Assigning board titles

A board title is the label that appears next to a board member’s name throughout HomeHerald — “President,” “Treasurer,” “Secretary,” and so on. They’re free text, you choose what to use, and they’re purely for display.

What titles do (and don’t do)

Titles do:

• Show up next to the board member’s name on announcements (“Posted by Sarah Chen, Treasurer”)
• Appear on the community directory if you display board members
• Get pulled into letterheads and physical mail signatures (when configured)
• Help residents know who’s responsible for what

Titles don’t:

• Change permissions. The role does that — see User roles explained.
• Get checked by the system when someone takes an action (e.g., a “Treasurer” can’t approve refunds that a “Secretary” can’t, unless their role differs)
• Need to be unique. Two “Members-at-Large” is fine.

So the title is a label. The role is the permission level. Don’t conflate them.

Common titles

Use what your bylaws define. If your bylaws are silent, these are the standard set:

Title	Typical responsibilities	Suggested role
President	Runs meetings, public face of the HOA, signs official documents	Admin
Vice President	Steps in when President is unavailable	Board Member or Admin
Treasurer	Owns finances, runs payments, manages dues	Admin
Secretary	Meeting minutes, official correspondence, records	Board Member
Member-at-Large	General board duties without a specific portfolio	Board Member
Architectural Committee Chair	Approves ARC requests	Board Member

Your community might use different names — “Director” instead of “Member-at-Large,” “Chair” instead of “President,” etc. The system doesn’t care.

Setting a title

1. Go to Members in the admin sidebar
2. Find the user
3. Click Edit
4. Make sure their role is Board Member or Admin (titles only show for these roles)
5. Enter the title in the Board Title field
6. Save

The title shows up immediately. Anywhere a board member is mentioned in the community, their new title is visible.

After elections — updating titles

Most communities elect new boards annually. The transition usually involves:

• Some board members leaving
• Some staying with new titles (e.g., the old VP becomes President)
• New board members joining

The flow:

1. Demote departing board members

For each board member who is leaving the board:

• Edit them
• Change role to Resident
• Clear the Board Title field
• Save

They keep their account, their property, their balance. They lose admin access.

2. Update titles for continuing board members

For each board member who’s staying but with a different title:

• Edit them
• Update the Board Title
• Promote / demote between Admin / Board Member if needed (e.g., new Treasurer → Admin)
• Save

3. Onboard new board members

For each new board member:

• If they’re already a resident, edit their account → change role to Board Member or Admin → set title → save
• If they’re not yet a resident, invite them — see Inviting your board

4. Communicate the change

Send a community announcement with the new board lineup. Residents will see updated titles on the directory and on future announcements anyway, but the explicit update is a courtesy.

Why you should keep titles current

A few practical reasons:

• Letterheads. If you send physical mail (Physical Mail integration), the title shows in the signature. Stale titles look unprofessional.
• Resident clarity. When a resident sees “Posted by Mike — President” on an announcement and Mike isn’t actually president anymore, it undermines trust.
• Audit trail. Title changes are logged with timestamps. After elections, the audit log tells the story of when transitions happened.
• Letters and lawsuits. When the board takes formal action, the right title needs to be on the document. Don’t let stale titles bite you in a deposition.

Edge cases

”Two people share a title”

Fine. Some boards have co-presidents, multiple Members-at-Large, etc. Set the same title on both — the system doesn’t enforce uniqueness.

”Someone is acting in a role temporarily”

E.g., the Treasurer is on medical leave and the VP is acting as interim Treasurer. Two clean options:

1. Change the title temporarily — set the VP’s title to “Acting Treasurer.” Switch back when the real Treasurer returns.
2. Add a second title — the field doesn’t formally support two, but you can put “VP / Acting Treasurer” in a single field as a workaround.

Either works. Pick what’s clearer for residents.

”We don’t elect titles, the whole board votes”

If your bylaws don’t designate specific titled positions (some smaller HOAs work this way), use Member-at-Large for everyone. Or invent your own title scheme — just be consistent.

”Our bylaws use unusual titles”

Use them. The field is free text. “Commodore,” “Chairperson,” “First Steward,” whatever your bylaws say.

Where to go next

• User roles explained — the permission side of the same coin
• Inviting your board — the onboarding flow
• Removing or banning a user — for board members who leave entirely