UMass Amherst Alumni Association
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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Worcester Crowne Plaza
Thursday, January 11, 2007
6:00 p.m.
In attendance: Elaine Barker, Mary Custard, Hal Lane, Sean LeBlanc, Kathleen Mitchell, Marc Rossen, Kim Sherman, Anna Symington, and Mike Fiorentino
Absent: Christine Lopes
Guests:
Staff:Deb Masloski and Kevin Fleming
Call to Order
The meeting convened at 6:10 p.m.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
Motion: by Elaine, seconded by Mary, to approve the minutes of the December 14th Executive Committee meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
President’s Update
Hal plans to meet with the Chancellor within the next several weeks and asked committee members to email him any matters they would like addressed at that time.
Executive Director’s Report
Deb reminded those at the meeting of the upcoming information receptions for Board nominees: Wednesday, February 7, 6:30 pm at the Boston Marriott Newton (2345 Commonwealth Ave, The Boathouse at the Riverbend Restaurant); and Thursday, February 8, 6:00 pm at the Springfield Marriott (2 Boland Way, The Currents Restaurant). Those interested in attending should RSVP to Kevin.
Hal & Deb both spoke about their meeting with Glen Mangurian and discussion of Glenn’s Executive Breakfasts series. These breakfasts have become extremely successful over the years and, while they are for the UMass-wide system, a very high percentage of the attendees are UMass Amherst graduates. Due to the success of these programs, Glenn is not in a position where he really needs to partner with the Alumni Association. However, he did offer some programming suggestions, and he also offered to provide Deb with some of his contact names as potential speakers, resources, etc. for our programs.
Deb noted several staffing changes in the Alumni Association. Two new Assistant Directors were recently hired to assist with student programs and career services endeavors. Wes Dunham, a former SAA student who helped start up the organization, will be assisting with student programs; Kate Robert, who is a few years out of school with some good career services experience, will be assisting with Career Services programming. Elena Lamontagne and Kevin Fleming have received interim promotions and will be taking some of Deb’s prior responsibilities as she fills in as Interim Executive Director.
Additionally, Deb noted that she included the previous executive director position announcement in the meeting packets, and asked committee members to review the announcement and forward any suggested revisions to her. Several initial suggestions came from committee members, including the importance of being involved in a number of professional associations and being well connected, as well as experience growing a membership program.
The Tribute to UMass Football event with Coach Brown is on track, but registration numbers are currently a little low. Staff members have not yet confirmed how many players (if any) or coaches are attending, but President Wilson will be attending and speaking at the event. Hal noted his disappointment with the participation in the National Championship football charter trip, and suggested that planning begin earlier for things such as football games and the A-10 Championships for basketball. Deb noted that staff members are already working on planning a reception around the away football game against Boston College this fall. She also discussed concerns with A-10 requirements to purchase ticket packages for the entire playoff series, even if UMass loses. Mark suggested that, whatever the event, it would be helpful to encourage clubs in major cities across the country to host events around the games.
Deb reported that a letter was distributed in late December to all license plate applicants informing them that the project was on hold and returning their checks. To date, the office has not received any follow up inquiries or press coverage on it.
The reciprocity agreement between the Alumni Association and the UMass Club in Boston is finalized and staff is working to implement specific activities.
Deb noted that the board newsletter was not issued last month due to staff transitions and the football championship; however, the newsletter will be back on track in January.
Deb is working with Print Services on campus to design Alumni Association business cards for use by board members, and they have mutually agreed that all cards for board members must be approved by the Alumni office before they can be printed.
Bylaws & Standing Rules
Anna reported that the Nominating Committee has been reviewing & revising nomination and election standing rules for the Clubs Representative position, and plan to recommend a restructure of the process to better reflect that of the general Board nominations and elections.
