I-CHRIE 2004 Summer Board of Directors Meeting

July 27, 2004

Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Call to Order:

Rai called the meeting to order at 8:40 am and welcomed Bill Frye, from the Nominating Committee, and Marianna Sigala, the new EUROCHRIE representative.

Roll Call:

Cynthia Mayo read the roll call. Persons present included: Rai Shacklock, Kathy McCarty, Mike Zema, Jeannine Cookson, Debby Cannon, Steve Cornelius Deanna Williams, Fred DeMicco, Kaye Chon, Steve O’Connor, Bob Bosselman, Bill Frye, Arun Upneja, Bill Samenfink, Leah Dopson, John Lee, Fred Mayo, and Cynthia Mayo.

Minutes:

Cynthia called for approval of the January 9, 10, 11, 2004 Board minutes. Since there were no corrections other than spelling of person’s names, the minutes were approved.

President’s Report:

Rai reported on her visit to ASIAPAC-CHRIE and a trip to Bulgaria. There was some discussion of membership fees from foreign countries and the difficulty of members from developing countries – which do not make much money – having enough funds. Marianna suggested using the criteria for developing countries as defined by the World Bank tables which are continuously updated. Other topics raised included:

  • providing reduced benefits,
  • providing lower fees for both institutions and individuals,
  • considering practices of other associations,
  • reviewing the impact on our own members,
  • finding governmental or agency grants for these memberships, and
  • encouraging corporate sponsorship of these institutions from member countries.

Mike moved and Janine seconded a motion to referthis topic to the Membership and Finance Committees with a request that they make a recommendation for the January Board Meeting. It was passed unanimously.

Rai also talked about including the best papers – typically two or three each year – from the Graduate Conference at the annual Conference as a way to encourage graduate students to join I-CHRIE. They would be expected to pay registration fees and included in conference activities. They would not be included in the Annual Conference Proceedings unless we marked them accordingly and get formal permission from them. The suggestion was made to provide a slot for this group and to find ways to include these graduate students and to make them part of the family. It was the sense of the group that we should take this action.

Kaye suggested that I-CHRIE find a way to provide a physical membership form and collect membership fees from checks and credit cards at the graduate conference, federation conferences, and Annual Conference.

Rai and Kathy indicated that Pepsi was going to support a reception for the New Attendee’s Meeting tomorrow afternoon. Thank you, Steve Caldeira!. Bill Samenfink encouraged all Board members to attend, and Fred requested that all Board members meet and greet new members whenever they see them.

Cynthia mentioned the notion of what the organization should do to recognize the passing of I-CHRIE members. Mike suggested that we develop a protocol. Bob indicated that historically we have informed the office when an industry or academic member passes, and we have – and will continue to – provided a moment of silence at the beginning of the Annual Meeting. Debbie will add the notion of notifying the office at the meeting this Friday, and she will put this suggestion in the Chapter Leadership Manual. Suggestions included:

  • A page in the conference program mentioning the loss,
  • A story or note in the Communiqué on persons who have been leaders in I-CHRIE,
  • A moment of silence at the beginning of each Annual Meeting,
  • Notifying members of the Board of Directors when some one passes,
  • An in-memoriam section in the Communiqué as appropriate, and
  • A note or flowers to the family when the person has been a past leader or significant person in I-CHRIE.

The question of how to respond to significant illness was also raised.

There was some discussion of providing some recognition for Flora Galliard and the Historically and Predominantly Black College Consortium and were encouraged to consider developing an award and an endowment in her name. The discussion of endowments for awards indicated that approximately $ 25,000 would be the minimum to establish an award endowment. Bill encouraged Fred to spread the word about creating award endowments, and Fred agreed to do that. Rai suggested that Fred mention it in his Immediate Past President report.

Membership Report:

Steve Cornelius reported on the membership survey which has been answered by 50 to 60 people and will be available so that members can complete the survey during the Annual Conference. Steve has planned his Membership Committee meeting and is working on responding to high school educators. Steve is exploring a subscription model for high school teachers who cannot get funding for membership but can get money for subscriptions. The current membership is about 1127.

Kathy McCarty reminded the group of the discussion from last January where we all talked about each member finding a new member – 2004 members in 2004 – if we don’t double, we are in trouble.

Director of Chapter’s Report:

Debbie reported that Florida-Caribbean CHRIE and Southeast CHRIE have decided not to merge, and Florida-Caribbean CHRIE has a slate of officers and will be moving forward as a separate chapter.

She also mentioned that we need to channel new members to their respective chapter meetings on Thursday afternoon. Eighty percent of the chapters have selected their new officers and other chapters will be doing those elections here.

