Minutes of the Board Meeting

Society for Glycobiology

Sheraton Universal Hotel, Los Angeles, CA

Nov. 17, 2006

 

In attendance were Board Members and Officers: Fred Brewer, Nancy Dahms, Chris West, Jamey Marth, Karen Colley, Michael Pierce, Linda Baum, Ron Schnaar, Mark Lehrman, David Bundle, Robert Haltiwanger, Steven Rosen and Kelley Moremen

1. Meeting was called to order by President Linda Baum at 12:30 pm.
   
   
2. The minutes of the previous Board Meeting (2005, Boston) were approved.
   
   
3. President’s Report:

a.  Thanks and Announcements:
Past President Ron Schnaar was thanked for organizing the successful Society meeting in Boston. He steps off the board as past-past president.

b.  Meeting questionnaire: The questionnaire from the 2006 Boston meeting was distributed. Comments and suggestions from the questionnaires were responded to as best as possible for the Los Angeles meeting.

c.  Meeting Statistics: Initial budget was for 350 attendees based on prior track record of mid-high 300’s for the Boston meeting. Over 400 pre-registered for the Los Angeles meeting and at least another 50 registered on-site, to result in a final attendance in the high 400’s. Consideration should be made about location and attendance for future meetings since the additional 50-100 attendees made a big difference in the bottom line for the meeting. Additional sponsors were also appreciated in support of the reception and other meeting expenditures. Registration fees were kept constant from last year, but Society membership fees were increased by $20 for 2007. Regarding the ongoing costs for the Society, the representative from Scientific Association Management (SAM), the meeting management company contracted by the Society, submitted a request for a compensation increase of $3000 for the 2007 fiscal year (a 15% increase over 2006) and proposed an increase of $1000 per year for the next 3 years. SAM was considered effective and responsive in past dealings with the Society. Speaker reimbursement fees were the same as prior years: invited foreign speakers received a $1000 flat reimbursement and domestic speakers received $500. An unexpectedly high number of travel award requests were received: 65 total requests. In the past all applicants received awards and if two applications came from the same lab the single award was split between the two applicants. This year there were additional restrictions that were imposed to reduce the overall costs to the Society (summarized in the Secretary’s report).

d.  Society web services contract: Discussion of the Society web site focused on the renewal of the contract for Inmerge, the company contracted by the Society for web services. The society discussed the effective role that Inmerge played in creation and maintenance of the web site following the death of Charles Warren, the prior webmaster for the Society in 2005. However, concerns were raised over the past year that the ongoing costs for web services provided by Inmerge were high compared to the features provided. When the contract expired in the summer it was extended to the end of the calendar year. An outside contractor was then contacted to perform a market evaluation of the Inmerge site and make recommendations to the Board. The Board discussed the proposal for the outside market evaluation and voted unanimously to move forward with the Executive committee making the final decision regarding the web services contract.

e.  Responses to other issues from 2005:

·         Free registration to journalists was not offered, but it was mentioned that the Nature web site has a new “glyco portal” in 2007 and the Society should contact the editor to attend the meeting to maximize exposure for the Society. 

·         Efforts to get the Society meeting on calendars of other societies were successful for ASBMB and AAI, but not FASEB. Other societies that were suggested for contact included American Chemical Society, American Society for Cell Biology, Society for Neuroscience, American Society for Neurochemistry, Society for Developmental Biology, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society for Microbiology, and American Society for Matrix Biology. Possibilities for reciprocity in posting meeting announcements were suggested, but concerns were expressed that publication space in Glycobiology is limited.  Inclusion on the Society web site calendar could be offered.

·         Abstract length for the meeting was restricted to 250 words, but the change was made a little late and the Society needs to be careful that the initial instructions state the correct length for 2007.

·         Suggestions from last year to increase the dollar amount for the Karl Meyer award were followed up with a comparison to awards given by other societies. The decision was made to increase the Karl Meyer award to $3000 for 2006.

·         A request for a joint meeting with the International Glycoconjugate Organization in the fall of 2009 was discussed at the 2005 Society meeting. Criteria for the joint meeting were discussed at the 2005 Board meeting including the publication of the abstracts in Glycobiology, organization of the meeting run by SAM, and monies generated by the meeting being split evenly between the IGO and the Society. Attempts to negotiate a common set of meeting criteria with the IGO were unsuccessful.

