UMass Amherst Alumni Association

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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Worcester Crowne Plaza
6:00 p.m.

Committee Members:  Ron Grasso, Sean LeBlanc, Kathleen Mitchell, Andy Hochberg, Anna Symington, Christine Lopes, Ron Spicer, Jackie Govoni,         Mary Custard, Hal Lane

Absent:  Kim Sherman

Staff: Deb Masloski and Kevin Fleming

Guests: None

Call to Order:   The meeting convened at 6:01 p.m.

Minutes:

Motion:  Sean made a motion, seconded by Ron G., to approve the February 2, 2008 Executive Committee Minutes.  The motion passed with 9 ayes and 1 abstention.

President’s Report

The Chancellor’s Search Committee is beginning interviews next week, and they have 12 candidates that they are meeting with.  Also, Kathleen reported that the Database Subcommittee was hoping to include an expert in IT/intellectual property law to help guide the Executive Committee in their way forward with President Wilson’s Office. 

Executive Director’s Report

A Founders Day celebration will be held on campus on Tuesday, April 29, 2008.  The celebration will commemorate the 145th anniversary of the founding of UMass Amherst, and organizers hope to draw several thousand people to the festivities.  The Alumni Association will be hosting and staffing the barbecue lunch.

Web site usage has increased dramatically with the launch of the new web site.  In the short time since going live on February 28, 2008, UMassAlumni.com has received 7,300 hits, with people averaging approximately 6 minutes on the site per visit.  We cannot compare this to our numbers prior to launch, because our old web vendor did not have the capability to track these statistics.  The staff will be looking at how to best use the new web site tools to partner with other campus departments. 

Deb also reported on several updates on the vacant positions within the Alumni Association.  Kate Robert will be moving into the Associate Director of Membership and Marketing position, and the job description from her former position will be augmented to involve more career services and career counseling qualifications.  Additionally, the search committee for the Assistant Director of Alumni Programs (Kendra Porter’s former position) received 40 applications from potential candidates.  Finally, Deb noted that the Alumni Director position will have an emphasis on strategic organizational development and outreach, and less emphasis on office management qualifications.  There will be a strong preference for an alumnus/ae of UMass Amherst, and alumni relations experience will be de-emphasized.  Christine noted that she would like to see someone with experience building a membership organization, even if it is not specifically with an Alumni Association.

Motion:  Hal made a motion, seconded by Mary, to go into Executive Session, with staff present.  The motion passed unanimously. 

Motion:  Hal made a motion, seconded by Ron G., to come out of Executive Session.  The motion passed unanimously. 

Consultant Review

Deb asked the group to start compiling questions we might like to ask a consultant, should we hire one to perform an organizational review.  Deb also noted that she talked with several additional consultants, and that the Alumni Association might need to spend up to $75,000 or so for a full organizational review.  Kathleen noted that, with expenses piling up for legal consultation about the database, in combination with a hefty expense for a consultant review, the committee may want to revisit whether or not they would like to undertake the organizational review through a consultant. 

Ombudsman Committee

The group revisited the creation and structure of creating an ombudsman committee when needed. Kathleen believed the ombudsman should be an ad hoc committee that should only assemble when needed, and the individuals on the committee would change each time depending on the parties and/or subjects involved.  Hal believed that the President should appoint one or two people in each case, rather than an ad hoc committee.  Deb noted that a whistleblower protection policy would incorporate the process for forming an Ombudsman Committee, and Andy volunteered the audit committee to explore this subject. 

Grants

The Grants Committee is receiving many duplicate grant proposals.  Also, many of the groups requesting the grants can afford to finance their proposed initiative on their own.  Hal noted that, often times, these organizations are not meeting the required terms of what they commit to do for the Alumni Association in return for receiving the grant.  Finally, Deb also noted that the Alumni Association often awards grants that allow organizations to provide free events that are very similar to Alumni Association events that we charge admission fees to attend.  Because of these factors, Hal proposed that either only student organizations should be able to apply for a grant, or that they take $20,000 of the current grants budget and apply it back to membership.  The committee seemed to agree with the idea of applying the $20,000 to other areas of the Alumni Association, but there was disagreement about applying it to membership.  Christine noted the need to increase the amount of scholarship awards, and suggested applying the money to our scholarship program in some way.  She also noted that it would help to mollify any hard feelings from departments who will not be receiving grant funding from us in the future. 

Board Meeting Schedule

The Board of Directors currently meets 4 times a year.  The bylaws only require the Board to meet 3 times a year, and Deb asked if they should reduce the number of meetings the Board of Directors has in a fiscal year.  The committee seemed to think that reducing the number of Board meetings might be a good idea.  Additionally, Deb asked the committee members for ideas on how to make the meetings more engaging and valuable.  Some of the ideas included:

1. Changing the meeting schedule to have one meeting in October coinciding with Homecoming, one meeting in February, and another in June during Reunion.  Deb noted that this might require a change in the bylaws, as they currently state that the Board of Directors must approve the election results
2. Rotating the venue and the time of the meeting, rather than always on Saturday in the mornings on campus
3. Sticking with the meeting schedule that is set out at the beginning of the year
4. Discussing the critical topics at the beginning of the meeting to ensure that they are devoted the proper amount of time.
5. Focusing on one major topic rather than a number of different topics
6. Extending the length of the meetings so that discussions do not feel as rushed

Committee Reports

1. Alumni Clubs – There are 12 clubs participating in the first Annual community service month. 
2. Communications, Marketing, & Membership – The Life Membership campaign based appealing to different life-stages will be going out soon, and they are hoping to beat the postage rate increase. 
3. Honors & Awards – The Distinguished Alumni Awards will be held on Thursday, April 17, 2008. 
4. Nominating – Interviews started last week, and they are interviewing 12 candidates for placement on the ballot for the Board of Directors.  Up to 10 names can be placed on the ballot, and 5 vacant positions on the Board. 

Old Business:  None

New Business:

The equestrian team has qualified for the regional competition in California, and asked if the Alumni Association would provide funding for the team and the horses to travel to California.  The committee members decided that they could not fund this request in light of the current budget. 

Also, Christine noted that, in 5 years, we will be celebrating 150 years of the founding of UMass Amherst.  She hopes that the Alumni Association will begin planning now for some type of very big event or action to help commemorate the occasion, and suggested something having to do with scholarships.

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m.