UMass Amherst Alumni Association

About Us

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Memorial Hall
8:30 a.m.

In attendance: Aung, Barker, Campbell, Carroll, Chan, Custard, Fiorentino, Giangrande, Govoni, Grasso, Hautanen, Hochberg, Lane, Lopes, LeBlanc, Mitchell, Mulcahy, Richter, Rossen, Rubin, Shaughnessey, Sherman, Sienkiewicz, Symington and Williams

Absent : Alemian, Chacko, Figueroa and Morse

Staff: Corbeil, Geso, Heim, Masloski and Sicks

Call to Order: The meeting convened at 8:40 a.m.

Approval of Meeting Minutes
Bob Shaughnessey asked that the minutes of the September 19 board meeting be amended to reflect that he cast a nay vote for approval of the Volunteer Code of Conduct, Confidentiality and Conflicts of Interest document.  He also cast a nay vote for approval of the Board of Directors Commitments and Expectations document.

Motion: by Elaine Barker, seconded by Sean LeBlanc, to approve the minutes of the September 19 meeting of the Board of Directors as amended.  The motion passed unanimously.

President’s Report
Hal Lane reported that he was unable to attend the November Executive Committee meeting due to illness.

Hal recently attended a UMass Executive Breakfast hosted by Glenn Mangurian and he asked Glenn to add the names of all board members to his online newsletter.

Committee Reports
Communications, Marketing and Membership
Norma Heim, Director of Membership and Marketing, presented the four new videos that will be displayed on the video scoreboard at the Mullins Center.  Norma also plans to display them on the UMass cable station, the online student bulletin board and the Alumni Association website.  She and her staff are working to develop a fifth video geared towards engaging current students.

Finance and Investments
Elaine Barker reported that the Finance and Investments committee has distributed a request for proposal to several potential investment management consultants.  The committee will invite 3 -5 candidates to interview with them on December 11.  The committee hopes to make a hiring recommendation for a new management consultant at the February board meeting.

The committee recommended the expenditure of up to $25,000 in unbudgeted funds for the purchase of a new state vehicle for use by Alumni Association staff members.  The Executive Committee approved this recommendation and staff members are currently working to secure bids for a new vehicle through the state procurement system.  Because the university is self-insured, the Alumni Association will not incur any increase in expenses related to automobile insurance.

Elaine noted that the board asked the Finance and Investments Committee in September to review the current spending policy for memorial donations and gifts.  Most memorial donations fall in the $50 range, but the donation amount may increase to $100 dependent on the volunteer’s level of past participation with the Alumni Association.  In addition, staff may purchase various goodwill gifts used to steward volunteers and the cost of these gifts will typically range from $10 to $50.  All expenses for memorial donations or goodwill gifts are incurred within budget guidelines previously approved by the board of directors.

Because the staff is working within budget guidelines, the Finance and Investments Committee recommends that responsibility for determining the appropriate expenditure of these funds remain with staff members.  Staff will forward any recommendations they make for amounts above $100 for memorial donations or $75 for gifts to the Treasurer for review and approval prior to disbursement. 

Elaine reported that the FY 2006 annual audit is nearly complete.

Nominating
Anna Symington reported that all officer terms will be expiring this year and the Nominating Committee will distribute an official call for officer nominations in early 2007. 

Bob Shaughnessey expressed concern that the committee did not place his name on the election ballot this past summer for the member-at-large positions on the Executive Committe.  Hal reminded Bob that his name was not included because Bob had not met all of the announced nomination timelines.

Programs and Services
Mary Custard reported that the Programs and Services committee has completed selection this year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards recipients; however, their names will not be released until all recipients have officially confirmed their acceptance of their award.  The Alumni Association will host the Distinguished Alumni Awards Luncheon at the State House in Boston on Wednesday, April 11 and Mary encouraged all board members to attend.

Volunteer Advocacy
Christine Lopes encouraged all board members to consider contacting their local high schools and guidance counselors and make themselves available as information resources.

Strategic Discussion – Membership
Marc Rossen provided an overview of the executive summary of the research initiative and alumni survey conducted earlier this year by the Communications, Marketing and Membership committee.  The committee distributed the survey to approximately 57,000 alumni with over 2,000 respondents, translating to an approximate 4% participation rate.  Marc noted that Kim Fill and Elena Lamontagne did an outstanding job in developing the survey and compiling a comprehensive summary report, in which data is reported by membership status and life stage segments.  The full survey, approximately 75 pages long, is available to anyone interested in reviewing all of the data.

