UMass Amherst Alumni Association
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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sheraton Framingham Hotel
6:00 p.m.
Committee Members: Elaine Barker, Lorrey Bianchi, Mary Custard, Hal Lane, Sean LeBlanc, Christine Lopes and Kathleen Mitchell
Absent: Mike Fiorentino, Kerry Mulcahy and Eric Nakajima
Staff: Cristina Geso and Deb Masloski
Call to Order
The meeting convened at 6:05 p.m.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
Motion: by Elaine Barker, seconded by Sean LeBlanc, to approve the minutes of the May 1 special Executive Committee meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Hal Lane requested a motion to publicly release the minutes of the May 1 meeting. Christine Lopes noted that the meeting was convened in executive session given the sensitive nature of the discussion that evening. Based on past practice, as well as requirements outlined within Robert’s Rules of Order, the Executive Committee is not required to publish these particular minutes. Hal withdrew his request for the motion.
Motion: by Elaine Barker, seconded by Kathleen Mitchell, to approve the minutes of the May 9 Executive Committee meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
President’s Report
Hal reported that he attended a reception in Boston in honor of the men’s lacrosse team. While at the reception, the president of the Friends of Football organization approached him and asked the Alumni Association to consider sponsoring a foursome at their upcoming golf tournament on July 12. Cristina noted that the Alumni Association typically sponsors a hole for these types of requests, rather than a foursome, as it is sometimes difficult to find enough board members to participate on such short notice.
Meeting with Elizabeth Dale and Advancement Staff
Hal reported that several Executive Committee members met with Elizabeth Dale and members of her Advancement Staff on May 12 to discuss various issues of concern to him. Hal suggested that those committee members who were not able to attend could review the meeting notes to see a summary of the major points of discussion. Several issues of consequence and related action items to begin addressing these issues were identified during the meeting, including:
- Elizabeth’s agreement to meet with the Executive Committee once per academic semester to promote ongoing communications and discuss areas of opportunity to further develop the partnership between the university and the Alumni Association
- Elizabeth’s willingness to recognize the Alumni Association and highlight membership in various public venues and communication vehicles, as well as creating specific messages for incorporation into Chancellor Lombardi’s speeches
- A policy change that will allow the Alumni Association to send direct mail solicitations to all assigned prospects and top 1000 donors
- Development of a planned series of magazine advertisements that would highlight both the Alumni Association and the Annual Fund as companion programs with different goals
- A concerted effort to enhance the alumni database and capture ALANA information stored across campus in various shadow databases
Lorrey Bianchi inquired as to whether the Alumni Association should request an ombudsman to serve as a liaison between the Alumni Association and those staff members of University Advancement who will be overseeing implementation of the action items discussed earlier. Kathleen replied that Cristina is the Alumni Association’s best representative since she is thoroughly versed in the organization’s strategic plan, overall programming and budget matters. She stated that an ombudsman would undermine Cristina’s role as Executive Director and would add little value to the Alumni Association’s interactions with the university.
Hal plans to write a letter to Elizabeth summarizing specific points of discussion from the May 12 meeting and will also outline various action items that he would like to see addressed in the future. He asked Executive Committee members to provide any input they may have on specifics to be addressed within the letter.
License Plate
Hal reported that license plate applications continue to trickle in but overall sales are still well below the 1500 applications required to produce the plate. Sean LeBlanc suggested that the Alumni Association consider “pulling the plug” on the license plate for the time being because he felt it was not economically prudent to continue funding the program. He would prefer to see the Alumni Association focus its financial and staffing resources more on growing membership and promoting other alumni outreach efforts. Sean believes the license plate program can be reintroduced in 2 – 3 years to a more receptive audience as the Alumni Association is able to engage more alumni and grow its membership base. Hal agreed that no additional money should be spent on the license plate project, but he does not wish to see the program discontinued at this time.
Hal noted his concern that he has not yet received a response from Elizabeth Dale regarding her request of Ellen Storey to speak with a representative of the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) on behalf of the Alumni Association related to the RMV’s willingness to consider dispensation of various application requirements for UMass Amherst. Hal reported that Kerry Mulcahy distributed an email recently in which Ellen suggested the RMV would not be willing to change the current process for any organization. Christine noted that she had spoken directly with Ellen subsequent to Kerry’s email and no changes to the RMV requirements will be forthcoming at this point.
Hal is also dismayed that the university’s administration has not been more proactive in promoting the license plate program to students, parents and alumni, particularly given various statements made by top administrators that they wished to partner with the Alumni Association on this project. Kathleen suggested that the Executive Committee would be well served to look forward to the future of the program rather than dwelling on the past and trying to place blame for the project’s lack of success.
Christine agreed with Sean’s suggestion to temporarily table the license plate project until the Alumni Association has had an opportunity to expand its alumni outreach and grow its membership base, at which time she would recommend completing a market analysis to determine if enough interest exists to successfully re-launch the program. Cristina noted that another department on campus might be willing to assume responsibility for continued marketing of the license plate program if the Board of Directors were to decide to table the project. Cristina agreed to speak with Elizabeth Dale regarding this possibility.
Motion: by Christine Lopes, seconded by Sean LeBlanc, to charge the staff with creating a license plate exit strategy for review and discussion at the August Executive Committee meeting, and for subsequent discussion and approval by the full Board of Directors at the September board meeting. The motion passed with 6 yeas and 1 nay.
