UMass Amherst Alumni Association
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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Worcester Crowne Plaza
6:00 pm
In attendance: Fiorentino, Grasso, Hochberg, Lane, LeBlanc, Mitchell, Sherman, Spicer, and Symington
Absent: Custard and Lopes
Staff: Masloski
Call to Order:
The meeting convened at 6:05 p.m.
Approval of Minutes
Motion: by Hal Lane, seconded by Sean LeBlanc, to approve the minutes of the July 17 Executive Committee meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
President’s Report
Kathleen Mitchell reported that the appointment of Dr. Thomas W. Cole Jr. as interim chancellor of UMass Amherst would be announced by the President’s Office tomorrow. Dr. Cole is coming out of retirement to accept the appointment and will not be a candidate for the permanent position. Kathleen has agreed to serve on the search committee for a permanent chancellor. President Jack M. Wilson has appointed Jennifer Braceras ’89 as chair of the search committee.
Kathleen will be unable to attend the farewell reception for Chancellor Lombardi next week. Anna Symington has agreed to represent and speak on behalf of the Alumni Association during the ceremony.
Kathleen met with Bob Goodhue, Executive Director of Alumni Affairs in the President’s Office, to discuss alumni programming in general. He suggested researching auto and mortgage financing as possible membership benefits.
Executive Director’s Report
Deb Masloski reported that staff members have negotiated a deal with Athletics to co-sponsor the Maroon Platoon student bus trip to the UMass v. BC football game. The cost of the sponsorship will be funded out of our Athletics program budget.
On behalf of Kathleen, Deb forwarded a letter to Governor Patrick’s office requesting Alumni Association representation on his Project Readiness task force, specifically on the subcommittee reviewing higher education. The letter was also copied to the Governor’s Education Advisor and the three chairs of the Project Readiness task force.
Deb reviewed the proposed order form for Board business cards. Committee members suggested several design revisions that Deb will ask the graphic designer to incorporate, along with a statement on the order form indicating that appropriate use of the business cards must be in conformance with the Board’s Volunteer Code of Conduct document.
Deb noted that she discussed the Executive Committee’s suggestion of inviting Governor Patrick to campus to speak at an alumni event this fall regarding his green energy initiatives with Toivo Tammerk, Vice Chancellor for Advancement. Toivo approved of the event concept and suggested that the event might be more successful if postponed until next spring when a permanent chancellor would be on campus. Committee members decided to send the Governor an open invitation and allow him to select the date that would work best for him. Kathleen noted that she would inform Katherine Smith, Vice President of Advancement in the President’s Office, of the committee’s intent to contact Governor Patrick. Mike Fiorentino suggested that we speak with the Governor’s Education Advisor to assist us in forwarding the invitation. Christine Lopes suggested that members receive priority notice of the event and priority seating at the dinner. Deb will forward her suggestions along to the Programs team.
Annual Board Agenda and Goals
Kathleen noted that the Governance Team suggested development of an annual Board agenda and goals to help committee members identify and track annual goals and agenda items for the Executive Committee or Board to address, and to develop an associated timeframe for doing so. She asked committee members to consider what additional items they thought should be incorporated into the annual agenda.
Committee members briefly reviewed the executive summary of the Marketing and Program Review that they approved in April. Kathleen noted that the proposed initiatives in the document will be the basis for the Board’s strategic actions in FY 2008 and will focus on delivering programs, alumni communications and volunteer opportunities by life stage segments and affinity groups.
Kathleen reminded the committee that the Board’s current strategic plan would expire at the end of FY 2008. She stated her desire to see full Board participation in developing a new strategic plan over the course of this year. Deb noted that she had included a copy of UCLA’s strategic plan in the committee packets as a good example for future presentation purposes. Committee members agreed that the Board’s strategic planning session would be most productive if facilitated by a professional external to the Board.
Sean reported that the Communications, Marketing and Membership Committee had a preliminary conversation on the feasibility of developing a paid student membership option in the Alumni Association. Experience has demonstrated that offering free membership to new graduates typically translates into a negligible renewal rate, as the graduates do not perceive real value in their membership. If implemented, additional member programming and benefits tailored specifically to students would be incorporated into current alumni offerings. Kim Sherman noted that the addition of new online career resources and the intersession student/alumni networking programs would be a great benefit to student members. Sean anticipates that implementation of a student membership option would not affect overall membership numbers until 3 – 4 years from now when our incoming students graduate. Staff members are working to develop a preliminary cost-analysis and proposal for review by the Marketing committee.
Deb noted that the Student Alumni Association’s (SAA) buy-in and support of this concept would be critical to the successful implementation of a student membership option and suggested that one or two board members attend an upcoming SAA meeting to discuss and receive student feedback on this proposal. Sean suggested Jackie Govoni as a possible representative to attend the meeting.
Target Constituent Groups
Kathleen suggested the possibility of targeting several constituent groups across campus for discussion with assigned Board members regarding how each might develop a more collaborative relationship with the Alumni Association. She proposed that the committee select 6 – 8 key target areas to contact initially and that the areas selected tie back to this year’s strategic initiatives. Committee members will forward their suggestions on to Deb.
September Board Meeting Agenda
Kathleen noted her desire to “shake up” future Board meetings to make them more strategic, interactive and inclusive of all Board members. Committee members suggested incorporating small group activities into the meeting agenda to ensure all board members have an opportunity to participate at some level of the discussion. Kathleen will provide an overview of director expectations related to meeting and event attendance and will talk about the need for board members to promote membership to other alumni. Kim suggested that a sign-up sheet for upcoming events be included in the meeting packets. The Governance Team will develop a draft agenda for the September board meeting and forward it to the Executive Committee for consideration.
Committee Reports
Alumni Career Services
Kim reported that the Alumni Career Services committee is working on confirming alumni speakers for approximately eight events that will be hosted in Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC, and somewhere in the Pioneer Valley. The committee has also been investigating how to expand its use of technology to deliver more programs to more alumni through webinars, podcasts, blogs and conference calls.
Communications, Marketing and Membership
Sean reported that the committee discussed setting a net membership growth goal of 1% by the end of fiscal year 2008. While this is a small increase in participation, the intent it to set a goal that is achievable and will result in a positive increase in membership members (rather than the decline we have experienced for the past three years).
Audit
Deb reported that the new auditors are on-site this week and the FY 2007 audit is officially underway.
Finance and Investment
Ron Grasso noted that the transfer of invested assets to our new investment manager is underway. He reported that we experienced an overall rate of return on invested assets in FY 2007 of approximately 13%. The projected rate of return for FY 2008 is 7.5%.
Old Business
None
New Business
Hal Lane suggested that the Alumni Association send a congratulatory and thank you note to Thorr Bjorn, former Sr. Associate Director for Athletic Marketing, who recently left UMass to accept an appointment as the new Athletic Director at the University of Rhode Island. Deb will draft and forward a letter along to Thorr.
Kathleen inquired on the process for filling the Executive Director position. University administrators have told Deb that the position will not be searched until the Vice Chancellor position is filled, which will not be searched until the permanent Chancellor position is filled. However, Deb noted that she has been assured that the Board of Directors will have appropriate representation on the search committee for the Executive Director position when it convenes. Committee members asked Deb to send an official request to Toivo requesting their participation in any future conversations regarding the appointment of either an interim or permanent Executive Director.
Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
