Dear IAB Members,

Based on the IAB By-laws and Procedures, once a year IAB members cast their votes for the important IAB council elections. The General Assembly (Annual Meeting), which is the first phase of the election process, was held virtually with IAB members on Sunday, June 15 due to the present situation with COVID-19. The IAB Council (Shora) should consist of 7 members.
This year 5 vacant seats were available in the council. One council member (Reza Akbarpour) during his term accepted the position of vice president and was no longer part of the council. Two council members: Mahnaz Zeinali and Jamshid Latifpour served two complete terms and could not continue to serve at the council based on the IAB By-laws. Two other council members: Ali Karimi and Saeed Shafiyan Rad were able to be nominated for the second term. However, only Saeed Shafiyan Rad agreed to be nominated by the council for the second term. In addition to this nominee, the council nominated four other members: Akram Kamrani, Firoozeh Shiranian, Nahal Panah, and Mostafa Medhati. So, the required number of council nominees for 5 vacant seats was reached. The annual meeting started with the progress report of IAB during the year and attendees asked relevant questions regarding the financial status of IAB, programs, and future plans. After a short break, the Election/Referendum Committee was elected by the IAB members at the Annual Meeting. They consist of Rosa Shahidi, Ali Barooee, Shervin Talebi, Piran Aliabadi, and Bahram Shafai. The auditor of IAB, Mahmoud Ketabi, was also re-elected to maintain his position. According to the IAB By-laws, IAB members were allowed to nominate up to twice the number of council nominees for the second phase of the election process. However, no other nominees were identified by the IAB members. As a result, the nomination was closed and the five council nominees automatically were elected to fill the vacant seats of the IAB council. Consequently, the five elected members indicated below by (*) will join the two current council members to form the New IAB Council (Shora) for the term 2020-2021 as follows:

1. Akram Kamrani*
2. Firoozeh Shiranian*
3. Nahal Panah*
4. Mostafa Medhati*
5. Saeed Shafiyan Rad*
6. Elahe Golestani
7. Amir Khaleghi

The Bios of the newly elected council members will be posted on the IAB website. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the newly elected council members and wish them success in serving our community.