Board meeting Minutes/31 July 2005

This website is not affiliated with SAGE or the USENIX Association. The use of the term "SAGE" below is historical, and refers either to the SAGE subgroup of USENIX, or to a precursor of the organization now called LOPSA.

Prior: 12 July 2005

Board meeting Minutes

Next: 4 August 2005

Minutes approved: 29 August 2005

At Association Headquarters, Mt. Laurel, New Jersey

Present

Tom Perrine (chair), Doug Hughes, Pat Wilson, David Parter, Steve Potter, Geoff Halprin, Trey Harris, Chris Palmer, Andrew Hume, Bill Pawlucy, Bill MacMillan, Stacey Schmidt, Sam Albrecht (note taker)

Opened

9:05 am EDT

Closed

4:52 pm EDT

Consent Agenda

none

New Board

• New board members need to officially be recognized.
• Motion by Halprin to grant new board members full memberhsip into SAGE, Inc. Seconded by Hughes, none opposed, motion passes.

Selection of Officers

• Officers for the new board were elected. President will be Tom Perrine, Vice President will be Pat Wilson, and Secretary-Treasurer will be Andrew Hume.

Scheduling of Meetings

• Decision made to hold conference calls every Monday at 5:00 pm pacific (8:00 pm eastern) for atleast 1-2 months. May become less frequent after that time period. (i.e. every other week).
• First call will take place on Monday, August 8, 2005.
• Meeting guidelines were discussed and the following were agreed upon:
  • Materials must be available online prior to meetings.
  • In order to vote, one must have reviewed the materials prior to vote.
  • Agenda will be closed on the Friday before each meeting and all agendas/materials will be distributed at that time.
  • Call for agenda items to be posted on wiki.
• It was decided that weekly transition meetings will be left to transition committee to work with USENIX.

Establishment of Committees

• All committees and purposes can be found on the wiki.
• To be considered a committee of SAGE, all committees must be an action of the board and be minuted. Any committee not on the board list of committees does not count as a SAGE committee.
• Perrine proposed that the board establish guidelines, and then have each committee chair write the charge of that committee to ensure each chair understands the purpose of their respected committees. Committee chair will be responsible for providing the board with a plan, schedule, budget and understanding.

Board Level Committees

The following is an overview of discussions about each board level committee.

Transition Committee

• There is a difference between the transition committee and the USENIX liaison. The transition committee will be charged with dealing with the transition steps and the USENIX liaison will be charged with interfacing with USENIX, however, the liaison will be a member of the transition committee.
• Hughes suggested that the online committee, not the transition committee, should work on the transfer of online services. The online committee is not to be a subcommittee of the transition committee. However, both committees are to work together.
• The USENIX liaison will continue after the dissolution of the transition committee.

Leadership Committee

• This committee is listed in the bylaws and as such must exist as a nominating committee, at minimum.
  • In addition to serving as a nominating committee, this committee will also be charged with creating a career track for members to become leaders.

Finance Committee

• Decision was made that there will not be a finance committee.

Policy Committee

• It was suggested that this committee be charged with writing and/or assigning the writing of policies. However, the SAGE board would have the final say in policy implementation and approval.
• Perrine polled to see if there was consensus that a policy committee was needed. It was agreed that a policy committee is needed; however the charge of this committee must address all issues previously discussed.

Communications Committee

• All subcommittees initially proposed under this committee would instead become program committees.

Membership Development Committee

• Parter proposed that this committee should first be charged with sorting the membership classes, and then secondly be charged with recruiting/retaining members.

Development Committee

• The development committee is truly a fundraising committee.
• It was initially proposed that the development committee be combined with a partnership committee, however, it was decided that these two would not be combined.

Partnership and Liaison Committee

• It was determined that a partnership and liaison committee will be needed.

Program Committees

Conference Planning Committee

• Perrine proposed that this committee first serve as a LISA planning committee and then serve as a SAGE conference planning committee.

Awards Committee

• It was determined that this committee is needed and the charge would later be determined.

Locals Committee

• It was determined that this committee is needed and the charge would later be determined.

Technical Services Committee

• It was determined that this committee is needed and the charge would later be determined.

Content Services Committee

• It was determined that this committee is needed and the charge would later be determined.

Mentor Program Committee

• It was determined that this committee is needed and the charge would later be determined.

