was asked why I chose to tackle a leadership restructure as CWBA’s President-Elect. After all, I was already in line to be President, already succeeding within the existing structure—so why take on more? My answer was simple: it would have felt irresponsible not to.
It’s easy to keep doing what we’ve always done. That is, until the cost of not changing becomes impossible to ignore. Under Gina Glockner’s presidency, CWBA’s Executive Committee participated in an organizational “lifecycle analysis"—a deep dive into our governance, operations, and long-term sustainability. We examined what was working, what wasn’t, and what might need to change if we wanted CWBA to thrive into the future.
At the end, our facilitator asked, “If you could only do one thing to ensure CWBA’s sustainability as an organization, what would it be?”
“Board structure.”
“Board structure.”
“Board structure,” we each replied, one by one.
A few weeks later, I was named President-Elect. Leadership had just agreed that addressing our Board structure was key to our organization’s survival. I couldn’t look away.
I began by convening a work group to explore hard questions about how we operate, and to start imagining what alternatives could look like. Nearly three years later, I’m proud to share that those initial sparks of imagination have become reality.
A New Governance Structure
As of May 2025, the CWBA officially operates under a reimagined leadership structure that introduces two interlocking bodies:
1. A Smaller, Strategic Board of Directors
Our new, modernized Board has 12 members and is responsible for governance, strategic planning, and fiduciary oversight. Each officer holds a defined, substantive role—including Communications, Inclusive Programming, Community Action and Advocacy, Professional Development, Technology and Processes, and more. Board members contribute by leading special projects and collaborating with committees within their designated scope.
2. A Leadership Advisory Council (LAC)
The LAC includes all Committee Co-Chairs, Chapter Representatives, and partner organization reps and serves as our “operations” arm. The LAC will meet quarterly with the Board to align programming and priorities, share ideas across committees, and keep engagement between the LAC and Board strong. Committee leaders retain a meaningful leadership identity—now as “Members of the CWBA Leadership Advisory Council”—without needing to shoulder monthly governance duties. The President-Elect will chair the Leadership Advisory Council, providing continuity and strong connection between governance and operations.
What’s New with CWBA Committees
As part of this change, we also updated our committee structure to reduce duplication, clarify roles, and embed inclusion into everything we do. Here are a few highlights:
Public Policy → Policy Action: Narrowed to focus on legislative priorities, policy initiatives, and advocacy during session, including committee testimony.
Programs → Inclusive Education and Training: Now home to all CLEs, with a DEI-forward lens.
Membership & Mentorship → MembHERship & Mentorship: Same heart, new name — community-building continues here.
Professional Advancement + Publications and History → EmpowHERment and PublisHERs: One home for member recognition, the 1891 blog, and award nominations, including the Mary Lathrop Award.
DEI Committee: Retired as a stand-alone—DEI is now embedded across all committees, supported by our two Officers of Inclusive Programming and the Inclusive Education and Training Committee.
New micro-volunteering and amicus brief review opportunities will emerge under officer-led initiatives.
The goal? Let our committees do what they do best—deliver dynamic, meaningful programming—with more robust support and less overlap.
The Long Road to Unanimous Approval
This spring, I was invited to speak about CWBA’s board restructure at the ABA Bar Leadership Institute. It was deeply validating when an ABA staff member pulled me aside to say that CWBA was “the talk of the town” for “pulling it off.”
Getting here took time because change takes time. Over the past three years, we:
Formed a strategic workgroup to evaluate our leadership structure and propose alternatives
Hosted dedicated Board discussions and one-on-one meetings
Held listening sessions with Past Presidents
Partnered with ABA consultants who interviewed past and current leaders, provided a report with their findings, and made recommendations
Shared the real time, messy middle with blog posts (here, here, here, and here)
Listened, revised, and clarified, ultimately gathering for a focused working session with the then-President (Carime), President-Elect (Alison), Immediate Past President (me), and Executive Director (Kim) to incorporate feedback and finalize the new structure
Earned unanimous Board approval
Rolled out the final proposal at a virtual town hall during leadership applications
A New Chapter, Mid-Flight, and More Mixed Metaphors
In my inaugural post about this effort, I urged us all to take a deep breath. Today, I offer that same advice to President Alison Connaughty, President-Elect Azra Taslimi, and all current and future leaders. This is the beginning of a new chapter — not the end of the book. The task at hand is to build the plane as we fly it, as we often joke. One colleague I met at the ABA conference told me about her association’s Board overhaul six years ago: “It was totally worth it,” she said, “and … we’re still feeling growing pains.”
In other words, we can’t rest on our laurels. The real work may just be beginning.
My biggest fear is that, even with the new structure in place, we’ll slide back into old habits — not because they serve us better, but because they’re familiar. (That’s why I opened with Stephen King’s warning!) My hope for my legacy is not just that we changed the structure, but that we changed our mindset. That we’ll continue to lead with intention and make decisions with purpose. #IntendToThrive
“The past didn’t like to be changed.”
Well, we managed to pull it off.
We’re still learning. Still adjusting. Still building the plane.
Thank you to everyone who played a role in this process, no matter how small.
Keep breathing.
We’ve got this!
Emma Garrison is CWBA’s Officer of Technology and Processes and a Past President. She is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Tax and Public Finance Unit at the Colorado Department of Law, where she represents the state in complex tax disputes and advises on tax policy.
A longtime and dedicated leader in the Colorado legal community, Emma has served as Chair of the Colorado Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and as Senior Vice President of the CBA. Since joining the CWBA in 2014, she has held numerous leadership roles, including Co-Chair of the Convention, Membership, and Judicial Committees, and CWBA Secretary, before serving as President in 2023–24. Beginning in her President-Elect year, she led CWBA’s governance restructure project, resulting in the organization’s updated leadership structure.
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