In terms of new federations, Debbie reported that the ASIA Pacific Chapter does currently not have enough members to become a federation but they are working on it. Bill reminded the group that there are some bylaws issues that need to be recognized in this process. The Australia and New Zealand members are being polled by Perry Hobson, President of Australia and New Zealand, and EUROCHRIE needs to release the group if that happens.

Debbie is still working on chapter awards for next year; the meeting at the conference this Friday will also discuss best practices and benchmark some of them. There was also some discussion of reporting dates of June 15 and the need for budget information. She also distributed an update – on CD ROM – of the Chapter Leadership Manual that Janice Pratt had originally developed.

Director of Publications:

Kaye Chon reported on the several proposals – Palgraves, Sage, Taylor and Francis, and Ebsco – for the publication of Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research since the Sage contract is coming to an end. He also reminded the group that the publication of theJournal of Hospitality and Tourism Research will be moved from just hard copy to hard copy and electronic copy, as decided at the January board meeting. TheJournal of Hospitality and Tourism Research is now regarded as one of the top journals in this field. The Publications Council worked hard at reviewing these proposals.

Three dimensions – financial attractiveness, long term potential growth of the journal, and image and reputation of the journals and the publishing companies – were considered, and Taylor and Francis appeared to be the most financially attractive. From the perspective of long term growth, image and reputation, however, Sage was the most attractive. The Publications Council encouraged Kaye to discuss Sage improving the offer for I-CHRIE which yielded two better proposals. The new proposals include free copies of up to 1500 members, mailing fees being paid by Sage, a guarantee of royalties, and electronic publication and access.

Kaye proposed and the Board recommended that Kaye, Arun, and Kathy meet with Catherine Rossbach, from Sage Publications, during the Annual Conference to consider and discuss these proposals, share these proposals with the Publications Council, and that Kaye – or a member of the Publications Council – report to the Board on Saturday. The Board complemented Kaye on doing an excellent job in developing the new proposals with Sage.

In terms of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Educator and Hosteur, the Board agreed with Kaye’s recommendation that the Publications Council review and issue a second request for proposals for Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Educator and Hosteur since there is no urgency in this situation.

Kaye also mentioned the paper review process for referred and poster stand up sessions and shared the following statistics:

Referred Stand-Up Presentations
Received / 126 / 100 %
Accepted / 74 / 58.7 %
Rejected / 28 / 22.2 %
Recommended for poster / 24 / 19.1 %
Referred Poster Presentations
Received / 64 / 100 %
Accepted / 42 / 65.6 %
Rejected / 22 / 34.4 %

He also indicated that there were some areas with very limited submissions. They were in the area of leisure – 1 submission, in legal – only 2, and in club –only 1. The chair of the referred paper committee will delete these areas, or merge them appropriately, or create an “Other” category at the discretion of the chair of the referred papers. In addition, Curtis Love has resigned from the review board, and Kaye will appoint someone to that group. There was some discussion about more international representatives on the review committee. There were no numbers about submissions.

Director of Conferences:

Bill Samenfink reported on the Annual Conference – about 700 to 800 registrants –

and thanked the Host Committee under Nick Hadgis’ leadership. So far we have collected $202,000 from the Annual Conference, and I-CHRIE is on budget for this conference. There are only three keynote speakers, the Marketplace is only open Wednesday night and Thursday all day (until 3:00 pm), and there are other differences in this new model as well.

Bill is creating a local host committee – even if the members are not local residents and may just represent the Pacific Chapter – for Las Vegas, and he discussed possible speakers for plenary sessions and other plans for the 2006 conference. Jackie Chan may be a possibility in person or on tape, which Kaye Chon is exploring in terms of sponsorship and publicity. Gilles Honneger might suggest a strategist, economist as a speaker. Steve Wynn is also being considered. There was also some discussion of themes, transportation to the strip, length and format of the conference, open meals, marketing/promoting the conference, and the benefits of the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort, Spa and Golf at the Resort at Summerlin location. The Conference Planning Committee will be considering these issues when they meet later this week. Bill also encouraged Board members to attend the Conference Debriefing Session on Saturday afternoon at 3:30.

Executive Vice President’s Report:

Kathy reported on her work, and shared complimentary registrations, with other associations, especially with HSMAI, Financial Professionals, the Multi-Cultural Foodservice Alliance, International Association of Convention and Business Bureaus, and Foodservice Consultants Society International. She also attended Hi-Tech in Dallas in June. These relationships are all very positive and encouraging; undoubtedly, they will help I-CHRIE grow.

