Ed Peura Opened the Meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance

Minutes, AFA Schriever Chapter 147 Board of Directors Meeting

28 August 2014

Welcome

•  Ed Peura opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Announcements/Introductions

•  Ed introduced and welcomed Lt Col Bruce Fike, the incoming UCLA Detachment 055 Commander.

•  Tav and Ed presented a CAFA Exceptional Service Award to Steve Pluntze and a President’s Award to Rick Reaser. Ed presented Tav with the CAFA Golden Bear Award. The Chapter Awards for CAFA Area 3 Chapter 2014 and CAFA Distinguished Event Special Program 2014 were on display.

Secretary's Report

•  The July Board Meeting minutes were approved without changes.

Treasurer's Report

•  Rick presented the treasurer’s report, which was approved, and the Salute Budget/Actuals. For the Salute we are looking at a net profit of about $16.6K, which is less than expected. We need to make more money on our events to keep our philanthropic level of support the same as in the past. We have spent most of the Schriever statue excess funds and are now at a comfortable asset level. We have underspent on educational programs, base scholarships, and military affairs. We need a formal budget for the AF Ball. We will need to do the Chapter annual budgeting earlier to satisfy AFA National reporting requirements.

Topics for Discussion

•  Board Nomination Committee: Steve Scott and his committee met 31 July and have a list of names of people willing to serve on the board. There are three slots to be filled. Steve suggested determining a way to include non-board members who are willing to help.

•  Chairman of the Board: Much to the delight of the board, Tav has once again agreed to serve as our Chairman of the Board.

Events

•  Air Force Ball: As soon as prices for the event are determined, Steve Staso needs to set up the AFCEA reservation website. Velvet reported the committee meets weekly and includes Lani Smith and Linda Lieb-Baker. The committee hopes to keep the same prices as last year: $3100/table; $310/seat; $1550/honor seat.

•  Executive Reception: In past years the reception has more or less broken even. Chris Harlambakis suggested making the reception a money-maker by being more frugal on the food and drink.

•  Mitchell Institute: This continues to be a sore spot with the Chapter. No information has been forthcoming from the Mitchell Institute, and the timing of the event seems ill-conceived. Having the event go until 15:00 makes getting people from the RAND Corporation back to the Beverly Hilton for an 18:00 formal affair difficult at best. While at the National Convention Ed hopes to confront someone from Mitchell about the problems. Chris Kalivas suggested trying to end the Mitchell Institute earlier than 15:00. Supplying transportation between RAND and the hotel may be necessary, but AFA National should share in this responsibility. Joe Boyle will get advice from SMC/JA in case transportation needs to be part of the WAG.

•  SMC Industry Days: The agenda will be finalized next week for the 19-20 Nov event and submitted to SMC. There will be a full day Wednesday, followed by a mixer. Thursday will be half a day, which will allow people enough time to get from the base to the Beverly Hilton for the Executive Reception.

Membership

•  Nancy Insprucker reported 363 members as of the end of July. Lee Barnby (CAFA President) and Marcia worked to get “members-transferred-out-of-the-chapter-based-on-zip-codes” transferred back. Over 150 members were supposedly moved back into Schriever in August at the request of Lee.

•  Nancy said the 3 October mixer is on track.

•  Mary Guyse suggested the Chapter participate in the next SMC Job Fair as a way of recruiting new members. The BoD agreed to support this.

Public Affairs

•  The Spouses Club is folding, except for scholarships. Nancy Hodgkiss will try to keep that committee going.

•  There is no update yet on the article for Wingman. Marcia will contact Christina Diaz, who volunteered to write the article. The deadline for submission is October.

•  Everyone, including ROTC, is encouraged to submit articles and photos to Steve for the newsletter.

Awards

•  Arnie received approval to move the awards cabinet, which will be placed across from the Douglas Aircraft display near the Club. The move was to take place today, until it was discovered a larger vehicle is needed to move the 5x5.5-foot cabinet. A proper vehicle must be found.

ROTC Relations

•  Lt Col Bruce Fike thanked the Chapter for its ROTC support. He would like UCLA to become more actively involved with the Chapter. Several members had suggestions. Ed advised Bruce to work with Nancy FitzGerald, the ROTC Chair.

Education

•  Chris Harlambakis reported National has voted to support Visions this year, but funding will be at a lower level. National’s commitment of $42,840 was reduced to $27,000. The Chapter will stay with what we did last year. Chris will get the information to Rick, who will then send a check.

•  Chris announced a new Aerospace Education Committee initiative modeled after CyberPatriot and entitled Space Patriot. It was felt not enough attention was being paid to space issues. The program will be more expensive than CP, will require a full-time person, and has the interest of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Chris thinks we should take the lead in supporting this effort. He asked Tav to touch base with Mr. Gooder of SAF/AQ, the AFA POC, to find out more about the program.

Base Scholarships

•  The Base Education Office and SMC/JA have agreed on a process. Winners have been selected and need to be notified. The Board approved Bill Harding’s request for a one-time addition of $1000 to the $7000 allotment for this year’s scholarships. We need to rework participation in the Wes Clark Scholarship, which is usually funded with $250 from each of the four “Mount Rushmore” organizations.

CyberPatriot/CAP – No report

Military Affairs – No report

Community Relations

•  Jerry and Joe continue to work Community Partner renewals. They are close to signing up two new members. Wayne Kauffman volunteered to pay for Raytheon to become a Community Partner.

Constitution & Bylaws – No report

National AFA

•  Wayne Kauffman reminded the Board of the AFA National Convention (12-14 Sep) and Conference (15-17 Sep) at National Harbor, MD. Wayne, Ed, and Marcia will attend. National has a new Executive VP, Maj Gen (USAF ret) Mark Barrett.

CAFA

•  Martin Ledwitz reported on the CAFA Convention and said the Chapter was well represented by him, Wayne, Ed, and Marcia. He congratulated those who received CAFA awards. Martin, Wayne, and Don Tomajan received the Distinguished Service Medal. This is a new award for those who have served many years and have received many past awards. It is essentially a “Hall of Fame” award.

Meeting was adjourned at 13:28; minutes submitted by Marcia Peura.

In Attendance: Chris Beres, Joe Boyle, Pat Devine, Lt Col Bruce Fike, Bill Fraser, Mary Guyse, Bill Harding, Chris Harlambakis, Velvet Hoover, Nancy Insprucker, Chris Kalivas, Wayne Kauffman, Martin Ledwitz, Ed Peura, Marcia Peura, Steve Pluntze, Brian Polanco, Steve Quilici, Rick Reaser, Jerry Saunders, Steve Scott, Arnie Streland, Tav Taverney, Bob Wickwire.

Next meeting 25 Sep 2014