I was in a hall where we had token elders who were converts with a body of born ins that were the real heavy weights. The token elders were just construction labours and janitors.
Too me it reminded me of pro wrestling where you had the stables ( D-X, the four horsemen, the Hart Foundation ) where you had the major players ( Shawn Michaels, HHH, Rick Flair, Brett Hart ) and the rest of the members are pretty interchangeable.
It really surprised me how quickly converts moved though the ranks while three generation born-ins had no intentions of going anywhere in the borg.
To me it seem like you have to be a real asshole or have a below average IQ to serve as an elder.