November 2012 Minutes

Board Member Absent: Alex Shakow

Committee Co-Chairs Attending: Curt Farrar, Pamela Mandel and Nancy Tumavick

Committee Co-Chairs Absent: Ann Van Dusen and Larry Smucker

Acting Chair: Frank Almaguer

Executive Assistant: Kristina Short

1. Welcome to new Board members David Cohen and Nancy Pielemeier:

The UAA Executive Committee welcomed incoming UAA Board members David Cohen and Nancy Pielemeier.

The UAA Executive Committee includes the seven elected Board members and the Co-Chairs of the four standing committees, who are appointed by the Board. Only Board members vote on issues requiring a recorded decision by the Board. However, all Executive Committee members participate in discussions and, in practice, the Executive Committee operates on the basis of consensus.

E-mail intended for the Executive Committee should be sent to: executivecommittee@usaidalumni.org.

2. Review and approval of the minutes for the October 12 Special Executive Committee meeting

The draft minutes of the October 12 Executive Committee meeting were reviewed and approved, with minor edits, for posting on the UAA website.

3. Election of UAA Board officers for the November 2012 – October 2013 period

The Board elected the following officers by unanimous vote:

• Co-Chairs: Nancy Pielemeier (new) and Alex Shakow (re-elected incumbent)
• Treasurer: George Hill (re-elected incumbent)
• Secretary: Frank Almaguer (re-elected incumbent)

It was noted that having one of the UAA Board Co-Chairs who is serving in the first year of a two-year term as a Board member and another Co-Chair who is serving in the second year of a two-year term as a Board member is helpful in preserving both continuity and a fresh perspective.

4. Designation of UAA Committee Co-Chairs for the November 2012 – October 2013 period:

The Board appointed Co-Chairs and Board Liaisons for the four standing UAA Committees, as follows:

1. Strengthening USAID: Jerry Wood (new) and Pamela Mandel (continuing) as Co-Chairs. David Cohen will serve as Board Liaison.
2. Membership: Nancy Tumavick and Paula Goddard (both continuing) as Committee Co-Chairs. Margaret Carpenter will continue to serve as Board Liaison.
3. Public Outreach: Ann Van Dusen (continuing) as Committee Co-Chair. The second Co-Chair remains to be determined. Alex Shakow will serve as Board Liaison.
4. Development Issues: Curt Farrar (continuing) as Committee Co-Chair. The second Co-Chair remains to be determined. Jim Michel will continue to serve as Board Liaison. Alex Shakow will also remain actively engaged with this Committee.

The Executive Committee confirmed that all Executive Committee members should contribute to any standing or ad hoc committee as circumstances warrant. The Executive Committee will continue to encourage all UAA contributing members to participate in committee activities, including leadership roles.

Next Steps:

• Curt and Ann will make recommendations to the Board regarding leadership for the Development Issues and Public Outreach Committees.
• The Board should formalize all designations by its December 20, 2012 Executive Committee meeting.

5. Review and approval of the Record of the 10/18/12 Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The report provides a comprehensive summary of the AGM. The Record includes the following:

1. Co-Chair and Treasurer’s reports
2. Minutes of the four UAA committee breakout meetings
3. Speech by the USAID Deputy Administrator
4. Memo of Understanding (MOU) between the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) Bureau and the UAA
5. Report on the proposed UAA Strategic Plan for the next two years (2013-15)
6. Record of presentations by USAID officials and alumni

The Board approved the AGM Record. It will be included in the UAA website and highlighted in the next Newsletter.

The UAA Strategic Plan will be located under the “Who We Are” menu so that it becomes readily accessible to website users.

The USAID/UAA Mentoring Program will likely need its own section in the website as the program progresses and more documents are accumulated.

For the next meeting, all Board members and Committee Co-Chairs should take a look through the website to make recommendations for future changes, additions and/or reorganization.

Curt Farrar brought up the potential need of a sub-site for use by the Development Issues committee.

The Executive Committee will seek to identify contributing members who might be interested working with David Cohen to maintain and update the website.

Next Steps:

• Review website organization and functionality at the December Executive Committee meeting.
• Discuss website content link with Development Issues Committee for panel discussions.

6. Follow-up to the AGM:

A. Membership participation: The Executive Committee agreed to discuss at the December Executive Committee meeting possible reasons for the low attendance at the 2012 AGM (less than 100) and ways to encourage greater alumni participation in UAA activities.

B. Completion of the draft 2013-15 Strategic Goals and Implementation Plan: It was agreed that this topic be revisited at the December Executive Committee meeting to allow committees time to deliberate and further develop activity plans, with a focus on the coming year.

