To see Motions Considered and Acted Upon click here.
To see Minutes of Face-to-Face Portion of Meeting click here.
These reports were presented at the 2017 Winter Policy Council Meeting and are listed alphabetically by the last name of the reporter. Reports are Acrobat® (.pdf) files and can be read using Acrobat® Reader® software available from adobe.com. Supporting material may be provided. Links, when shown, were supplied by the authors and were current at the time of publication.
Andersen, David Report of VP Finance for Winter 2017 Meeting (Summary: The Winter Report is an abbreviated report based on two financial reports developed each year by the Society's Home Office staff: (1) Revenue & Expense, 2016 & 2015 Comparison, and (2) Balance Sheet, 2015 & 2015 Comparison. The Society experienced a relatively poorer financial performance in 2016 due to several factors. Fortunately, I expect that our assets will perform substantially better in 2016 than they did in 2015. When all this is added up, we will still experience a loss in overall Net Income. That said, the Society still maintains substantial cash reserves of over $1.2 million and is well positioned to enter into our upcoming transition. The two attached reports come directly from the QuickBooks system that is maintained by the Home Office staff. These reports have not been reviewed by our CPA; they will change somewhat because a number of important transactions have not yet been posted. I predict that when everything is properly accounted for the Society will close out 2016 with a substantial loss in Net Ordinary Income even greater than our final numbers for 2015.) Report Supporting
Armenia, Stefano PC Winter Meeting 2017 - report on Chapters Status 2016 (Membership in Chapters seems to be increasing. The degree of activity and Chapters’ web presence was similar to previous years. The Asia-Pacific conference originally planned for later in 2016 has been moved to February 2017 and seems to have been a great success. It continues to be important that active new Chapters apply for support from the Field Development fund. ) Report
Barlas, Yaman System Dynamics Review Executive Editor Report to the Policy Council (This is my first yearly report as Executive Editor of SDR to System Dynamics Society. Prior to this, I submitted a short ‘Statement’ in the July 2016 meeting of the Policy Council in Delft. In this report I will try to summarize the current state of SDR, the main challenges, major activities/developments to combat them, and the outlook and future plans.) Report Supporting
Black, Laura Report, Ad Hoc Committee Advising PhD Colloquium (Report describes main accomplishments for 2016 and goals for 2017.) Report Supporting
Breslin, Michael Winter Meeting Agenda (The Report is the final text agenda for the 2017 Winter Policy Council Meeting. The Supporting material is the PowerPoint presentation of the agenda. ) Report Supporting
Breslin, Michael Memo from Admin Committee to Policy Council, Recommendations, and Appendices; Home Office Transition (This report contains multiple documents. The Report link is the Memo by John Morecroft, Chair, from the Admin Comm and the Transition Comm to the Policy Council. The Supporting link contains three separate report documents combined into one pdf. They are the "Recommendations to Move Home Office of the SDS" from the Transition Committee (4 pages); "Appendices to Recommendations of the Transition Committee of the System Dynamics Society Memo of February 1, 2017" (11 pages); and the "Transition Committee Narrative Summaries" dated January 19, 2017 (5 pages). The "CHMS Proposal for Association Management Services for SDS" document will be uploaded separately. ) Report Supporting
Breslin, Michael CHMS Proposal for Association Management Services for SDS; Home Office Transition (This 34 report has been divided into two sections due to size. The Report link is Part 1 (17 pages, preliminary letters and pages 1-13) and the Supporting link is Part 2 (17 pages including fee structure [pages 14-15], appendices [pages 16-19], and scope of services [pages 1-11]). Please see the report "Memo from Admin Committee to Policy Council, Recommendations, and Appendices" for the accompanying documentation.) Report Supporting
Cooper, Kenneth Report of VP Professional Practice, 2015 Winter Policy Council (We pursue the expansion and improvement of the professional practice of system dynamics. 1. One high-leverage initiative identified has been to promote mentoring of new practitioners in expert team settings of existing commercial practitioners, an initiative inspired in part by George Richardson's excellent work on "Growth of a Field". Last Year we began the Forrester Internship initiative. This program has had a pilot start, but is constrained by limited company response in offering internships. We need to increase company participation; we will discuss ideas at our next meeting. 2. We believe that it is important to assess the status of commercial practice by conducting a global survey, along the lines done in 2011. That survey identified issues including lone practitioner/ small-team practices, and relatively low fees commanded by practitioners. We need to obtain a more current comprehensive picture of professional SD practice, and identify current issues to be addressed. 3. David Andersen and I believe we should seek the designation of a "Director/AVP" of Professional Practice to assist in the implementation of these and other initiatives. ) Report Supporting