A proposed bylaw amendment centers on requiring board members to sign the expectations and code of conduct documents, and disqualifying a nominee from being placed on the ballot if he/she is unwilling to sign them. She noted that the expectations and code of conduct documents are currently online for all nominees to review, and that the committee also plans to personally address this issue with each nominee individually to ensure everyone is aware of and understands this requirement prior to their name being placed on the ballot. An additional amendment recognizes that failure of a board member to sign the code of conduct would constitute “just cause” for removal, as would a violation of the code of conduct.
Motion:by Elaine Barker, seconded by Hal Lane, to accept the proposed bylaw and standing rule amendments as presented and recommend approval by the full Board of Directors. The motion passed unanimously.
Strategic Discussion - Membership
Marc provided an update on the membership and life-stage segment discussion that took place at the last Board meeting, and noted that a synopsis of those discussions was emailed to Executive committee members. The Membership & Marketing Committee put more weight behind younger and mid-career individuals, as they are the demographic that will be most involved as a member and hopefully demonstrate the best retention rate. He emphasized that all items & ideas generated from those discussions are not necessarily going to be implemented, and some of these items may change over time. He encouraged Executive Committee members to bring these ideas back to their respective committees, think about the impact of these ideas on their committee and/or demographic, and determine how they can be tweaked or repackaged to ensure their success. Deb noted that staff liaisons will soon be discussing FY 2008 strategic plans and budgets with their respective committees, and that this might be an opportunity to consider and incorporate some of these suggestions.
Marc will distribute the full list of bulleted ideas from the Board’s brainstorming session to the Executive Committee. He will also provide an update to the Board on the synopsis of key themes & ideas that were identified by the Marketing Committee.
February Board Meeting Agenda
Deb reviewed the proposed agenda for the upcoming Board of Directors meeting on February 10th. She discussed the agenda as follows:
- John McCutcheon will speak about the current state of affairs of athletics, and provide suggestions on ways in which Athletics and the Alumni Association can partner to engage more alumni through athletic programming.
- A representative from the Admissions office and/or Student Affairs will provide an Alumni Admissions Council overview, as well as discuss how to talk about the University today.
- We will then have a follow up on the membership brainstorming discussion.
- Regular board business
- Proposed amendments to the bylaws and standing rules will be presented to the Board of Directors.
- After the formal meeting, the Alumni Association will host a reception prior to the hockey game to recognize members and student leaders. Kathleen suggested that we ask Board members to RSVP for the reception to ensure that we have good board representation that evening.
Committee Reports
Career Services – Kim relayed statistics from 5 career service programs held between June and December 2006. Out of 208 attendees, 92 people joined the Association. Mark noted it is critical to retain these members after we get them and that we want to make sure we track people who become members specifically at a career services event. Those who signed up at the events purchased a membership at a lower rate, but they should be inclined to renew later on and we want to make sure that this is the case. Kim noted that the Alumni Career Services programs seem to be drawing a different demographic than club events traditionally draw.
Several upcoming events in Boston and New York are being planned around the topics of career transition and entrepreneurship, and they have excellent speakers lined up (such as the founder of Gourmet Garage, etc.). They also plan to bring these events to other cities, such as D.C. & Philadelphia. Kim hopes to contact Glen Mangurian for possible speaker suggestions.
Alumni Clubs – Sean discussed an upcoming meeting he has with Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Mike Garagano, Kathleen Callahan from Admissions, and Kevin to discuss the program and structure of the Freshmen Sendoffs. The purpose of sendoffs needs to morph somewhat because students and parents are now having most of their questions answered through improved summer orientation programming. The structure may stay the same for out-of-state sendoffs as these parents and students have more questions, but in-state sendoffs will become more of a celebration atmosphere, and we may also invite alumni members in those areas to attend.
Sean also reported on an upcoming wine tasting for the ALANA alumni group, which will be delivered through the Pioneer Valley Club, and will be held in the Springfield area. Sean has also negotiated discounted radio advertising to help promote the event.
Additionally the Clubs Committee is working on the structure, format, and logistics of holding a national event in which all clubs could choose to participate in. He also noted that he will be traveling to Washington, D.C. for the Lark String Quartet event on February 6th.
