An EMB’s activities generally require both determining policy and implementing major administrative and logistics operations. In Governmental Model EMBs, both these functions are undertaken by public servants, employed within one or more bodies of the executive. While members of the executive branch of government, such as Ministers, may also take an active role in a Governmental Model EMB’s policy making, it is more common that its Secretariat head, who may be termed Director of Elections or the like, is responsible for policy. It is not usual for Governmental Model EMBs to have members: rather, they are fully composed of secretariat (public service) staff.

In Independent Model EMBs, the policy function is undertaken by a person or persons from outside the executive branch of government, specially appointed for this task. This person or persons are the EMB’s ‘members’. Their role is similar to that of the board of a corporation – to guide the direction of the EMB - though in many cases EMB members have a fulltime job and a more ‘hands on‘ role than would be usual for a corporate board. Similarly, in Mixed Model EMBs, the Independent component of the EMB is guided by a ‘board’ of members.