August 8, 2005
MITRE
Tysons Corner, VA

Attendees:

Kurt Cowles, President
Denise Henderson, Communications Director
Maggie Chan, President-Elect
Andrea Evans, Student Chapter Liaison
Cindy Loison, Past-President
Lynn Padgett, Registration Coordinator (Alt)
Amy Lourenco, Secretary
Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director
Denise Hartman, Legislative Liaison
Mary Saily, Vice President, Programs
Judy Carter, Treasurer

Board Members Attending Via Phone:

Michaele Vestal, Certification Representative
Sarah Cower, Registration Coordinator
Bonnie Little, Vice President, Membership

Agenda:

The meeting was called to order at 6:05 pm.

Amy Lourenco moved and Evelyn Kaiser seconded a motion to accept the June minutes. The motion was passed unanimously.

Treasurer:

Judy Carter had sent her report to the Board prior to the meeting. Amy Lourenco asked about the $26.62 returned check fee. The individual has already agreed to reimburse us for this.

The stock market CD currently being held by American Express is scheduled to expire in August. Since no consensus has yet been reached on use(s) for the Chapter's excess money, we decided to postpone renewal of the CD until Sept. Board meeting.

Programs:

Mary Saily reviewed the current schedule. We still need a sponsor for November. We reviewed several topics for Misti Mukherjee’s September talk on HR & the Law, and decided to leave the particulars to her discretion. The October disability panel is firming up. We reviewed the info that Mary Saily had sent on 2 possible topics for Cynthia Schoeppel in November. The group was leaning toward "Marketing HR for Impact & Success."

ACTION ITEM: Kurt Cowles will forward info on our programs to the HR Group and NVTC; Amy Lourenco will send to local papers (Herndon/Reston, Connection/Journal) and Chambers.

Membership:

Bonnie Little's records show 217 members, SHRM's 218, and Judy Carter's (per checks received) 228. Bonnie Little had sent e-mails to folks regarding designating Dulles as their primary chapter. Bonnie Little also sent e-mail to 74 members from 2004 that hadn't yet renewed. Seventeen responded that they didn't mean to drop their membership and 13 of them rejoined. Reasons for not rejoining included no time to come to meetings, cost, and nothing of interest. Many bad e-mail addresses were uncovered; Amy Lourenco suggested (based upon SHRM conference call) that we ask for personal e-mail address in addition to work e-mail on the membership form. Bonnie Little will be talking to Cornelia Gamlen about running another orientation in November. She hopes to coordinate this with another e-mail to the at-large roster. In addition, she is planning a membership campaign that publicizes the three months free that folks get when they join in the fourth quarter.

Workforce Development:

The Discussion Group in December will be on ethics. This will enable Evelyn Kaiser to get feedback on the PowerPoint presentation on ethics to be used in High Schools.

Registration:

Membership forms are needed by registration so that folks can fill out if necessary.

Certification:

Michaele Vestal is finalizing the announcement on the certification class. The announcements will stress the fact that NOVA/NLU Students get the Dulles discount. As of now, she has eight firm and a few additional "iffy" attendees. Michaele Vestal sent an e-mail detailing the proposal for this Fall Study Group. The purchase of instructor's materials at $585 is required to get the reduced rate on student materials. HRCI has added a special module for SPHR test-takers. Michaele Vestal recommended a cut-off date for registration of August 31. We cautioned about the need to be flexible depending on the number who have signed up by that date, but decided not to have a firm maximum number of students as actual attendance varies week to week. We’ll monitor the overall class size as the class forms.

Payment Processing:

Maggie Chan presented detailed information based upon her discussions with webmaster John DuBois about upgrades to our site to enable PayPal as well as credit card processing fees and machines. Mary Saily moved and Amy Lourenco seconded a motion to allow Maggie Chan to spend up to $2,500 for website upgrades/enhancements, set up a PayPal account, and purchase a $59 imprint credit card machine. The motion passed unanimously. Maggie Chan will be checking with PayPal whether we can use the imprint machine to take info on-site and then later enter it ourselves into their system. We also talked about (a) requiring pre-payment on-line and/or (b) taking only cash/checks at the door. We would prefer, if possible, to be as flexible as we can.

Website:

President's Report:

Kurt Cowles will re-send the updated list of ideas for using our monies to the Board for further consideration, and will be looking for ranking from us (via e-mail) of the top 3. The objective is to move forward with a vote at the September Board meeting.

Kurt Cowles asked us to start to think about next year's Board and the roles we want to play. A blurb will be put in the August newsletter to get the entire membership thinking about getting involved. Maggie Chan and Kurt Cowles will follow-up with each of us.

On August 11, Bob Nelson will be speaking at an HRA-NCA show at the McLean Hilton. We have been given a table, and Evelyn Kaiser and Judy Carter volunteered to man to booth and hand out materials (membership forms, etc.) for one hour.

The Board Social event is scheduled for September 17 at 7 pm at That's Amore in Vienna. Kurt Cowles made an executive decision that the Chapter would fund the $100 room charge. Please RSVP as a final count is needed one week prior to the event.

Why We Hate HR:

Cindy Loison had sent a link to the above-titled article in Fast Company. She proposed that we organize an event around the topic for local HR execs to discuss best practices, etc. We discussed timing and agreed to plan it for the fourth quarter so as not to loose momentum. Several folks agreed to help Cindy Loison with the planning of the event.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 pm.

Questions or Comments? Contact the President

Previous Board Minutes