Board Members Present: Helene Clayton-Jeter, John Grohol, Matthew Holt, Janice McCallum, Jan Oldenburg, Burt Rosen, Danny Sands, Amber Soucy, Joe Ternullo, Sue Woods
Board Members Not Present: Geri Baumblatt, Judy Danielson, Sarah Krüg
Committee Chair Present: Lynda Mitchell, Governance Committee Chair
Full attendance record available here.
Welcome and Level-setting Danny Sands
Danny kicked off the meeting by attempting to clear up the decision-making process within the board, executive committee, leadership group and special committees. He emphasized that operating with agility requires delegating decision-making authority to smaller teams (a sentiment articulated by Matthew Holt, too).
Other board members, including Jan, Janice, and Helene suggested that clear, prompt communication of decisions that affect SPM’s operating plan or strategic direction would reduce confusion over who is making decisions and how they are being made.
Lynda noted the importance of documenting decisions if they occur outside of board meetings.
Minutes from last full board meeting approved Janice
Treasurer’s Report (Financial and Membership) John Grohol
Membership is flat relative to last year. There was a very small reduction in corporate and individual members in Feb 2019 relative to January 2018.
Deb Gordon will be taking on membership issue. She is on the marketing committee.
Retreat Redux Burt
Mary Hennings facilitated the strategic offsite and is working on completing the 2019 strategic plan.
From the outcome of the offsite, we have 3 key objectives for the year:
- Grow Membership (via new members and reducing non-renewals)
- Identify and implement a signature initiative
- Improve our organizational capacity
In response to Jan’s question about how we will define the signature initiative, Burt suggested we devote time to this question in the March board meeting.
Danny advised that we first lock in a strategic plan, then decide upon the signature initiative.
Helene expressed that she expected to receive communications/updates on progress on the strategic plan via emails between board meetings.
Danny pointed out that we will need to balance following guidance that results from the strategic plan with the need to keep ongoing activities in motion.
Sue Woods and Deb Gordon are working on member survey.
Action:
Motion to approve the 3 objectives from the retreat. With recommended change in wording to “identify & implement signature initiative” (as reflected above in these minutes).
The motion was approved unanimously.
Discussion of New Treasurer Candidate
There was discussion about the candidate for Treasurer, Debra Cobb, and how the role will differ from the role that John Grohol has played as Treasurer since SPM was founded. After much discussion about how our Bylaws define the Treasurer position, it was agreed that we can meet Debra’s desire to be Treasurer, but not a board member. As Treasurer, she will be an officer of the corporation, but not a member of the board of directors.
Action:
Motion to go forward with a vote for Debra Cobb as Treasurer as an officer of SPM, but not a member of the board of directors. An electronic ballot will be sent to all board members after the meeting.
The motion was approved unanimously.
Governance Lynda Mitchell
Governance report to the board was tabled until March meeting due to time limitations.
Chicago Budget Request Geri
Action:
Motion to approve the budget request from Geri Baumblatt to fund SPM meetups in Chicago. The motion was approved unanimously.
Adjourn — Next board meeting: March 26, 2019 at 4 pm
Respectfully submitted, Janice McCallum SPM Board Secretary
