Norfolk State University Alumni Association, Inc.

Board of Directors Meeting

Sheraton 4 Point Hotel – Williamsburg, VA

Saturday, July 19, 2008

  1. Call to Order: President Charles Pleasants called the meeting to order at 12:43 pm.
  1. Invocation- rendered by James Smith, acting director of NSU Office of Admissions and member of the Portsmouth Alumni Chapter.
  1. Establishment of Quorum –quorum established by Charles Brown, acting parliamentarian.

Board Members Present:

Charles W. Pleasants, President

Gregory Grimes, 1st Vice President (Alumni Services)

Robert Holmes, 2nd Vice President (Chapter Development & Membership)

Mia Roberson-Wood, Recording Secretary

Nancy Myrick, Corresponding Secretary

Sandra Pitchford, Financial Secretary

Thelma Burns-Bynum, Treasurer

James E. Wood, Chaplain

Shelvee Osborne, Past President

Woodrow Taft, Alumni Band

Lillie Smith-Heath, Alumni Cheerleaders

Greg Willis, Atlanta Metro

Chesapeake, Robert Randall

Phillip Foreman, Greater Northern Virginia

Mamie Willis, Houston

Moses Whitehurst, Military

Alfred Steward, Norfolk

Marilyn Watkins, Peninsula

Joan Carter-Marsh, Petersburg

Gladys Barmer, Portsmouth

Langston Willis, Prince George’s MD

Demond Thorne, Raleigh-Durham

Jennifer Baker, Suffolk

Dwight Hendricks, Virginia Beach

Lindsay Robinson, Washington, DC

Board Members Absent

Robert Lee, Parliamentarian

Dr. Tommy Bogger, Historian

Mark Harrison, New York Metro*

Marsha Lewis, Richmond*

*Chapter Unfinancial

NSU Alumni Staff

Kimberly Walton, Director

Maurice Hawkins, Associate Director

Laverne Moore, Annual Giving Officer

Committee Chairs, Vice Chairs Present

Curtis Hurdle, Golf Committee

Jacqueline Milteer, Scholarship

Laural Armstrong, Homecoming

Linda Piersawl, Awards

Harold Hagans, Awards

Chloe’ Jones, Membership

Donnell Parham, Annual Giving

Mamie Johnson, Student Relations

Vincent Harris, Governance

Carrie Snead, Academic Support

Dr. Deborah Foreman, (Ms Alumni) Research and Development

Others Present

NSU Faculty and Staff Members

NSUAF Reps

MGM Financial Services Representative

  1. Presidential Briefs

A. Audit Report – the report will be given later in the meeting.

B. Welcome to all, recognized NSU staff present, past presidents Carlton Perkins and Shelvee Osborne,

and Dr. Deborah Foreman, Ms Alumni.

C. Acknowledged new chapter presidents, Woodrow Tabb (Alumni Band), Marilyn Watkins (Peninsula),

Langston Willis (PG County, MD), Demond Thorne(Raleigh-Durham), Dwight Hendricks (Virginia Beach),

Lindsay Robinson (Washington, DC).

D. Annual Meeting – Next activity – once per year for all members of the alumni association

  • Give a summary of what occurred in the prior year and state of the union
  • Shelvee Osborne is asked to give highlights of her 3-year term
  • To be held at 1pm, August, 30th at the Robinson-TechBuilding

E.The Executive Committee will conduct a workshop for all officers in alumni chapters on the NSU campus

  • Saturday, Sept. 13th, 10am – 12noon at RobinsonTechBuilding
  • For Presidents, Vice-Pres., Secretaries, Treasurers, and Committee Chairs
  • If hold two positions, invite another to attend the other session
  1. Operation of Board of Directors Meetings
  2. Meeting participation is for board members. Time will be permitted for alumni concerns
  3. The board is operated under the Constitution & Bylaws, Robert Rules of Order and Policies and Procedures.

