Current Board Meeting Minutes

DULLES SHRM BOARD MEETING MINUTES
ARTEL, Inc.
September 11, 2006

Board Members Present:

Maggie Chan, President
Kurt Cowles, Past-President
Denise Henderson, Communications Director
Judy Carter, Legislative Liaison
Cindy Loison, Director, Discussion Group
Amy Lourenco, Secretary
Sarah Cower, Treasurer
Nidhi Kanungo, Student Chapter Liaison
Kimberly Esch, Registration Coordinator
Judy Perrault, Director at Large
Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director
Mary Saily, President-Elect
Joseph Gregory, Assistant Vice President, Membership
Lynn Padgett, Vice President, Membership

Board Members Attending via Phone:

Wendy Mack, Assistant Vice President, Programs
Mary Walter Midkiff, Vice President, Programs

Board Members Absent:

Chas Sumser, Certification Representative
Lisa Forester, SHRM Foundation Rep & Scholarship Coordinator
Andrea Evans, Assistant Vice President, Membership
Denise Hartman, Assistant Vice President, Programs

Agenda
The meeting was called to order at 6:04 pm. 

Minutes
Mary Saily moved and Amy Lourenco seconded a motion to approve the minutes for August 2006.  The motion passed unanimously.    

Programs
Mary Walter Midkiff & Wendy presented a proposed schedule of meeting topics and speakers for 2007, including several back-ups.  (This seems especially prudent given that Caryn Pass and Heather Broadbent of Crupin O’Brien both stood us up for the September meeting.  Thankfully, Misti Mukherjee from Odin Feldman was willing and able to step forward.)  It was noted that there is no specific topics on diversity.  This is because (1) diversity isn’t rated highly on member surveys as a topic of interest and (2) the meetings we’ve held haven’t been particularly well-attended.  We decided instead to ask many of the speakers to include the ideas of inclusion and diversity within their topics (rather than have a separate session).  In addition, diversity and inclusion might be a good topic for a discussion group.  We also talked about trying to ensure that some of the programs qualify for strategic recertification credits (for SPHRs). 

They have started to turn some sponsors away because we are full.  Of course, many folks do like to plan their sponsorship date around the program topic.  There is also a company interested in an Annual Sponsorship.

Treasurer
Sarah Cower presented the Treasurer’s report, with a checkbook balance of $24,284.70 as of 9/9/06.  She also presented YTD income and expense figures against the budget.

We are paying Eileen Taylor $100 per participant for the certification group.  If the pass rate exceeds 85%, she will get more money.

There is $950 in the budget for holiday gifts.

We weren’t approved for SHRM National Joint Billing for 2007.  This is no reflection on us; they simply had a certain number that they were wiling to do.  Sarah Cower will check if we are in the queue for next year or if we need to re-apply.

We briefly discussed updating our membership database.  We are uncertain as to whether to spend money, and if so how much, to update this if we will soon be getting downloads of member information as part of Joint Billing.

Sarah Cower presented an analysis of no-shows through August.  This analysis revealed that the vast majority of no-shows ended up paying, mostly because they pre-paid via credit card along with their registration.  However, the successful processing of credit cards before meetings still includes phone calls Kimberly Esch & Sarah Cower make to members whose credit cards don’t go through.  Often the problems are address mis-match (registrant uses personal credit card but inputs company address) or failure to properly enter credit card security code.

Our stock certificate, currently held by Ameriprise, will mature on 11/16/06.  As of 6/18/06, the value was $15,742.15, a very poor return given that we initially invested an even $15,000 several years ago.  We were asked to send Sarah Cower ideas on where to put this money (as well as our operating funds, currently more than $24K) for a better return.  We will re-visit this issue in October.

Kurt Cowles will update & send the list of ideas we had for spending the extra monies we have.  We don’t want our membership to feel that we are simply hoarding the money, but rather using it for their benefit.

By-Laws Revision
Shelly Prochaska has reviewed our proposed changes, and they were then sent to Keith Green.  They are currently being held up at Dorothy Hill’s level.  There are no problems indicated - simply a matter of waiting our turn for review.  We expect to have their input back by our October Board meeting.  We will then send to our membership for a 30 day review period, in anticipation of asking for a vote at our November meeting (along with elections).

