Minutes of the Board Meeting

Society for Glycobiology

Ft. Worth, TX

Nov. 14, 2008

 

In attendance were Board Members and Officers: Mark Lehrman, Tom Oeltmann, Michael Pierce, Kelley Moremen, Fred Brewer, Chris West, Robert Haltiwanger, and Steven Rosen, (non-voting newly-elected Board Members for 2009 attendees: Paul DeAngelis, Don Jarvis, Kelly TenHagen and Michael Tiemeyer,)

1. Meeting was called to order by President Mark Lehrman at 12:30 pm and signed conflict of interest forms were collected from all Board members.
   
   
2. Board membership issue: The Board was informed by the Secretary that the 2008 election of officers resulted in the choice of Bob Haltiwanger as the President-elect for 2009.  Since Bob was presently serving as a member of the Board of Directors, it would be necessary to replace him on the Board of Directors for 2009.  The Bylaws of the Society did not have an established policy for succession under these circumstances.  As a result the Executive Committee chose the nominee with the next-highest vote total in the 2008 election for Board of Directors (beyond the three newly elected Board members) to fill the vacancy for the remainder of Bob Haltiwanger’s term (2007-10). The question was presented to the Board for their approval that the nominee, Dr. Paul DeAngelis, would fill the remaining two year term on the Board of Directors. The Board voted unanimously in favor of Dr. DeAngelis and he was then allowed to attend the remainder of the Board meeting as a non-voting attendee. 
   
   
3. The minutes of the previous Board Meeting (2007, Boston Park Plaza, Boston, MA) were approved.
   
   
4. President’s Report:

a.    Thanks and Announcements:
Past President Jacques Baenziger was thanked for organizing the successful Society meeting in Boston. He steps off the board as past-past president for 2009.  The existing and newly elected Board members introduced themselves.

b.   The President raised the issue that the Bylaws should be revised to formalize the policy of succession of Board of Directors in circumstances where they have been elected as an Officer in the Society. The present language in the Bylaws describes the replacement of Officers under health or other circumstances, where they are no longer able to perform their duties.  Under these circumstances the Board is able to choose a replacement. A motion was made to insert language into the Bylaws to allow the ability of the Board to replace Board members in addition to Executive Committee members.  The Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

c.    Meeting summary: It appeared that the meeting budget and expenses were in line and no major concerns were raised by the meeting management company.  An issue was raised regarding the need to book enough rooms for the satellite meeting, since these meetings have drawn more attendees that in previous years.  The suggestion was made for the incoming President to coordinate closely with the Consortium for Functional Glycomics to adjust the reserved room block accordingly.  Tom Oeltmann (President-elect) mentioned that he has already discussed this issue with Brent Watson (Scientific Association Management), the meeting management company that negotiates the hotel facilities for the Society, and feels that present room arrangements for the San Diego meeting are in order.

d.   Three issues were raised regarding revisions to the Bylaws that will be instituted in 2009 by suggestion of the Society lawyer.  The first issue regards a whistleblower policy that needs to be incorporated into the Bylaws as per federal guidelines for non-profit organizations.  The second issue is one relating to a formalized policy of destroying Society documents.  The third issue relates to the requirement of the Board to review of the annual tax filing (Form 990). In 2008 and 2009 it will be necessary to acknowledge that the changes in the policy will be forthcoming, but for the 2010 tax filing it will be necessary for all members of the Board to sign-off acknowledging that they have reviewed the filing. The tax filing deadline is in May and it is commonly extended until the fall.  As of 2010 it will be necessary to distribute the Form 990 filing to the Board for approval before being submitted to the IRS.  Concern was expressed regarding liability issues for the Board. The accountant stated that the revision of the Bylaws should stipulate that the Treasurer would assume responsibility for the filing.  The Treasurer should also be certain to maintain the Board of Directors liability insurance to protect the Board from law suits for misappropriation of funds by entities such as the meeting management company.  The Board was informed that revisions to the Bylaws will be distributed in 2009 for review and the revisions will be passed by unanimous consent in 2009.

e.    Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology: A summary of the establishment of the Rosalind Kornfeld Award was presented to the Board.  Linda Baum was thanked for her efforts in establishing the language for the award.  The decision was made by the Awards Committee to present two inaugural awards to Drs. Spiro and Sharon with a total of $3000 from the Society treasury to be split equally between the two awardees. The intent for the award was that the Awards Committee should not be obligated to present the award each year if they felt that there was not a deserving nominee, but more than one award per year could also be granted if they felt that it was appropriate.

f.    A prior suggestion was made by Linda Baum to invite NIH program directors to the Society meeting to provide additional contact with meeting attendees.  Since it would not be possible to provide monetary support for their attendance, the only possible action would be to formally or informally request their attendance at the meeting.  It was also mentioned that there was a glycobiology-focused meeting at NIH this last year that gave an opportunity for program officers to see the presentations and meet invited speakers. Additional efforts to promote the Society to NIH staff were strongly encouraged.

g.    History of the Society written by Dr. Jeremiah Silbert: A history of the Society from the mid-1960’s to 1990 was written and submitted to the Secretary.  The document will be distributed for editing by the Board and programs from the corresponding meetings will be scanned and posted on the Society web site.  A suggestion was also made to try to get a text version of the Rosalind Kornfeld Award presentations as well as the Karl Meyer Award presentation for posting on the Society web site.

