Minutes
Raymond Phoenix Institute
Annual Meeting
9/27/08, 2:00 p.m.
President Wendi Maxwell called the annual meeting to order at approximately 2:00 pm on September 27, 2008 in the Regent’s Dining Room on Pacific’s Stockton campus.
Report on RPI Activities:
Wendi reported on the organization of the reunion and thanked the UOP alumni office staff for their efforts in making this reunion possible. She also reported on recent attempts to interest UOP in multidisciplinary education opportunities and various project proposals, including a proposal for a catalogue of publications by Raymond alums.
Carole Somsel reported on the redesigned website. There is potential to do a lot more with the website. This would include the ability to archive material written or published or otherwise created by Raymond people. Attendees were reminded that minutes of RPI Board meetings can be found on the RPI website. Members expressed appreciation for Carole’s work on the website redesign and the new site’s usefulness to the community.
Finances
Jan Sherwood reported on RPI’s finances. She presented the balance sheet and income statements for the fiscal year ending 9/30/08 and reported that the expenses for the next fiscal year will be about the same as they were last year. Jan also pointed out that donation envelopes were available on every table and asked all attendees to either make a donation before they left the reunion or to mail in a donation before the end of the year.
Nominations of Directors and Officers
Wendi discussed the duties of RPI directors and solicited nominations for new Directors. Carole Somsel, Christian Jutt, Robert Heyrle and John Oram were nominated and agreed to serve. They were elected by general acclaim of those present. Existing Board Members Greg Finnegan, David Wellenbrock, Karen Larson, and Williams Sullens were re-elected.
Wendi then led a discussion of the kinds of things that people were interested in seeing RPI pursue. The general consensus was that people were interested in gatherings for RPI members and in continuing education opportunities. It was suggested that these gatherings could encompass continuing education opportunities and be offered in other places throughout the nation and perhaps the world. This would make it easier for those who do not live on the West Coast to participate in RPI events and would present interesting travel opportunities for West Coast people.
The attendees empowered the Board of Directors to select one of their number to fill the empty Vice-President of the Board slot.
New Business
Bob Fitch suggested that RPI could be a source of information about events sponsored by others that would be of interest to the Raymond community. He cited, as an example, a conference on biomimicry scheduled for October 17, 2008 in San Rafael. According to Bob, the topic is very “Raymondesque” and would likely be of interest to Raymond folks.
The next Board of Directors meeting will be held in early December 2008.
Meeting adjourned at 2:48 pm.