Davidsen, Pĺl VP of Publications Report to the Winter Policy Council Meeting (1. Members of the Publications Committee 2. Main achievements in 2016. 3. Tasks ahead for 2017. 4. 2016 SDR Executive editor´s report as submitted by Yaman Barlas. 5. SDR Publisher´s report (to be submitted in the summer PC meeting). 6. Publication strategy committee report (attached). ) Report Supporting
Eberlein, Robert Report of the VP Electronic Presence (Main events and achievements of 2016 : Continued social media activity, Small incremental changes to the membership management system, Moved the our web host to a new ISP, Main aims for 2017: Transition web/social media presence and back-office to new platform, More standardized based on new Home Office organization, Planning before summer conference, Additional participation welcome, Implementation in October-December, Switch to new conference submission and review process, Currently, same as above for planning and timing, Get Jay Forrester’s Social Dynamics e-book published ) Report Supporting
Eberlein, Robert Expectations for operations when working with CHMS; Home Office Transition (Brad Morrison raised the excellent question of how moving to CHMS will actually work. While not everything is completely certain, based on the meetings and discussions I have had, I feel that I have a pretty good idea of how things will look from the perspective of our different stakeholders. – Bob Eberlein, March 16, 2017.) Report
Farr, Warren 2017 Winter PC - Report VP Marketing & Communications (My brief report is attached. If anyone has a need for immediate support, or has ideas, questions, or comments for me, please contact me through email at: warren3@me.com. Thank you.) Report Supporting
Gottschamer, Larry Student Chapter update for Policy council (Student Chapter update for Policy council) Report Supporting
Groessler, Andreas Society Program Oversight Committee (Three main activities lately: 1. Discussion on conference proceedings 2. Search for program chairs 2018 3. Evaluation of threads Results see report.) Report Supporting
Malczynski, Leonard Recognition of a Transportation SIG (The Transportation SIG constitution can be found in the Policy Council folder on the SD Forum.) Report
Martinez-Moyano, Ignacio New Standing Committee: Asia Pacific Coordinating Committee (APCC) (The Asia Pacific Coordinating Committee (APCC) shall consist of the presidents or their designated representatives from each of the recognized chapters in the Asia-Pacific Region. It shall coordinate activities of the various chapters in the interest of regional and Society objectives. It shall be responsible to submit to the President-Elect of the Society a recommendation for Chair of the APCC once each year in time for the President to submit a name to the Policy Council for approval, as described in Policy 6, Section 1. The Chair shall be responsible to report annually to the Policy Council on the activities and the chapters in the Asia-Pacific region and other regional matters as shall come before the APCC.)
Moxnes, Erling Report from the Awards committee to the Winter Policy Council meeting 2017 (Two main issues were raised in the Awards committee during 2016. 1. K12 Teaching Award and 2. Revision of criterion for the Applications Award.) Report Supporting
Pala, Özge Report of VP Memberhip for Winter 2017 Meeting (Summary: There are two issues discussed in the report. 1) Iranian members are worried about the implications of the Travel Ban. Their questions on the consequences of not being able to attend the conference are outlined in the report. 2) SIGs: In 2016, two more SIGs were established, making the total number of SIGs 13. 11 of these submitted an annual report. Most SIGs have been active and have activities planned for the coming year. Many SIGs ask for support for various issues that are outlined in the report.) Report Supporting
Pala, Özge New name for the Psychology SIG: Psychology and Human Behavior SIG (The co-chairs of the Psychology SIG of the System Dynamics Society, David Lounsbury (david.lounsbury@einstein.yu.edu) and Pascal Gambardella (pascalgambardella@gmail.com), formally request to change the name of the Special Interest Group (SIG) from "Psychology SIG" to "Psychology and Human Behavior SIG.” The reasons for this request and the Society SIG members who have co-signed this request are in the attachment.) Report