C. AGM logistics and lessons learned:

• The change in meeting location may have discouraged attendance, although all agreed that the venue was excellent.
• Kristina will compile a list of those who attended the 2011 AGM but did not attend the 2012 AGM. The Executive Committee will consider contacting them to help it in preparing for the 2013 AGM.
• Kristina will draft an instruction manual for the AGM, including planning, promotion, catering, necessary items (e.g., placard, banner, supplies for check-in, Wi-Fi access), day-of-meeting activities, parking, and the availability of an AV specialist among our membership. The Committee will also contact Linda Whitlock-Brown to gain from her experience in the preparation and logistics of prior AGMs.
• It was agreed that the Executive Committee should consider the immediate designation of the 2013 AGM coordinator and an AGM committee.

D. Participation by alumni in the work of the UAA Committees:

• Committee Co-Chairs will invite those who participated in their respective AGM committee breakout sessions to their next committee meeting.
• Strengthening USAID: The Committee will develop a list of alumni willing to become mentors. Bob Otto has expressed interest as has David Mein (for EXOs, Controllers and Contracts Officers)
• Membership: Dick Brown will be added to the Membership Committee.

E. Follow-up meeting with USAID Senior Staff:

The Executive Committee will request a meeting with the USAID Counselor and leadership of PPL and HR early in 2013 to confirm points-of-contact for both UAA and USAID in the coming year and to advance the dialogue on UAA-USAID collaboration.

F. AGM expenditures and revenue:

• Approximate expenses for the 2012 AGM: $4,900
• AGM attendee fees collected at the door: $2,900
• 2012 membership contributions collected: $1,500

G. The 2012 panel on reminiscences organized by Janet Ballantyne was a great success and should be established as a permanent feature of the AGMs.

7. Distribution of the UAA copies of the 50th Anniversary Book

Alex Shakow is in possession of 100 copies of the book, delivered by Janet Ballantyne. The Executive Committee discussed using most of these volumes as a premium to encourage early 2013 membership contributions, e.g., for those who contribute at the $75 range and above. A few copies might be retained for other uses, perhaps stamped “Compliments of the USAID Alumni Association”.

Next Steps:

• Alex Shakow will confirm the distribution plan at the December meeting and the UAA will move to advertise and distribute in January 2013.
• George Hill will explore how mailing will impact the UAA budget and report back.

8. Next steps on the UAA/E&E mentoring project:

Pamela Mandel reported that Ann Patterson (E&E Bureau representative who attended the AGM Strengthening USAID Committee breakout session) and Andrew Maybrook (USAID/HR) are points-of-contact at USAID.

Mentoring Project update:

• The Strengthening USAID Committee has a list of approximately 12 alumni who have expressed interest in becoming mentors. Currently there are four (4) mentee candidates in Russia and 3-4 in the Balkans.
• The Strengthening USAID Co-Chair held a conference call with E&E earlier this week. E&E also had conference calls with mission directors to solicit interest in the program.
• There needs to be between 10-15 mentor-mentee relationships for the pilot to work successfully.
• Andrew Maybrook of USAID has developed a 1-½ day training session for mentors (bringing it down to one day is preferable). A ½ day session for mentees has also been developed. For those mentees in the US, face-to-face meetings with their mentors may be feasible and desirable.
• E&E has been asked to prepare a budget. The Committee will clarify the issue of invitational travel and whether these costs will be the responsibility of individual missions or will be underwritten by the E&E Bureau for the pilot phase.
• The Strengthening USAID Committee will need specific mentee backstops in order to match with mentors. No matching has been done to-date.

9. Developing, maintaining and reporting on the status of registered UAA alumni and contributing members:

Discussion was postponed until the December Executive Committee meeting.

Next Steps:
Kristina will send out a list of Contributing Members for 2011 and 2012 to the Executive Committee members for their review.

10. Executive Committee calendar of meetings for 2012-13: The Executive Committee agreed to continue meeting at the TetraTech offices in Rosslyn. Meetings will continue to be held on the 3rd Thursday of every month, from 10:30 am to 12:00 Noon.

Meeting dates for the 2012-2013 Executive Committee are as follows:

Thurs., Dec. 20
Thurs., Jan. 17
Thurs., Feb. 21
Thurs., Mar. 21
Thurs., April 18
Thurs., May 16
Thurs., June 20
Thurs., July 18
Thurs., Aug. 15
Thurs., Sep. 19

Tentative date for the 2013 AGM: Thurs., Oct. 17th 2013

11. Other business:

AFSA Luncheon in honor of Senator Richard Lugar: Frank Almaguer will follow-up regarding UAA attendance.