Student Chapter
Nidhi Kanungo will be partnering with Lisa on publicizing our scholarship with the various chapters.  Information has already been sent to GMU, GWU, Marymount and NLU.  Nidhi Kanungo will be attending the GMU meeting in October.  (This chapter does have the involvement of a faculty member, Paige Wolf.)  Nidhi Kanungo also talked to the VA State Council Student Chapter Relations person for ideas.
Nidhi Kanungo discussed National’s guidelines for student membership.  Individuals may join as students if (1) they are enrolled in at least 6 credit hours per term in a degree program and (2) the coursework, taken or planned, supports an interest in HR Management.  Students must provide a copy of their course registration.  The student membership dues rate of $35 annually covers some but not all of the member benefits professional members enjoy.
At present, Dulles does not offer a discounted student membership rate (although we do have a student membership [non-voting] category).  However, we do currently charge a reduced rate of $25 for students to attend our dinner meetings.  We discussed offering incentives for students to join, to attend meetings, formalization of criteria, etc.

Denise Henderson moved and Evelyn Kaiser seconded a motion to (1) offer free Dulles Student Memberships to SHRM National Student Members and (2) even for those not joining, offer a $15 student meeting rate with the presentation of a valid student ID.  The motion passed unanimously.
 

Membership
Membership presented updated statistics on our members through June.  Of our certified members, 57% have SPHR certificates.  (This ties into the need for strategic recertification credited programs.)  This statistic isn’t surprising since almost half of our members have more than 10 years experience.

61 of our 195 members haven’t attended even 1 meeting.  We discussed the need to reach out to these folks to find out why they’re not attending, as well as reaching out to the folks that have only attended 1 meeting.  Cindy Loison will work on talking points and Mary Saily will work on questions for us to use.  We will take this up again when we have data through the 3rd quarter at the October meeting.  Then membership will provide lists for us to split & make calls.

Succession Planning
The following members have forwarded their names and willingness to serve as follows:

President-Elect: Sarah Cower
VP Membership: Lynn Padgett
AVP Membership: Joseph Gregory
Communications Director: Denise Henderson
Registration Coordinator: Amy Lourenco
VP Programs: Judy Carter
VP Sponsorship: Teresa Bucholz
Certification Rep: Chas Sumser
Diversity/Workforce Education: Evelyn Kaiser
SHRM Foundation Rep: Judy Perrault
Student Chapter & Scholarship Coordinator: Nidhi Kanungo

Our ByLaws (Article VI, Section 3) state “Board members may not serve in the same position for more than three (3) consecutive terms without an affirmative majority vote of the full Board.”  Evelyn Kaiser has been in the position of Diversity/Workforce for more than 3 years.

Amy Lourenco moved and Judy Perrault seconded a motion to allow Evelyn Kaiser to serve another year in the role of Diversity/Workforce Education.  The motion passed unanimously.

The following positions are open at this time:  Treasurer, Secretary, Assistant Registration Coordinator, Legislative Liaison, and SIG Coordinator.  We were all asked to speak to members directly to encourage them to get involved, even at the committee level.

We will be approving the slate at the October Board meeting to present to membership at the October regular meeting.  The vote will take place at the November regular meeting.

Miscellaneous

• Kurt Cowles presented info on the distribution of proceeds from the volunteerism of Dulles members at the National Conference.  We will be receiving approximately $400 for the 80 or so folks who volunteered on our behalf.
• The Winery Retreat is scheduled for this Saturday, September 16.   Meet at 1 pm in the front parking lot of ARTEL.
• Maggie Chan will represent us at the upcoming State Council meeting. 
• There is a Capital Hill Trip and Tour on Tuesday, September 26.  Transportation has been reserved with Reston Limo.  Please let Denise Henderson know ASAP if you can attend.
• Don’t forget to check the bottom of each agenda to be prepared to follow up on your area of responsibility at an upcoming Board meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:14 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Lourenco
Secretary