Several key points of consideration were identified within the executive summary:

1. Respondents are confused about the value of the Alumni Association’s programs and services and want a clearer understanding of the Alumni Association’s mission and scope
2. The Alumni Association does a good job of communicating available programs and services through @UMASS and the website, although many respondents do not take advantage of these opportunities
3. The Alumni Association is not currently seen as the top choice for career development or lifelong learning opportunities by most respondents
4. Respondents indicate a desire for relevant programming based on specific life stages and regional locations

Marc noted that the organization is in a good position to begin addressing some of these concerns now that the research and mapping of the various life stage segments is complete.  The Alumni Association has the capability to track member and non-member participation, and can use this information as we continue to build on several current initiatives, including exclusive member programming distributed through the alumni clubs network, and targeted marketing of relevant programs and services by life stage segment through the PCI modules.  In addition, Marc supported continued development of integrated programming efforts, such as alumni career services programs, enhancement of the Alumni Association brand, and implementation of ongoing surveys and communications with alumni to determine if the Alumni Association’s programs and services are addressing the needs of our alumni.  
 
Marc then asked board members to breakout into smaller discussion groups by life stage segment, and brainstorm on the types of programs and services they would want from their Alumni Association if they were not yet a member.  Each group made a brief report back to the full board on their ideas and suggestions after the brainstorming session.  Marc will work with the Communications, Marketing and Membership committee to evaluate all feedback as part of the process to develop an integrated marketing strategy moving forward.  He explained to all board members that not all suggestions would necessarily be implemented.

Understanding that the Alumni Association has limited budget and staffing resources, Marc cautioned board members that it would not be realistic to provide the board with a projected growth rate at this time.  Instead, he proposed an ongoing evaluation of programs and services and their impact on membership growth over the next 1 – 2 years.  Ed Rubin commented that the current membership numbers might be understated as compared to the numbers presented at the end of FY 2003, when they were slightly above 7,000.  Deb Masloski responded that the difference could be partially due to the CAAE reporting standards that staff implemented approximately three years ago.  Bob Shaughnessey also suggested that the success of various Athletics programs could impact membership growth.  Marc agreed that we ride Athletics’ coattails if the teams continue to perform well; however, he cautioned that we should not count on this as a specific growth strategy since the teams’ performances could change from year to year.

Capital Campaign Presentation
Lisa Perlbinder, Director of Advancement Communications, provided a brief presentation on communications efforts related to the Amherst campus’ capital campaign.  The campaign theme has been identified as “People, Place, Performance” and speaks directly to Chancellor Lombardi’s initiatives for focusing on students and faculty, teaching and research, and campus renewal.  Lisa and her staff have been working to develop a variety of integrated marketing materials that will be distributed at a later date.

The campaign is currently in the “quiet phase” and is projected to generate approximately $350M over seven years.  The campus generated over $40M in gift revenues last fiscal year.

Executive Director’s Report
Cristina Geso reported that the football team has secured a spot in the playoffs.  The Alumni Association will host the Alumni Tent at all home playoff games and will partner with Athletics to coordinate tailgate receptions for away games.  Staff members will be researching the possibility of developing a destination package if the team should end up playing in the national championship game.

The men’s A-10 basketball tournament will be hosted in Atlantic City this March.  The Alumni Association is collaborating with Athletics and the New York Metro and New Jersey clubs to coordinate various receptions around the tournament.

Cristina is partnering with colleagues from the Five College consortium to investigate the feasibility of hosting an alumni event in London in March 2007.  The format would center around a faculty symposium on global warming and its impact on the economy. 

Joanne Weir ’75 has agreed to host an exclusive cooking tour for UMass Amherst alumni in May 2008.

Old Business
Hal asked all board members to sign the Volunteer Code of Conduct and Board of Directors Commitments and Expectations documents in their packets and forward them on to Deb Masloski.

New Business
Bill Carroll suggested the possibility of hosting a road race to engage students and alumni, as well as grow membership.  He commented that this could be a campus-wide  fundraising initiative that would also help raise awareness of the Alumni Association.  Kathleen Mitchell noted that the Student Programs and Services committee planned to discuss this topic at their next meeting.

General Announcements
Hal announced that the Executive Committee is currently in negotiation with the UMass Club of Boston to develop a formal affinity partnership agreement.

Adjournment
The board meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m.