Kathy also updated the Board on developments in the I-CHRIE office. The Operational Restructuring plan was started on January 1, and there have been some challenges with so many new staff members. In August, she will hold a staff retreat to make the business plan operational and to review who does what tasks in the office so that I-CHRIE is structured for success. Ellen Galant, Staff Director of Marketing, and Kevin Anderson, Director of Operations, and Linda Beringer, Administrative Assistant, will be here at the conference.

President’s Report:

Raiintroduced the discussion of the Business Plan, requested some assistance from Arun and Leah to put revenue and expenses (especially forecasted returns) to the plan and called for comments about the following key goals:

  1. Identify and market to all our key market segments of membership in I-CHRIE
  2. Market I-CHRIE as the global authority in hospitality and tourism knowledge
  3. Double the size of the membership in the next five years
  4. Increase the attendance at all I-CHRIE sponsored events
  5. Increase I-CHRIE’s financial resources through a variety of strategies, including, but not limited to, sponsorships, grants, and endowments

The topicsdiscussed included:

  • The need for a breakeven analysis
  • The need for specific numbers for the strategies
  • Setting some priorities for year one
  • Developing specific tactics for each strategy
  • Clarifying who will assume each of these tasks – staff or volunteers and by when
  • Ways to decide what strategies are most important and when they should be high priorities and when they could be lower priorities

The Board referred this plan to the Strategic Planning Committee for more detailed work and refinement; the committee will work with Kathy to determine answers to the key questions of who is going to do what and how much it will cost. Bob Bosselman committed the Strategic Planning Committee to provide a first report for the Executive Committee at the November meeting.

Vice President’s Report:

Mike Zema reported on his work with The Deans and Director’s event, Steve Caldeira and the Pepsi scholarships, Gerry Hernandez as the speaker for the Deans and Directors, and his leadership of the Strategic Planning Committee. He noted the growth of the board, its pattern of accountability, the success of the Michigan CHRIE conference.

He passed to Bob Bosselman the challenge of obtaining sponsorships for the ESD functions during the Hotel and Motel Show in New York show and the NRA show in Chicago. There was some discussion of the role of ESD, ways to get ESD students excited about careers in teaching and scholarship, finding a way to make them I-CHRIE members, and getting them associated with other students and alumni in the field. Although there are 700 programs out there, there are only 65 ESD chapters so we have not reached out to as broadly as we might do in the future.

Bill Samenfink suggested making a new ESD Board position,who would be the Chair of the Board of Governors of ESD, in order to encourage more reports, more growth of chapters, more special products for ESD members, an alumni model, getting graduate students as ESD members, and more support for chapters. The suggestion was referred to the Bylaws Committee to consider and think about the role of this position in terms of student involvement in the broadest sense as well as consider other Board positions to move us ahead in realizing our Strategic Plan. There was a suggestion that the Strategic Planning Committee consider student I-CHRIE chapters as well as ESD chapters as the committee works on the strategic plan. The role of Hosteur was also mentioned.

Treasurer’s Report:

Arun will report on the May financial report (after the Finance Committee meets), reminded the group of his work on the publications proposal, and called attention to the Appendix about financial recommendations.

Immediate Past President’s Report:

Fred Mayo reported on the Nominating Committee’s work, the Awards Committee’s work, and the Standing Rules (while distributing current copies), and shared the document about “Twelve Ways to Improve Board Members” which was developed for previous I-CHRIE board training. He explained the McCool Award and the plan to revise the nominating process with the goal of making the first award next year in Las Vegas. Other suggestions made included requesting more information during nominations so that persons do not have to provide information about themselves if they are nominated, and requesting persons to give us bios when they join or rejoin (pay their yearly dues to ) I-CHRIE.

He also encouraged all individuals as members of the Board of Directors to give a personal gift – regardless of amount – to I-CHRIE to support the Awards and start to build an endowment. It will be easier to obtain other funds if we can say that all members of the Board of Directors personally donate.

Director of Marketing Report:

Fred DeMicco reported on the graduate conference and other ways to encourage students to get involved such as publishing in Hosteur, honoring best student papers, and continuing to work with industry members. He encouraged everyone to continue talking up I-CHRIE and find ways to showcase our research and spread the word about what we are doing (that can make an impact on our industry and the world) to build interest in our Annual Conference like the recent Alzheimer’s Conference in Philadelphia.

Fred suggested that all our member institutions should have a link from our website to their websites from free. He also suggested making us the referral source for students and parents about where to go to school, college, and university. Kathy indicated that the office is working on the click-map. Cynthia asked about CEU’s as a way to continue to build attendance at I-CHRIE events and to recognize attendance at the career academies. Bill will investigate the notion. We also need to act like the leader we want to become by being or becoming the hospitality resource center for information.