August 10, 2007

Minutes of the ESA Governing Board 
August 10, 2007 
San Jose, CA

Members Present: Alan Covich (Past-President), Norm Christensen (President), Meg Lowman (Vice President for Education and Human Resources), Bill Parton (VP for Finance), David Inouye (Secretary), Ann Kinzig (Member at Large), Juan Armesto (Member at Large), Jayne Belnap (Member at Large), Richard Pouyat (VP for Public Affairs), Sunny Power (President-Elect).

Staff Present:
Katherine McCarter (Executive Director), Cliff Duke (Director of Science), Elizabeth Biggs (Director of Finance), Sue Silver (Editor), Teresa Mourad (Director of Education), Nadine Lymn (Director of Public Affairs), Ramona Crawford (Development), David Baldwin (Publications).

Guests: 
Kiyoko Miyanishi, Steve Chaplin

I. Roll Call, 9:01 AM

Welcome to new members, installation of Norm Christensen as President

II. Agenda items for the coming year (Christensen)

How to reduce the ESA’s environmental footprint (not just carbon). 
How to maintain Frontiers (budget management).
The new Millennium Symposium series (appoint a review committee for topics).
International outreach – how to follow on from the Merida meeting? How to make the meeting more affordable (especially housing and food) to encourage international students? 
The regionalization initiative, especially the ongoing southeast effort.
Biofuels – possibly a follow-up meeting in Brazil?

III. Welcome to ESA’s 10,000th member, Walter Heady (and his wife, #10,001)

IV. Meeting dates – November 2007 dates to be arranged by e-mail in the near future, but please reserve 15-16 May 2008.

V. Discussion/Action items

1. Audit committee.
   We need three members for the committee, whose primary responsibility is to examine the audit and participate in a conference call with the auditors. Rich Pouyat and Ann Kinzig volunteered and Rob Jackson is volunteered.
2. 2012 annual meeting site (Chaplin)
   The Meetings Committee has recommended Portland. A motion is moved, seconded, and approved unanimously: The Board supports the choice of Portland for the 2012 annual meeting. 
   The Meetings Committee has also recommended that the savings from getting free use of the Portland convention center be used for student travel. A motion is moved, seconded, and approved unanimously: The Board supports the idea of using cost savings from free use of the convention center in 2012 to add to the endowment for student travel. Proposals for shorter-term solutions to funding additional student travel will be presented at the November meeting. 

   Despite the growth in size of our annual meeting, we probably aren’t large enough to move to a top-tier convention center (e.g., New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.); we’d have to double the size of our hotel block commitment. And we probably couldn’t use student volunteers in those cities (union regulations).

3. Feedback on the meeting. 
   Sometimes there weren’t enough questions/discussion at the end of oral presentations to fill the entire 20 minutes, leading to wasted time. Some discussion of how to encourage more people to present posters rather than talks.

Meeting adjourned at 10:20 AM.

David Inouye, Secretary