ASABE MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
CONFERENCE CALL
December 17, 2015
Alicia Modenbach, presiding
Minutes
Present: Alicia Modenbach, Brady Lewis, Harry Huffman, Austin Harvey, Ganesh Bora, Ann Christy, Calvin Parnell, Manoj Karkee, Chris Whysong, Lamin Kassama, Rafael Munoz-Carpena, Dave Murray, Jody Purswell, Aaron Yoder, Gary Seibel, Scott Mueller, Tom Brumm, Paul Burkner, and Mark Crossley
The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. EST by MDC chair Alicia Modenbach.
A quorum of council members was confirmed.
Additions to the Agenda
Proposed changes to student programming at the AIM.
Approval of July MDC Meetings Minutes (see attachment)
Motion: To approve the minutes as written. Seconded and passed.
Budget Reports
2015 Forecast: On track to meet budget. Restricted Reserve is at 62% of prior year’s operating expenses (50% is the target). ASABE is very financially healthy.
2016 Proposed: The Board of Trustees (BOT) recently passed a balanced budget for 2016. A new event which might affect this is the Global Security Food Conference.
Initiative Fund: At their October meeting, the BOT took the recommendation of the Finance Committee and approved monies of up to $75,000 in Initiative Funds for 2016. The deadline for proposal submission is February 15.
The authors of three previously submitted 2015 proposals were asked for clarification and/or more information by the Initiative Fund Evaluation Committee this past spring before being funded. The committee received proper documentation and funded them as follows: Child Care at the 2016 AIM, $5,000; Ethics Video Challenge, $8,800; and Graduate Student Involvement at the 2016 AIM, $7,500. Question was raised regarding the number of submissions received (7) and funded (6)There were a total of six proposals received and funded to some extent for 2015.
Website Usability Study Update
Based on recommendations from the study conducted in 2015, we sent a request for proposals for the development of an online smart application. The RFP was sent to four organizations, but no one responded. This and other issues that came up as a result of the usability study will be addressed by the BOT Website Usability/Digital Strategy Task Force, which is currently being developed. This task force will look into issues related to our site in the first quarter of 2016.
Young Professionals Development Workshop
The workshop has been rescheduled to April 8-9, 2016. It will still be held at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Workshop topics will include financial planning, leadership development, and perspectives on strategic management. This event was moved from October 2015 due to low registration numbers.
Student Programming at the 2016 AIM
Building on the momentum the Student Engagement Committee made in 2015 to bring more attention to student activities at the New Orleans meeting, there are big changes proposed for the 2016 AIM. The leadership of this group has worked with the ASABE Meetings staff to move student competitions and events around on the schedule to alleviate conflicts and encourage better attendance at these events. They have also proposed the addition of an AEM Student Awards and Recognition breakfast to replace the AEM Student Luncheon. This new event would highlight all student-related awards, scholarships, and competitions, thus making the traditional awards luncheon program shorter. There would be a nominal fee for this event with underwriting from AEM. Christan Whysong requested that Alpha Epsilon awards also be considered for inclusion in the awards recognition. Concerns were raised about the proposed breakfast interfering with standards work.
For Information
-Headquarters Report (see attachment). It was noted that we anticipate ending 2015 with more new members – both professional and student – than we’ve had since 2008. We also expect total member numbers to be above last year’s for the first time since 2008.
With no further business before the MDC, the following motion was made:
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 4:00 pm. Seconded and passed.