May 10, 2004
America Online
Dulles, VA

Attendees:

Cindy Loison, President
Judy Carter, Treasurer
Bonnie Little, VP, Membership
Nancy Streeter, VP Communications
Amy Lourenco, VP Programs
Judy Perrault, Past President
Mary Saily, Asst VP, Programs
Kurt Cowles, President-Elect
Maggie Chan, Certification Rep

Agenda:

The April 2004 Board meeting minutes were approved.

Treasurers Report

Judy Carter urged the Board to make a decision quickly regarding whether or not to invest the windfall from VA State Conference in Fall 2003 with American Express’ Stock Index CD. Maggie had suggested someone at American Express for Judy to call and provided information on this as one of the financial vehicles to retain principal but gain more than the 1% return on most money market accounts. The CD is for one year offering a 5% return and follows the stock market index where, if the stock market is negative and bearish, the principal remains safe and the return on investment would be 5%; if the stock market gained significantly, the return will still be 5%. The caveat was that the 5% return was only until Friday 5/14. Beginning the following Monday, the return drops to 4%.

Judy mentioned that she had looked into BB&T and Wachovia but that there were no real other alternatives. Cindy, Judy, and Kurt worked out the details of filling out the paperwork for the CD. Judy will also look into the $6,051 in Wachovia Securities to find out if there is any penalty to withdraw and move money into the AmEx account.

A motion was called to authorize Judy to open an account with American Express and to invest $15,000 in the AmEx Stock Index CD account and to have Judy, Cindy, and Kurt have signing rights.

Membership Report

Bonnie announced that the Membership Directory has been distributed. The directory lists 147 paid members. A revised edition will be published in August that reflects changes and new members. Henceforth new members will receive a copy of the directory and a welcome letter.

Bonnie reported that Cornelia, Maggie, and she held a conference call and decided to hold our new member orientation on June 16th from 4:30-5:30 pm, immediately before the dinner chapter meeting at 6 pm. Bonnie suggests getting a separate room at the $100/hour that the hotel had previously quoted with the provision to contact the hotel several weeks in advance to reserve the room. Maggie will obtain from NOVA SHRM a copy of their New Member Orientation presentation so that we don’t reinvent the wheel, and send it to Cornelia to make changes to fit our needs. Bonnie suggested holding the new member orientation twice a year in January/February to catch all the new members and June/July for those who joined later in the year. The Orientation will be open to ALL members, not just new ones, should there be members who may have been with us for a while but are interested in learning about the resources and offerings we provide. Members will need to RSVP for us to get a manageable count and know what size room and arrangements to make. Maggie will bring the SHRM brochures and tri-folds and giveaways to the new member orientation. Bonnie will send Nancy the distribution list for her to send an email invitation. The Board discussed whether we should make this part of one of the Board members’ position duties if the orientation goes well and the chapter decides to continue with new member orientations.

Communications Report

Nancy said that the IHRIM Mid-Atlantic Chapter wanted to be an affiliate.

Programs Report

Amy suggested that we consider additional ways for interested sponsors to get their names in front of people than at chapter meetings. She had a sponsor recently ask if we would allow for logos on the left hand frame of our chapter web site. Amy suggested that we allow for one-year placement on our web site and charge $250 for members and $500 for non-members. Amy will also check to find out what NOVA SHRM charges, but she believes that $250 sounds reasonable as the Dulles SHRM web site has less traffic.

Amy announced that we have a speaker and sponsor for September on culture transformation - a hot topic per member response on the surveys. The Annapolis chapter spoke well of the speaker. The only open slot is the November meeting.

Amy shared with us the meeting evaluation for the last two months. For the April meeting, the feedback was that there appeared to be a disconnect with the title and content and that the presentation was rushed. Amy urged that we start the speaker on time as she promised the speaker a full hour - 50 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for Q&A. Also, the recertification credit is for 1 full hour. She suggested that, while we want to retain the practice of having introductions, we start the introductions at 6:30 pm. Also, there appears to be too much business to take care of. Amy suggested that Nancy point out highlights in newsletter, that we continue doing the question of the evening by table, and that the workforce development person be limited to 5 minutes.

Diversity and Workforce Education Report

No Report

Legislative Update

No Report

Old Business:

a. Chapter Discussion Groups. Misti will need to step down, as she is taking on other responsibilities elsewhere. Nancy will be overwhelmed (she handles logistics) as the SIGs have grown and really need 2 people to organize.

b. April 23 SHRM Virginia State Council. Judy Perrault announced that the registration for the VA State Conference, to be held in Richmond, will be available shortly.

c. Mary provided everyone at the meeting with a copy of the member survey conducted in March to help Dulles SHRM target programs and activities on issues of greatest importance to members. Mary shared with the Board the response rate broken down by respondent’s organization type and career level. The survey also included information on members’ rating of various chapter offerings (networking, newsletter, resume posting, etc.). Mary went over the topics with the highest interest level - in order, employee relations, legal issues, general HR, performance management, training & development, coaching, and compensation. Amy and Mary said that they try to match the program topics to the hot topics that survey respondents want to see and that we need to communicate this effort to our members. Mary also reviewed the respondents’ challenges in the last 6 months, in order of highest number of mentions, retention/morale, downsizing, rising cost of benefits, recruiting talented people, role of HR, and mergers & acquisitions. There was feedback from two new members saying they did not feel welcomed at their first meeting. The Board discussed how to find ways to seek out new members and pair them up with a Board member. One idea is to have a box asking members to ‘click here if 1st meeting’ and ask Sarah/Lynn at the registration desk to tag new members with a red dot. The Board will also ask Sarah/Lynn for any suggestions/ideas.

d. Book Plates. Cindy will contact a printer in Herndon to order a roll of 50 book plates.

Questions or Comments? Contact the President

Previous Board Minutes