Audit Committee – The committee is developing a request for proposal for auditing and tax preparation services that will be distributed to various firms in Western MA. Committee members believe it would be to the Alumni Association’s advantage to hire a local auditing firm, as they will most likely be less expensive and more accessible. The committee is also developing an Audit Committee charter that will define the committee’s role and responsibilities, and will present the charter to the board in February for consideration.
Communications, Marketing and Memberships – Norma Heim, Director of Membership and Marketing, has developed an extensive document that lists all current communications and marketing activities by life stage segment. This information will be helpful in reviewing and restructuring our programming. Marc noted that responsibility for membership growth is not restricted to his committee and he asked committee chairs to consider how to promote membership through programming.
To help promote cross-committee discussions, he suggested that members of the Marketing Committee be asked to also participate on one of the program committees so that everyone is better informed. Kim also noted it would be helpful to have someone from Marketing on her Alumni Career Services committee calls. Committee members agreed to consider implementing this suggestion in FY 2008.
Committee members discussed the need for regular information updates to help them better assess the success of current programming and membership initiatives. These updates could be as simple as a monthly “flash report” that provides a quick snapshot of where the organization currently stands related to programs, attendance, membership, etc. Deb will speak with staff to determine and develop an appropriate format within the next few months.
Finance and Investments – The committee met with several potential investment management consultants and hopes to make a hiring recommendation to the full Board in February. Elaine reported that the Alumni Association loaned the Chancellor’s office $160,000 to fund the marching band’s trip to the football championship game. All monies were paid back in full two days later. Based on a review of preliminary numbers, the Alumni Association incurred a net loss of approximately $41,000 on the charter trip to Chattanooga, and incurred additional expenses of approximately $11,000 for the playoff receptions. Hal noted that we need to let people know that the Alumni Association does great things, and that he believes the charter trip this was a worthwhile investment. It was noted that the timing was tough, and asking for $1,000 right around the holidays is difficult for many to afford. It was also noted that we need to promote events like this ahead of time, and suggested having a drop-dead date that we can cancel by. Another suggestion was to also provide less expensive package options. Sean and Mary echoed that we should tell everyone “we were there” through some of our upcoming marketing activities.
Grants – The committee met in December to review the second funding cycle of applications. They did not receive a large amount of grant applications (about 8 or 9), all of which were funded. Norma Heim will begin overseeing this process, and will be looking at it from a marketing perspective to ensure that we are getting sufficient exposure for the Alumni Association by funding these grants. The committee is also asking SAA students for ideas and to attend these events.
Governance – The committee has not met as of yet due to scheduling conflicts. They will be bringing Deb up to speed on what they have been doing and the rationales behind them.
Nominating - Anna relayed that calls for nominations have gone out. The committee members are currently reviewing nominee evaluation criteria, and will be considering demographics such as racial, geographic location, age, professional background, gender, etc. when evaluating candidates in an attempt to recruit Board members who will represent the demographics of the alumni population.
Programs and Services – The slate of recipients for the Distinguished Alumni Awards was announced, and all have accepted. The Board members also agreed that it would be a good idea to extend an invitation to the new Governor to attend the Distinguished Alumni Awards Luncheon. It was also emphasized that Board members should RSVP for the membership appreciation reception, as we need people there to recognize our members. The same request for RSVP’s was made for the April 22nd scholarship and awards reception.
Volunteer Advocacy - The committee has been working on review and response procedures for providing timely updates to board members on major news stories related to the University or
Amherst campus. Additionally, a congratulatory letter is being composed and sent to newly elected legislators. Sean suggested that the Alumni Association invite Governor Patrick to attend a dinner as keynote speaker sometime in the next few months. The event would be hosted in Boston and UMass Amherst alumni representatives could also be invited to attend. Deb will speak to staff about the possibility of executing such an event.
Old Business
None
New Business
None
General Announcements
None
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