Lorrey suggested that the Board of Directors request full and immediate reimbursement of all money the Alumni Association has disbursed to date in support of the design and marketing of the license plate project. Christine commented that is was very unlikely that the administration would have the funds available to reimburse the Alumni Association in full at this time. However, she did agree that any future discussions regarding a re-launch of the license plate program, by either the Alumni Association or another university department, must address how the Alumni Association will be reimbursed. Reimbursement could potentially occur under the terms negotiated within the original memorandum of understanding between the Alumni Association and the university, or through an outright “buyout” of the program by another university department.
Sean suggested that the exit strategy include a provision on how to handle special offerings, such as a free athletic priority point or the employee parking discount, that may have influenced alumni and others to apply for the license plate. He would recommend that the Alumni Association consider fulfilling these offers over the next year as a good faith effort to our constituents.
Annual Review Update
Hal reported that he distributed an email to all board members requesting their input on the progress the Board of Directors has made over the past year. He received many positive comments, but also received some feedback from various directors who did not feel that they were able to make significant contributions at the board level. Christine suggested that this is most likely the result of the current meeting format that focuses on reporting out committee progress as opposed to fostering strategic discussion among board members. When an opportunity for strategic discussion does arise, Lorrey has noticed that often only 3 or 4 people contribute to these discussions.
Committee members identified several suggestions to address these issues:
- Restructure the format of the board meetings around strategic discussion of a specific topic; identify action items and charge certain committees with follow-through
- Schedule quarterly board meetings and meet for a longer period of time (perhaps on Saturdays) to build investment in the process
- Encourage board members to assume personal responsibility for becoming engaged in board discussions
- Educate board members on their responsibility for reviewing all documentation in preparation for an upcoming board meeting
- Implement use of a consent agenda; forward all required documentation to board members for review well in advance of board meeting
Kathleen noted that the Governance Task Force has already been considering several of these suggestions in relation to their charge to develop various policies regarding expectations and accountability of all directors, and the task force will be ready to report on their efforts in August. Hal suggested that all members of the Executive Committee have joint responsibility for developing board agendas and identifying strategic discussion points. He also suggested that an annual theme be developed around which all board agendas would revolve (i.e. growing membership, alumni career services programming, etc.). Hal asked that committee members be prepared to discuss this topic again in August and develop a proposal for presentation to the full board in September.
Hal did note his concern that eliminating committee reports from the full board agenda would make it difficult for board members to know what each committee is doing. To address Hal’s concerns, all committee minutes can be posted to the website for review by board members. Cristina suggested replacing the current format for quarterly committee update reports with a strategic initiative update that will clearly delineate the progress each committee has made in support of each of its assigned strategic goals. She also suggested distributing a monthly email newsletter out to all board members that would provide very brief updates on committee work, upcoming events and other points of interest pertinent to the Board of Directors.
Hal commented that directors must attend board meetings to be truly engaged in the strategic decision process. He asked Deb to forward the FY 2006 attendance records for all board and committee members to his attention. He and Cristina will identify any individuals who may be experiencing difficulty in meeting the attendance expectation of board members and discuss this issue with them. Cristina noted that the Governance Task Force is also developing and outlining consequences for ongoing non-participation by board members.
Executive Committee members voiced collective agreement to enhance programming that will support membership growth, particularly in eastern Massachusetts. Sean suggested that a specific marketing plan to support these efforts be developed for further discussion by the committee.
Committee Reports
The committee tabled this agenda item due to time constraints.
Executive Director’s Report
Arleen Anderson will be joining the staff as the new Associate Director for Alumni Career Services on July 17. She has an outstanding blend of experience in sales and training, corporate recruiting, and career services that Cristina anticipates will help Arleen be very successful in this position.
Kristin Crossland has resigned her position with the university. Deb posted the vacancy today and she already has a lead on a qualified candidate with alumni relations and event planning experience.
The search firm assisting with the marketing director search has initially identified 12 candidates for consideration; 5 of them have been classified as Level A candidates and 7 have been classified as Level B. The search committee will be meeting with a representative of the search firm on July 10 to select specific candidates for interview. Initial interviews will begin on July 17.
The Alumni Association and Athletics hosted 5 events during the NCAA men’s lacrosse championship playoffs. Between 250 and 400 participants attended each event. Feedback from our alumni was extremely positive and they were very appreciative of the Alumni Association’s presence and support.
Old Business
None
New Business
John Feudo has accepted a new position as Executive Director of the Boston College Alumni Association
Christine noted that Kerry previously suggested the possibility of developing and distributing a survey to all legislators prior to the upcoming elections. The survey would ask questions regarding the candidates’ stance on various issues including public support of the University system. Hal noted that an instrument of this nature could be worthwhile if documented properly; however, most legislators won’t respond to these types of surveys. He suggested that it might be useful for the governor’s race, although he wasn’t sure that we would have enough time to complete this effort prior to the fall elections. Christine said she would ask Kerry to take the lead in determining the feasibility and return on investment for implementing a legislative survey in future elections.
Sean inquired about the legal counsel fees incurred to date. Deb reported that approximately two-thirds of the fees are related to affinity partner contractual issues and the others are related to review of board policies and procedures.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
