A Board of Directors will guide the Institute and ensure that administrators adhere to the foundational principles outlined herein. A relatively small Board, say up to five members, will ensure that the group is in fact a working group rather than a figurehead group. Candidates for the Board should present evidence of their commitment to the principles espoused here, as well as a commitment to expend the time required to keep the Institute properly functional.

 

An Advisory Panel will help guide the Board of Directors. The Panel will be augmented and revised periodically by the Board. The Panel will meet periodically to consider pending IVS issues, and otherwise advise the Board on matters of policy and operation.

The Executive Director will be the Institute’s chief administrator. Appointed by the Board, the Director will assume responsibility for day-to-day activities of the Institute, including the hiring of senior personnel. He or she will report to the Board. Like Board members, the Director should be a person with demonstrated commitment to the principles espoused herein as well as demonstrated evidence of administrative capability.

 

Associate Directors will take responsibility for various phases of the operation, and will report to the Director.  One can envision Associate Directors for proposal review, for fiscal matters, for communications, for legal issues, etc.

 

Program Managers will take responsibility for administering funded grants. They need not be scientists but should at least be science-savvy, and should be chosen based on their openness to fresh ideas and their managerial competence. They will report to an Associate Director. Each program manager might manage one or more multi-group grants. Their role will be not only to administer funds, but also to assist investigators in dissemination and coordination, with the understanding that their primary goal is to help expose the new school of thought as effectively as possible to the mainstream scientific community.

 

Program Managers will ultimately be judged by the success of the grants they administer, i.e., by the fraction of those grants that have sparked revolutionary change. Hence they should be naturally incented to work cooperatively with the participating investigators, who have much the same goal. This commonality of purpose should help forge a properly symbiotic and effective working relationship.

 

Staff will be needed to support the activities of the people above.

 

Overall, the number of personnel required at full operational activity is estimated to be several hundred (fewer per grant dollar than government granting agencies).