G The President announced the appointment of committee chairs and vice chairs. Ad hoc committees

include governance, academic support, research and development and golf.

  1. Audit Report – Michelle Mattison, CPA and president of MGM Financial Services, Chesapeake, VA

Presented the audit report for the year endingJune 30, 2007. Total assets $102,800, total liabilities

$6,200, total net assets $96,600.

Ms Mattison reviewed the audit report and the management letter. Each officer, alumni chapter and

the University received a copy of the audit. President Pleasants thanked the auditor for her services.

  1. Approval of Minutes – (May 10, 2008) Al Steward moved, Gladys Barmer seconded the motion for approval of the minutes. Motion accepted.
  1. Correspondence– There was no correspondence. Secretary Myrick advised that the Board Directory

is being revised and asked that changes be sent to her.

  1. Financial Report – Treasurer, Sandra Pitchford

A. We had a very good NSUAA audit. She stated it was a real relief, recognized the previous administration for doing a great job.

  • Will be furnishing the University the final audit report
  • Thanks to everyone that assisted in accomplishing the audit

B.Reviewed fiscal report ending June 30, 2008

  • Exceeded budgeted memberships
  • The expenses were kept in line with the exception of three areas, telephone line, awards and senior banquet
  • The golf tournament did not have a major sponsor, however it did generate $10,420.56
  • Funds donated to the University and used for de-registered students amounted to $14,735.75
  • $82,072.80 is the total assets for year ended June 30, 2008
  • Funds have been set aside for future audits
  • Sandra motioned that the Board retain the auditor as a consultant to establish new financial procedures at a cost of $625, Shelvee Osborne secondedthe motion.Question by James Wood, isthe audit conducted annually? Pleasants stated that the Constitution calls for an annual audit of the association’s finances. Motion carried.
  • Moses Whitehurst asked the cost of the audit. The cost was $1,375.00.

Membership:

  • This fiscal year there are 349 members to date.
  • The president indicated that each year, graduates are given a free membership. With these numbers incorporated, the total membership for FY 2008 was 2,220.
  1. Reports

A.1st Vice President (Alumni Services) – Greg Grimes

- will supervise awards, homecoming, student relations, and scholarship committees

- would like to go green and cut out paperwork

- would like to provide gold services to all

- requesting the completion of a survey

B.2nd Vice President (Chapter Development and Membership) - Robert Holmes

- working on a brief chapter development program

-requested any additional ideas

-looking at ways to assist chapters with membership enhancement

C. Office of Alumni Relations – Kimberly Walton -Laverne Moorewill join the alumni office staff. She will work with the annual fund and assist

with increasing alumni giving percentages

-Maurice Hawkins will work with office operations

- Kim will be traveling and taking NSU to alums to encourage giving back to the University

-The annual giving goal is $1.5 million, requesting $370,000 from alumni. Need at least 2,500

alumni to support the annual giving campaign.

-Starting a soft campaign today for annual giving

-only two hundred of the 1,000+ members of NSUAA give to the annual fund

-there will be monthly telephone conferences to discuss annual giving ideas

-Kim clarified that if a person pledges a multi year gift, the amount is only counted once.

-Chapter awards will be given for chapters exceeding annual giving goals

-War Memorial has been planned and will be unveiled for those NSU veterans who have lost

their lives in actionand will be honored Nov. 8th

Homecoming committee – Laural Armstrong

  • Step Show – Gladys Balmer will be heading
  • Ms. Alumni from Petersburg Chapter, Joan Marsh
  • On Saturday evening we will have a live band
  • Homecoming package – includes, step show ticket, crowing of Ms. Alumni, welcome party homecoming gala, Sunday morning breakfast - $55.00
  • Challenging chapters to sell at least 7 packages. Chapter that sells the highest over 7 will receive $100 gas card
  • Robert Randall will be handling the float and needs physical help
  • Theme – “Reflections of Our Journey”

Homecoming golf – Curtis Hurdle

  • Distributed brochures to all
  • Sponsorship is $300 per hole
  • There is a sponsorship letter to send to companies

Please complete the homecoming survey and return to Lillie Heath, 2009 homecoming chair.