Pala, Özge Recognition of the Asset Dynamics SIG (The Asset Dynamics Special Interest SIG has applied for recognition. The SIG’s focus will be “on understanding the application of system dynamics in the area of asset management (i.e. life cycle management of physical assets).” The application fulfills all the requirements for the formation of a SIG (http://www.systemdynamics.org/FormingSpecIntGrps.htm). The constitution can be found in the report as well as under Policy Council Discussion on SD Forum.) Report
Pruyt, Erik ISDC 2018 at University of Iceland (Motion, History, Summary, Action Plan - plus Full Evaluative Report in Supporting Material) (At the March 2017 Winter Policy Council Meeting, the President convened a group to work with Erik Pruyt (VP Meetings) to make the conference site decision for 2018. The team consisted of Len Malczynski, David Andersen, Roberta Spencer, Pĺl Davidsen, Etiënne Rouwette, and Bob Eberlein. Erik and Roberta conducted a site visit in April with subsequent investigation by the local team (Harald Sverdrup and Anna Ólafsdóttir). An evaluative report was presented to the group on May 9. The group’s decision is to move a motion to host the 2018 ISDC in Iceland. The report (1p) contains the motion, history, summary, and action plan. The Full Evaluative Report can be found in the Supporting Material. ) Report Supporting
Pruyt, Erik Comparison of conference in Iceland versus default site in Delft (This recently received verbal report compares a 2018 conference site in Iceland with another conference at the default site, Delft. An accompanying spreadsheet provides some numbers for the comparison. These numbers are still under discussion between the home office, the VP Meetings, and our site partners in Iceland. The proposed dates are 5‐9 August 2018.) Report Supporting
Rouwette, Etiënne Standing Committee Appointment for the terms 2017-2019 and 8/16-7/19 (Approve the makeup of all Standing Committees as listed in the Standing Committees Table, including the new appointments of, or reappointments of the proposed members for the terms 2017-2019 and 8/16-7/19. Notes on supporting material: Admin: J Morecroft chair 2017, Awards: J Vennix and TBD 17-19, Nom: D Lane 8/16-7/19, Org & Bylaws: B Morrison 17-19, Oversight: A Beall and S Armenia 17-19, Pub: S Metcalf 17-19, Strat: E Husemann 17-19. ) Report
Samavedham, Lakshminarayanan Constitution of ASEAN Chapter of the System Dynamics Society (The ASEAN Chapter of the System Dynamics Society was formed during the recently concluded 2nd Asia-Pacific Region System Dynamics Conference 2017 held at Singapore (19-22 February 2017). It was agreed that Lakshminarayanan Samavedham of the National University of Singapore would be the Interim President of the Chapter and would help the ASEAN Chapter to elect Office Bearers of the Chapter in due course of time.) Report
Spencer, Roberta Executive Director's Winter Report to Policy Council (for 2016) (A full Annual Report on Home Office Operations for the FYE 2016 will be presented at the Summer Policy Council meeting at the 2017 Cambridge, Massachusetts Conference. Using the Report link, please find bulleted items on Conferences, Membership Services and Recruitment, Sales, Society Sponsorship, Website, Allocation of Effort, and Finances. All statistics are early estimates and financial numbers are pre-CPA review; they are subject to change.) Report Supporting
Spencer, Roberta 2017 Conference Report - Cambridge, Massachusetts USA (All conference planning is progressing splendidly. The Report link brings you to the new Registration Postcard, which was sent out this year in lieu of the traditional long-form Registration Brochure. The Supporting1 link brings you to this year's Registration Form. Supporting2 brings you to the one page slide for this report. Submitted on behalf of the 2017 Cambridge Conference Team: Program Chairs, John Sterman and Nelson Repenning; Workshop Chairs, Jack Homer and Hazhir Rahmandad; and Conference Manager, Roberta Spencer.) Report Supporting1 Supporting2
Spencer, Roberta 2016 Final Conference Report, Delft, the Netherlands, prepared for the Winter 2017 Policy Council Meeting (2016 Final Conference Report for Delft, the Netherlands includes information on attendee demographics, conference organizers, conference sponsors, submissions and rejection rate, new and continuing conference events, and finances. Submitted on behalf of the 2016 Delft, the Netherlands Conference Team: Program Chairs, Birgit Kopainsky and Andreas Größler; Workshop Chairs, Jack Homer and Hazhir Rahmandad; Organizing Chairs Erik Pruyt, C. Els van Daalen and Monique van der Toorn-Fennema; and Conference Manager, Roberta Spencer.) Report
Strohhecker, Jürgen Report of the Nominating Committee (The Nominating Committee's suggested candidates for Officers and Policy Council Members 2017 and 2018. ) Report
Warren, Kim Report, Strategy Committee for Winter 2017 Meeting (International System Dynamics Society: Strategy Committee Report to the Policy Council, 2017: Kim Warren) Report Supporting