Board Assignments

• Board members were assigned to each committee, assignments are posted on the wiki.
  • Transition: Geoff Halprin
  • Development: Pat Wilson and Stephen Potter
  • Partnership/Liaison: Geoff Halprin
  • Leadership: To be revisited in New Business
  • Policy: Trey Harris
  • Communications: Chris Palmer
  • Membership Development: Trey Harris
  • Awards: Doug Hughes
  • Conference Planning: Pat Wilson and Tom Perrine
  • Locals: David Parter
  • Technical Services: Doug Hughes and David Parter
  • Content Services: Chris Palmer and Stephen Potter
  • Mentor Program: Andrew Hume
• Motion by Palmer to adopt this slate of committees and board assignments.
  • Discussions on who to assign to the leadership committee. Harris moved to amend to adopt this slate of committees and board assignments, skipping the leadership committee for now. Seconded by Wilson. None opposed, amended motion passes.
• Board assignments were made for each action item resulting from the strategic planning session on July 30, 2005. Board and committee assignments to action items can now be found on the wiki.
• ACTION- Perrine will plan a meeting to discuss member benefits. A page has been added to the wiki for open discussion and the meeting is scheduled for August 17, 2005.
• Palmer moved to adopt these tasks, with their corresponding timelines, (listed on the wiki). Seconded by Wilson. None opposed, motion passes.

Budget Review

• Halprin reviewed his proposed budget for 2005 and 2006.
• There were questions as to what a realistic travel expense should be for the board.
• ACTION- Hume to work to determine a realistic travel expense.
• ACTION- Hume to review budget in depth as to assure it is as accurate as possible.
• ACTION- Halprin to email excel sheet of budget to Albrecht and Hume.
• Budget approval will be postponed until Hume has completed his review.

Travel Reimbursement Policy

• It was decided to postpone creation and approval of a travel policy until the next board meeting.

Approval of SAGE/USENIX Term Sheet

• Term sheet was reviewed. Approval is needed for term sheet to be sent to Kirk for his review.
• Issue was brought up about how to best measure SAGEs viability. There is concern that this statistic, if chosen unwisely, could hurt SAGE in how USENIX views their viability.
• ACTION- Hume will work to come up with the best measurement of viability.
• Parter requested an update of where SAGE is in their talks with USENIX. Halpring gave an update as follows:
  • SAGE is running slightly behind in submitting the term agreement.
  • ACTION- Halprin will talk to the USENIX board about this issue and inform them that Kirk is currently viewing the agreement.
  • ACTION- Halprin will also request a conference call with the USENIX board for around the 15th of August for approval of the term agreement and to request bridging finances.
• Wilson brought up the issue of if SAGE can feasibly balance the 2005-2006 budgets. Decision was made to change 2005-2006 to 2006-2007.
• Perrine suggested that in regards to the USENIX and SAGE member discounts, wording be changed from significant discount to just discount.
• Wilson asked whether wording for LISA conference should be different regarding discounts. Wording does not imply a SAGE member discount. Decided that wording needs to be updated.
• Perrine proposed that all edits to term agreement be submitted not later than Wednesday or Thursday (August 3-4, 2005).
• Motion by Perrine that the term sheet will be sent to Kirk with understanding that there are still two open issues: defining discounts and defining viability/success. Seconded by Potter, none opposed, motion passes.

New Business

Thank You to Interim Board

• Perrine thanked the interim board for all of their hard work and dedication (Palmer will rewrite).
• ACTION- Palmer to send a thank you to the leadership, selection and advisory committees.

Wiki Master Dedication

• Harris was recognized as the wiki master and thanked for all of his hard work to make the wiki a success.

USENIX/SAGE Liaison

• A USENIX/SAGE liaison is needed. However, at this time there is no liaison assigned.

SAGE Representatives at USENIX Board Meeting

• ACTION- Parter and Hughes will serve as good will ambassadors for SAGE at the USENIX board meeting.
• Halprin will remain in his normal role as a point person for the term agreement.

Executive Director Selection Discussion

• Sam Albrecht was officially appointed (by the consensus of the board) as SAGEs Executive Director.

Association Headquarters Contract

• Halprin stated that the contract has not yet been through review by legal counsel and therefore SAGE is not ready to sign the contract at this time.
• AH agreed that the contract should undergo legal review and will provide names to attorneys if requested.
• ACTION- Halprin to submit the contract for legal review and hopes are for the contract to be ready for signing in two weeks.

Leadership Committee

• The leadership committee will serve to grow leaders.
• Harris proposed that the current committee be reactivated and given a new charge. Discussions will take place with current committee members to see if they are right for the new charge. The current chair is and will remain Greg Rose.
• Perrine will serve as the liaison to this committee.
• Motion by Harris to reactivate the current leadership committee until further discussions can be held and for Perrine to serve as the liaison for this committee. Seconded by Palmer, none opposed, motion passes.

Adjournment

• Motion by Hume to adjourn at 4:52 PM EDT, seconded by Hughes, none opposed, motion passes.