  1. Correspondence – Corresponding Sec,Nancy Myrick (Greater Northern VA)- No correspondences
  1. Finance & Budget Committee (Charles Brown)
  • Changes were requested to be made to the budget, which will require board approval
  • Requested a 5 min recess at 2:25 pm
  • Board resumed at 2:33 pm
  • Charles Brown presented the following amendment to the budget:
  • $1,500 added to chapter development, previously was $185 to equal $1,685
  • $1,200 added to marketing & communications
  • $1,000 added to research & development
  • $775 added to website
  • The new administration is challenging the organization to make homecoming a profit making activity
  • the budget is still balanced
  • operating capital comes from membership dues
  • the question was asked if homecoming had a separate budget. Response, yes
  • The president stated that we market and promote homecoming to avoid a deficit
  • Shelvee requested a copy of the homecoming budget
  • Jennifer asked if there was a mechanism in place, in case homecoming goes in the hole? Mr. Brown stated no, he said in that case, we would have to re-adjust the budget
  • Mr. Brown stated that the budget is a guide and can be changed
  • Sandra asked if homecoming is not profitable, where would the funding come from? Mr. Brown stated that he could not answer
  • It was stated that it would have to come from the general fund but would have to be approved
  • A question was asked about the number of active chapters
  • It was moved by Lillie Heath and seconded by Greg Grimes to accept the recommendations from the budget & finance committee

Vote on motion: 17 approved, 3 opposed, 1 abstention. Motion approved.

Ms. Alumni - Dr Deborah Foreman

  • Shared activities that she participated in since the May board meeting.

Gerald Tyler – distributed a snapshot regarding the reclamation project designed to reclaim those who

once attended NSU and had to leave

Athletic Foundation – Merve Pitchford

  • Thanks to NSUAA for the $5,000 donation
  • The Spartan 300 initiative will provide additional funds, asking that 300 people give $300 to support the foundation and the student athletes
  • Buying tickets to the football game does not support the Athletic foundation
  • Donations given to the NSU Foundation are apart of the annual giving gift to the University

New Business:

Strategic Goals & Objectives:

-Include as number 16, “Assess the organizational structure of the alumni association in order to

maximize the strengths of its members and chapters and eliminate inefficiencies of disparate chapter

activities”

-Moved by Dwight Hendricks, seconded by Robert Randall to accept the strategic plan . Motion carried.

-Moved by Greg Grimes, seconded by Nancy Myrick to approve the theme “Alumni Supporting Student

Achievement”. Motion carried.

Labor Day:

-Moved by Dwight Hendricks seconded by Joan Marsh to support the Labor Day activity with OAR and

to contribute$100.

Leadership Conference:

-The association will host the 2009 leadership conference. Greg Grimes, first vice presidentwill serve

as chair. More information to come.

Announcements:

  • it is the responsibility of the presidents to communicate with the membership
  • the calendar states the dates of meetings and dates the minutes will be posted and emailed
  • we will need to depend more on electronic communication
  • thanks to the Awards committee
  • the President was asked to reconsider the decision to allow members to participate from the floor
  • the question was asked why we could not host a mix and mingle on campus and charge $5.00? It was stated it would be a conflict by spreading out instead of up and separating ourselves instead of coming together
  • The date for the next annual meeting should be corrected to Aug, 30th
  • President Pleasants reemphasized the University president’s plans for NSU and asked for full support from the alumni association

Adjournment:

-Motioned by Jennifer Baker to adjourn the meeting at 4:03pm, seconded by Robert Holmes. Meeting

was adjourned.

Submitted by:Mia Wood, Secretary

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Alumni Supporting Student Achievement