Thursday, June 8, 2017 PRESENT

Transcription

1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Governing Board June 8-10, 2017 Tucson, Arizona Thursday, June 8, 2017 PRESENT Chair: Gilbert Davidson MINUTES Governing Board Members: Chad Becker, Bob Crum, Nicollette Daly, Brad East, Lisa Harter, Ricky Hernandez, Kevin Lewis, Charlie Lucero, Jon Matheus, Kay McLoughlin, Crystal Nichols, Jay Philips, Al Scorsatto, Cortez Smith, Alan Stein, Alie Vidal. UAAA staff: Melinda Burke, Fabian Cordova, Sarah Beaudry, Mike Celaya, Nancy Yaeli, Dawn Bell, Susan, Kaleita, Marc Acuna, Maddy Hemminghaus, Lisa Barrett Chair Gilbert Davidson called the meeting to order at 6:30pm and welcomed attendees. Individuals unable to attend the meeting this weekend were acknowledged (Shelley Huff, Mark Villalpando, Kay McLoughlin on Friday). Each attendee shared something they did for the UA since the February meeting. Melinda Burke provided an update on activities since the meeting in February. Ms. Burke explained she has shared the GG+A report with key University leaders. University leaders are very supportive and all agreed the UAAA is moving in the right direction. Mr. Davidson shared the planned approach for the meeting and explained the next steps for Task Force groups. He inspired the board members to stay focused on being one of the best alumni associations in the country, reminding them the board s job is to set the course and establish the goals toward excellence. Task Forces separated into their groups and reviewed their critical issues documents and recommendations in preparation for Friday s meeting. (See Friday meeting for a list of task forces.) All task forces finished and adjourned their meetings by 8:00 p.m. Friday, June 9, 2017 PRESENT Chair: Gilbert Davidson Governing Board Members: Chad Becker, Bob Crum, Nicollette Daly, Brad East, Lisa Harter, Ricky Hernandez, Kevin Lewis, Charlie Lucero, Jon Matheus, Crystal Nichols, Jay Philips, Al Scorsatto, Cortez Smith, Alan Stein, Alie Vidal. UAAA staff: Melinda Burke, Fabian Cordova, Sarah Beaudry, Mike Celaya, Nancy Yaeli, Dawn Bell, Susan, Kaleita, Marc Acuna, Maddy Hemminghaus, Lisa Barrett Chair Gilbert Davidson called the meeting to order at 9:01am. After acknowledging those not in attendance, he asked for any questions on consent agenda items. 1 of 5

2 Jon Matheus moved to approve consent agenda items as posted. Seconded, no discussion and approved unanimously. Chair Davidson reminded board members the goal of this weekend s meeting is to look to the future to make the University the best it can be and to create a vision of what we want UAAA to be as an organization. Melinda Burke shared recent activities of the UAAA, some of the priorities and building on a notion of change. She announced UAAA staffing changes resulting in new organizational opportunities. Staff is working with campus partners to develop new collaborative programing in the area of recent alumni. A snapshot was provided of recent event Net Promoter Scores (NPS) reflecting impact. Ms. Burke is very optimistic about the new leadership of President Robbins; he is very interested in meeting with alumni and had already attended a chapter event in San Diego and would be in Washington D.C. for a chapter event. Fabian Cordova reviewed the UAAU s financial summary and proposed budget. Questions were addressed from board members. Chad Becker moved to approve the budget. Seconded, no discussion and approved unanimously. Kevin Lewis, Chair of the Nominations Committee, thanked his committee for their dedication during the nominations process. He provided background on the process to determine the next successor. Kevin Lewis moved, per the recommendation of the Executive Committee, Chad Becker be duly elected as the incoming Vice Chair/Secretary with service to begin at the Board Meeting on September 7, Seconded, no discussion and unanimously approved. Mr. Lewis reviewed the process utilized to vet applicants for the open positions on the governing board. The election was conducted including proxy votes from the board members who were not present. Brad East, Chair-Elect, shared information about his two appointments to the board. Kevin Lewis moved to ratify the appointments of Kim Sabow and Travis Chester to the governing board. Mr. Lewis announced the results of the election: Shelley Huff and Alan Stein were re-elected to the board for a second term. Chad Becker, Chair of the Investment and Budget Review Committee, reviewed the Request for Proposal process and the committee s vetting. The committee recommends hiring Merrill Lynch Bank of America as the new investment firm for UAAA for a number of reasons including: high level fund management; its American Funds platform significantly reduces the number of funds handled; and availability of regular reports that can be shared with the board. 2 of 5