·         An industry sponsor requested that their scientific presentations be interspersed within the main scientific sessions rather than being placed in a satellite meeting. This would allow a potential corporate sponsor to support the attendance of their employees throughout the full meeting. It was too late to make the change for 2006 and the company subsequently decided to neither provide meeting sponsorship nor attend the meeting. The Board discussed the format of the meeting to potentially free up some time for the sponsor session. The possibility was discussed for adding a half-day to the first day of the meeting in order to make the meeting less congested and allow more time for the poster sessions. Other alternatives for altering the meeting format were also discussed in attempt to decrease session times without a break and increase the time for poster sessions. No final decision was made to alter the meeting format.

4. President Elect’s Report:

a.  The 2007 meeting will be held in Boston (Park Plaza) on Nov 11-14, 2007. The program for the meeting will be assembled in early 2007. The newly-elected President-elect (Mark Lehrman) mentioned that he is looking at venues for 2008 and is presently considering Fort Worth. The site location was discussed and the importance of maintaining a high attendance at the meeting was stressed as a key to maintaining the fiscal solvency of the Society.

5. Secretary’s Report:

a.  Minutes of Board Meeting from 2005 were distributed and election results were summarized: Mark Lehrman was elected as President-Elect and David Bundle, Bob Haltiwanger, and Steve Rosen were elected to the Board of Directors. Concern was expressed from the membership that an effort needs to be made to maintain women as nominees to the Board and institutional memory needs to be passed on to the Nominations committee to emphasize this point. For 2007 the Nominations Committee is comprised of two members elected by the membership (Rick Troy, term ending in 2009 and Paul Weigel, term ending in 2008), the outgoing President acting as chair (Linda Baum), and one appointee by the board (Pamela Stanley). The Awards Committee is comprised of the President Elect (Mark Lehrman, chair of the committee), Past President (Linda Baum), and the past three Karl Meyer awardees (Pamela Stanley, Ajit Varki, Jerry Hart). The Program Committee will be chosen by the President, Past President, and the President-Elect. The Publication Committee has three ad hoc members of the committee selected by the Board of Directors and the Board chose Anne Dell, Jamey Marth, and Jeff Esko for these positions. Jerry Hart was chosen by the Awards Committee to receive the Karl Meyer Award. Travel awards (varying from $250 - $900) were given to 60 students/postdocs to attend the meeting. Concern was expressed that a large number of the applicants for the travel awards (and their mentors) were not members of the Society. After a discussion of the Board it was decided that language should be added to the instructions for the travel awards indicating that the applicant and the mentor are strongly encouraged to become members of the Society. Under some circumstances travel awards would be considered from non-members following petition to the Awards Committee. Membership rolls for 2006 in the Society were 393 (memberships accepted between Sept 1, 2005 – Aug 31, 2006). The annual cycle for membership is now Sept 1 -> Aug 31 so that anyone that becomes a member after Sept 1 (but prior to the November annual meeting) will get member rate registration for the November meeting as well as the subsequent annual meeting. This was considered an inducement for potential members to get into the system prior to the meeting. Journal subscriptions start on Jan. 1 of a given year and continue to Dec. 31 of the year of membership.

6. Treasurer’s Report:

a.  A summary of the treasurer’s report of the Society accounts was presented. The balance was maintained at a level similar to prior years. $38,350 was spent on student travel awards. In general, the Society has been spending ~$40,000 per year for travel awards. Yearly receipts from memberships, journal royalties, and interest and dividends equaled $40,329. Recurring debts are about $21,000 per year.  The total balance of the society funds is $159,113. The yearly receipts have generally equaled the amount spent on travel awards, but concerns were expressed about the rising costs for web services, meeting management, legal costs, and insurance costs that may reduce available funds in the future. The issue of director’s insurance was discussed and the treasurer will follow-up on getting quotes.

b.  Discussion of the finances for the meeting revealed an ongoing concern that the catering costs for the meeting tend to rise from the time of the initial contract versus the final on-site costs. Future meetings need to take into account that catering costs do not fall under the initial fixed bid for meeting cost and invariably escalate by the time of the meeting. A better monitoring of the catering costs as the meeting approaches was strongly suggested.

 

7. Editor’s Report:

a.  An effort is being made to negotiate a decrease in subscription costs for electronic access to Glycobiology in 2008 in order to decrease overall membership costs and increase the Society membership. Oxford plans to present the Editor with more detailed financial information so that we can evaluate the impact on the journal and the Society finances.

