Editing American Radio Relay League (section)

== Governance ==
[[Image:W1AW front.jpg|thumb|right|300px| ARRL [[W1AW]] building in Newington, Connecticut, US]]
The ARRL is governed by a member-elected, volunteer Board of Directors. The organization divides its membership into 15 Divisions, each representing a portion of the country.  One Director and one vice-director are elected by the members of each Division to serve a three-year term. Director elections are staggered so that one-third of the Directors and Vice Directors are up for election each year. The Board of Directors manages policy direction for the organization as a whole.<ref name="directors">American Radio Relay League (2008). [http://www.arrl.org/divisions/ "ARRL Divisions"].  Jan. 29, 2008.</ref> The Board of Directors appoints an executive committee, led by the President and consisting of members of the ARRL Board of Directors, to make policy decisions between full Board meetings. ARRL's officers manage day-to-day administrative operation of the organization, led by the Chief Executive Officer. These paid officers hold their positions as long as the Board of Directors approve but have no vote on the Board.<ref name="officers">American Radio Relay League (2010). [http://www.arrl.org/Officers "Officers of the ARRL"].  Feb. 23, 2010.</ref>

Local and regional operational activities of the American Radio Relay League are carried out through its Field Organization.  The organization divides the 15 Divisions into 71 separate geographic regions called Sections. Each Section has a similar team of one elected, volunteer Section Manager and several volunteer positions.  Section Managers are elected by the members living within the section for a two-year term. The Section Manager appoints a team of volunteers. A Section Manager may optionally appoint one or more Assistant Section Managers.<ref name="field_organization">American Radio Relay League (2008). [http://www.arrl.org/field-organization/ "The ARRL Field Organization"].  Feb. 1, 2008.</ref>

An important function of the ARRL Field Organization is organizing [[amateur radio emergency communications|emergency communications]] in the event of [[civil defense|civil]] or [[natural disaster]].  The ARRL's [[Amateur Radio Emergency Service]] (ARES) program is organized through the ARRL Field Organization. Each Section of the Field Organization has an appointed Section Emergency Coordinator. The ARES organization supports training, establishes [[Memorandum of Understanding|Memorandums of Understanding]] (MOU) with governmental and relief agencies, and organizes regular practice exercises.

ARES has provided essential supplemental emergency communications innumerable times throughout the league's history. In 1989, hundreds of amateurs responded to the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake|Loma Preita earthquake]] in the San Francisco Bay area putting in over 3000 volunteer hours in the first week. In 2005, ARES, with hundreds of volunteer amateur radio operators, provided key communications assistance to recovery organizations and officials coordinating [[Hurricane Katrina disaster relief]].<ref name="katrina">Amateur Radio Emergency Service (2008). [http://www.emergencyradio.org/video/Katrina.wmv "Katrina: The Untold Story"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228120022/http://www.emergencyradio.org/video/Katrina.wmv |date=2008-02-28 }}.  Retrieved February 14, 2008.</ref>

Over 2,000 Amateur Radio clubs are members of the ARRL Affiliated Club Program.<ref name="ARRL 2008 Report">American Radio Relay League (2008). [http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/2008-Annual-Report.pdf Annual Report]. Dec. 31, 2008.</ref>