3 Brad East moved to proceed with hiring Merrill Lynch and use the American Funds platform. Seconded, no further questions and approved unanimously. Advocacy Committee Chair, Cortez Smith, announced Mike Sistak has been promoted to Federal Relations Director and relocated to Washington DC. Sabrina Velasquez will fill his position for now and Cats at the Capitol is still being planned. Marc Acuna and Madalyn Hemminghaus will go to PHELAP (Public Higher Education Legislative Advocacy Professionals) conference. Arizona state government has allocated $1B to the universities to be used primarily for infrastructure improvement. Mr. Smith noted the state funding climate is improving and more money is being allotted to education. Alie Vidal, Chair of Awards Committee, explained awards are given all year, not just at Homecoming. She noted 52 awards, including Alumni of the Year awards at Homecoming, have been bestowed this past fiscal year. The Governance and Bylaws Committee met over the past months to discuss bylaw changes recommended by the GG+A review. Gilbert Davidson facilitated on Mark Villalpando s behalf. The Committee s recommendation was to obtain input from the entire board for each proposed bylaws change. 1. ELECTION BY SINGLE SLATE Related to GG+A s recommendation to utilize a single slate for the nomination process. Jay Phillips moved to amend bylaws to reflect single slate election. Seconded and followed with further discussion. A vote was taken, one abstention noted, the FAILED. 2. NOMINATING COMMITTEE TO SELECT ALL CANDIDATES ELIMINATING CHAIR APPOINTMENTS Regarding GG+A s recommendation that the incoming board chair should not have the option to appoint board members. Jay Phillips moved to amend the bylaws to remove the provision that provides for chair-elect appointments to the board. A vote was taken, one abstention noted, the FAILED. 3. BOARD SIZE UP TO 23 Regarding GG+A s recommendation to increase the size of the board. Staff recommended allowing flexibility to increase the size up to 23 board members according to demographic needs and other considerations of the board. Jay Phillips moved to modify bylaws to allow board growth up to 23 members with implementation by Nominations Committee. Seconded and additional discussion. Approved unanimously. 4. CHANGE BEGINNING AND ENDING TERM DATES The Governance and Bylaws committee supports the recommendation to change beginning and ending dates for the terms of Governing Board member service; i.e., terms would begin with the UAAA fiscal year, July 1, and end in the last year of service June 30 th. Bylaws are not affected by this change. 3 of 5

4 Jon Matheus moved to approve changing term dates to coincide with fiscal year. Seconded, no discussion and approved unanimously. Wildcat for Life Leadership Council (WFLLC) Task Force Chair, Cortez Smith, reviewed background of WFLLC and historically how this group has worked. The Task Force met on several occasions to discuss the purpose of the WFLLC and opportunities. The WFLLC brought forth the following motion. Mr. Smith moved, per the recommendation of the WFLLC Task Force, the Wildcat for Life Leadership Council be dissolved effective immediately following the upcoming WFLLC meeting in September and further allow UAAA staff to determine best process to communicate this change to affected members. Seconded and discussed. Approved unanimously. Mr. Smith moved that, per the recommendation of the WFLLC Task Force, the UAAA staff be directed to develop a strategic program providing meaningful volunteer learning and engagement opportunities to be offered to alumni leaders nationwide and the concept be presented at the September board meeting. Seconded and discussed. Approved unanimously. Task Force reports were facilitated by Chair Davidson and each Task Force lead provided overview of their findings and recommendations, followed by discussion. University-Wide Engagement Task Force Brad East reported the main objective of the UAAA is to be the primary point of contact and engagement vehicle for all alumni and the University. Challenges are silos across campus and that colleges currently view UAAA as a competitor for development. With sufficient University funding, UAAA could spend less time raising money to support ourselves and could be focused on engaging students and alumni with the University. This would redefine our value proposition and opens capability to do more. Consensus among board members is to move forward on university-wide engagement model. Membership Task Force Chad Becker provided background of current membership program. Mr. Cordova reviewed his findings of other universities membership plans. Board members shared their perspectives regarding membership. The Task Force recommendation is to approach the University with a holistic engagement plan and request some institutional support to shift energies to true engagement focus. Consensus among board members to move toward the Ohio State model. Regional Engagement Task Force Alie Vidal explained regional engagement includes developing a program focused on engagement and impact of largest alumni populated regions expanding beyond chapters and clubs. Challenge is to coordinate with campus and other outreach to consolidate and clarify communications to alumni so they are not constantly contacted by various campus entities. Programming also needs to include continually tracking data to evaluate trends on alumni movement. Consensus among board members to move ahead on targeting development of programs to cities with greatest density of alumni. 4 of 5

5 Young and Recent Alumni Task Force Crystal Nichols facilitated the task force discussion to build the young and recent graduate alumni engagement pipeline. UAAA recently posted a position to hire staff to fulfill these duties. Challenge is how to track alumni. Consensus among board members to move forward on hiring and developing engagement programs geared toward young and recent alumni. Alumni Career Programs Task Force Kevin Lewis reinforced the importance of alumni career programming and further opportunities to continue the growth of this service to alumni. Consensus among board members is to move forward on expansion of alumni career staff and programming in an effort to institutionalize alumni career services. Strategic Plan Brainstorming Sarah Beaudry reviewed a draft of the UAAA vision, mission and values noting edits suggested by board members. Board and staff members worked in smaller groups to review goals and shared their group s edits which were noted by Ms. Beaudry. Staff will meet in two weeks to review a revised draft of this document including additional objectives. The final version will be presented to the board in September. Chair Davidson adjourned the meeting at 3:50pm. (No meeting required on Saturday.) 5 of 5