 

8. Committee Reports: There were no Committee reports.
   
   
9. Old Business: There was no additional old business in addition to the Officer’s Reports.

 

10. New Business:

a.  A request was made by the chair of the Glycobiology Gordon Research Conference for financial support in the amount of $2000. After discussion the Board recommended full funding of the request.

b.  A request was made to sell the email list to vendors for income to the Society. Concern was expressed that the Society members must be given an option to accept this distribution of addresses. The Board was not in favor email list distribution at this time. Individuals or groups that request to use the list for bulk mailing can contact the Secretary and each mailing will be evaluated by the Executive committee (President, Past-President, President Elect, Treasurer, Secretary) for its suitability for distribution to the membership.

c.  A concern was expressed that the block of hotel rooms for the meeting was too small and the room costs for the additional attendees were unexpectedly high.  The discussion concluded that the Society does not want to be liable for the cost of unfilled rooms, but that close attention to the number of rooms reserved and policy for dealing with costs for additional rooms needs to be considered in the initial negotiation for the meeting site.

d.  The issue of the registration costs was raised. SAM suggested a 10% increase in registration fee for the 2007 meeting. The issue of the registration fee was tabled until a more complete post-meeting budget spreadsheet was made available from SAM. Concern was expressed that there is often a discrepancy between the budget numbers that are presented by SAM at the meeting versus the final numbers that are determined after the meeting. The Executive committee was charged with obtaining the final meeting finances and determining if an increase in registration fees was appropriate.

e.  Revisions to the Society bylaws were discussed. Initial changes were made by Ron Schnaar and Kelley Moremen, with subsequent revisions by the Society lawyer, Susan Flaherty, to reflect the District of Columbia code for nonprofit organizations. Changes to the bylaws included a revision of the language to allow electronic balloting, new regulations for allowing Board decisions at times other than at the annual Board meeting, and a stipulation that Board members and Officers are required to pay Society dues. New insertions to the bylaws included language that covered conflict of interest policies for the Board and Officers. Concerns about the language of the conflict of interest policy were discussed and it was resolved that the language would be revised to the satisfaction of all Board members prior to being circulated to the Board for a Unanimous Resolution.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kelley Moremen, Secretary

Society for Glycobiology

SOCIETY FOR GLYCOBIOLOGY

2006 Board of Directors

 

Dr Linda Baum: President (2006)

Department of Pathology

UCLA School of Medicine

10833 LeConte Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 91423

(310) 206-5985

president@glycobiology.org

lbaum@mednet.ucla.edu

 

Dr Jacques Baenziger: President-Elect (2007)

Department of Pathology and Immunology

Washington University Medical School

St. Louis, MO

(314) 362-8731

baenziger@pathology.wustl.edu

 

Dr Ronald L Schnaar: Past-President (2005)

Department of Pharmacology

The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

725 N. Wolfe Street, WBSB 324

Baltimore, MD 21205-2105.

(410) 955-8392

schnaar@jhu.edu

 

Dr J Michael Pierce: Treasurer (2005-7)

Complex Carbohydrate Research Center

315 Riverbend Rd.

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602-7229.

(706) 542-1702

hawkeye@uga.edu

 

Dr Kelley Moremen: Secretary (2006-9)

Complex Carbohydrate Research Center

315 Riverbend Rd.

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602-4712

(706) 542-1705

secretary@glycobiology.org

 

Dr Jamey D Marth: Director (2003-6)

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Dept. of Cellular and Molecular Medicine Leichtag Biomedical Research Bldg., Rm 485 University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, 0625

La Jolla, CA 92093-0626.

(858) 534-6526

jmarth@ucsd.edu

 

 

 

Dr Tamara L. Doering: Director (2003-6)

Washington University School of Medicine Department of Molecular Microbiology

Campus Box 8230

660 South Euclid Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63110-1093

(314) 747-5597

doering@borcim.wustl.edu

 

Dr Nancy Dahms: Director (2003-6)

Medical College of Wisconsin

Department of Biochemistry

8701 Watertown Plank Rd.

Milwaukee, WI 53226-4801

(414) 456-4698

ndahms@mcw.edu

 

Dr C Fred Brewer: Director (2005-8)

Department of Molecular Pharmacology

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

1300 Morris Park Avenue

Bronx, NY 10461.

(718) 430-2811

brewer@aecom.yu.edu

 

Dr Karen J Colley: Director (2005-8)

University of Illinois, Chicago

Department of Biochemistry & Mol.Genetics

900 S. Ashland Avenue M/C 669

Chicago, IL 60607.

(312) 996-7756

karenc@uic.edu

 

Dr Christopher M West: Director (2005-8)

Department of Biochemistry & Mol.Biology

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

975 NE 10^th St. BRC 417

Oklahoma City, OK 73104.

(405) 271-4147

christopher-west@ouhsc.edu