Association of Alumni Executive Committee
Conference Call
October 7, 2020
4-5 PM ET
Participants: Missy Attridge, Amberlee Barbagallo, Bob Charles, Budge Gere, Kyle Huebner, Lee Merkle-Raymond, David Millane, Liz Nunez, Meg Ramsden, Angela Stafford, Monik Walters
President of the Association of Alumni Missy Attridge opened the conference call. Lee Merkle-Raymond moved to approve the minutes of the conference call that had been held on June 18, 2020. Budge Gere seconded the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved.
Missy Attridge gave a report from the Association of Alumni Nominating Committee, which consists of Missy, Kyle Huebner, Angela Stafford, Lee Merkle-Raymond, and Monik Walters. They held a conference call on August 28. All current Association of Alumni Officers and Executive Committee members who are eligible to serve another term will remain on the nominated slate. Executive Committee members Luke Antal, Angela Stafford, Budge Gere, and Steve Geanacopoulos will complete their terms this year. The role of secretary treasurer has typically been filled by an alum working in Blunt Alumni Center (most recently by Angela Stafford), and the Alumni Leadership team asked Lisa Caldeira ’07 if she would be willing to serve, and she has agreed.
The Executive Committee shared feedback with the Nominating Committee regarding suggestions about individuals to consider for the other vacancies, and those recommendations were endorsed after a discussion about the process continuing to build the robust pipeline of candidates. The Nominating Committee approved three alumni to be on the nominated slate to replace the other three outgoing members. These invitations will be extended as soon as possible so that the nominated slate can be posted online by November 20, 2020. Monik and Bob offered to help with the outreach. Meg Ramsden will circulate the bios of existing members for any updates.
Missy then gave a report from the Association of Alumni Balloting Committee. The Balloting Committee consists of Missy Attridge (chair, as required by the Association of Alumni constitution); Budge Gere, Monik Walters, and Steve Geanacopoulos. They held a conference call on September 17. The VoxtheVote website has been updated with information pertaining to this year’s timeline and potential election. The timeline was posted on the VoxtheVote website and the Association of Alumni website and announced in a news item on October 7. The committee approved the same word count limitations for all candidates as in the 2010-2020 elections which are a 400 word statement and bio combination for each officer and a 250 word statement and bio combination for each executive committee member. The nominated AOA slate will be posted online by November 20, 2020. The deadline for petition candidates to file the necessary signatures to run is December 10, 2020. An email notification will be sent to alumni on December 11, 2020 informing them about the Association of Alumni nominated slate and any petition candidates if they have filed to run.
The Alumni Council will vote on whether to approve the alumni-nominated trustee candidates at their meeting on October 23 The candidates will be announced to all alumni on October 26 via email and hard copy postcard. Requests for paper ballots and petition trustee candidate nominations will be accepted through January 4, 2021. If the election is contested, the Association of Alumni will administer an election with balloting conducted via email unless a paper ballot is requested. The AOA approved a 700 word statement and biography combination for alumni trustee candidates to be posted on the VoxtheVote website.
Meg Ramsden reviewed the Association of Alumni timeline that is posted online. The annual meeting of the Association of Alumni will be held in Hanover at 12 noon ET on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Typically committee members are invited to participate in person or via conference call. Because of COVID-19, guidelines that may need to adjust, and if so access information will be posted on the VoxtheVote website.
There will be a tentative conference call scheduled for the Association of Alumni Executive Committee during the week of October 26.
Submitted by,
Meg Ramsden
Associate Director, Alumni Leadership