h.   A request for the renewal of the Society website contract was presented by Inmerge two days prior to the annual meeting.  A three-year renewal was requested at a net budget increase of 3% per year.  Two concerns were discussed regarding the work of Inmerge in the preceeding year.  The first was the mis-numbering of the abstracts in the meeting program as a result of a web reporting error by Inmerge and the second was the lack of forwarding of emails to the President, Secretary, or Treasurer for a 3 month block of time in early 2008. These concerns were raised to Inmerge and a response was requested The Society also requested that any web updates should be tested separately from the main website and confirmed that there are no glitches prior to use by the Society membership.

i.     Editor-in-Chief of Glycobiology:  Ron Schnaar has informed the journal editorial board and the Society that he will step down as editor-in-chief of the journal as of January 2011.  The Bylaws state that Society needs to have a replacement editor-in-chief by January 2010 to overlap with Ron and take over in 2011.  Nominees for the position are solicited by the Publications Committee and the candidate will be elected by the membership of the Society in the fall elections.

j.     Funding for the Glycobiology Gordon Conference: A request was made by Chris West for assistance in funding of the 2009 Gordon Conference. A letter requesting $2000 from the Society was submitted in support of speakers and new or young investigators to attend the meeting.  The Board discussed the request and decided to provide $3000 in support of the Gordon Conference.

5. President Elect’s Report:

a.    The President-elect announced that the 2010 meeting will be held in San Diego (Catamaran Hotel) on Nov 12-15, 2009. The program for the meeting will be assembled in early 2009. 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.

 

6. Secretary’s Report:

a.  Minutes of Board Meeting from 2007 were distributed and election results were summarized: Bob Haltiwanger was elected as President-Elect, Don Jarvis, Kelly Ten Hagen, and Michael Tiemeyer were elected as members of the Board of Directors starting in 2009, Karen Colley was elected to the Nominating Committee, and Kelley Moremen was re-elected to the position of Secretary.  As discussed at the beginning of the meeting, Paul DeAngelis was elected as the replacement on the Board to complete the term of Bob Haltiwanger.  For 2008 the Awards Committee was comprised of Jacques Baenziger, Tom Oeltmann, Ajit Varki, Jerry Hart, Jeff Esko.  The 2008 Nominations Committee was comprised of two members elected by the membership (Rick Troy, term ending in 2009 and Paul Weigel, term ending in 2008), the Past-President acting as chair (Jacques Baenziger), and one appointee by the board (Marilynn Etzler).  Karen Colley will replace Paul Weigel on the committee for 2009.  The Board discussed the appointment of an ad hoc member of the 2009 Nominations Committee and after discussion they voted unanimously to select Jerry Hart as the appointee from the Board with Ron Schnaar as a backup if there was a problem with the primary choice. The Program Committee was established by the President in consultation with the Past-President, and the President-Elect. The Publication Committee has three ad hoc members of the committee selected by the Board of Directors (Anne Dell, Jamey Marth, and Jeff Esko).  None were up for re-election in 2007.  Richard Cummings was chosen by the Awards Committee to receive the Karl Meyer Award. Robert Spiro and Nathan Sharon were chosen for the Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology. Travel awards (varying from $200 - $800) were given to 57 students/postdocs to attend the meeting at a total cost of $33,600. Based on criteria from prior years, travel awards were funded at $800 per lab. If two applications were received from the same lab the award was split evenly ($400 each). If the applicant was not a member of the Society, the award was reduced by 25% and if the mentor was not a member the award was reduced by 25%. Membership rolls for 2008 in the Society were 319 (memberships accepted between Sept 1, 2007 – Aug 31, 2008). Journal subscriptions start on Jan. 1 of a given year and continue to Dec. 31 of the year of membership. The significant reduction in the cost of electronic access to the journal, Glycobiology, was considered a significant inducement to renew memberships. The Board discussed the reduction in membership for 2008 and concluded that a presentation should be made to the meeting to reinforce the benefits of membership in the Society.

7. Treasurer’s Report:

a.    A summary of the treasurer’s report of the Society accounts was presented. The Treasurer described the two separate bank accounts that handle Society expenses. One account is maintained by the Treasurer, while the second is held by the meeting management company, Scientific Association Management. The balance of the endowment in the Treasurer account had decreased as a result of the economic downturn and losses in the investment portfolio ($164,403 for 2008 versus $201,938 for 2007).  A total of $33,600 was spent on student travel awards for 2007. In general, the Society has been spending ~$35,000-40,000 per year for travel awards. Yearly receipts from memberships, journal royalties, and interest and dividends equaled $52,795. Expenditures for 2008 were $67,915.  The total balance of the society funds is $144,159 (versus $174,884 for the same time in 2007). The meeting management company stated that the balance sheet following the 2008 meeting should be close to breaking even following payment of all expenses. Attendance was 371 for the 2008 meeting. Royalties from Oxford were slightly increased for 2008. For 2009, the anticipated increases in Society expenses include the meeting management company (5% increase), web services (3% increase), and the increase in award costs (additional $3000 for the Rosalind Kornfeld Award).  Income from the 2008 Society meeting will determine what money will be available for student/postdoctoral travel awards to attend the 2009 meeting in San Diego. [note: the post-meeting profit and loss statement indicated a net loss of $9,389 for the 2008 Annual Meeting]. The Board discussed increasing the membership fee from $55 to $65 for 2009 and a motion for the increased fee passed unanimously. The Board discussed lowering the budget for travel awards for the 2009 meeting to ~$30,000.

 

8. Editor’s Report:

a.  No report.

 

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

 

11. New Business:

a.    There was no additional new business.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kelley Moremen, Secretary

Society for Glycobiology