Officers:
Robert Eberlein (President), Graham Winch (President Elect), David Packer (Secretary), David Andersen (Vice President--Finance), Deborah Andersen (Vice President—Publications), Ginny Wiley (Vice President--Members and Chapters), James Lyneis (Vice President--- Meetings), Bob Cavana (Vice President—At Large), Brian Dangerfield (Executive Editor, System Dynamics Review).
Members: Approximately 65 members of the Society
President Bob Eberlein called the meeting to order at 8:00am.
Minutes: Dave Packer moved (Deborah Andersen seconding) that “The minutes of the July 23, 2003 Business Meeting held in New York City be approved.” The motion carried unanimously.
Policy Council Review: Bob Eberlein briefly reviewed actions of the Policy Council taken at their meeting on Sunday, July 23, 2004 at Oxford. He noted the major decision was for the 2006 Conference to be held at Nijmegen, The Netherlands. (See minutes of the Policy Council Meeting).
Nominating Committee: Bob Eberlein explained the nominating process for 2006 officers and Policy Council members. The nominating committee is: Bob Eberlein (chair), Yaman Barlas, Deborah Campbell, Paal Davidson, Isaac Dyner, and Qifan Wang.
VP Meetings: Jim Lyneis reviewed the Conference schedule, which is 2005 (Boston), 2006 (Nijmegen), 2007 (not set, US location likely), and 2008 (not set, Europe possible). He also noted that there are new site selection guidelines on the website and encourages review of these.
VP Finance: David Andersen reviewed the history of the Society’s development and the business structure with which we operate. He noted that this year will be in the black after a small deficit last year of about $3000. He noted that all details are available on the web for those interested.
VP Publications: Deborah Andersen noted that web activity is up 9% this year, that a new contract with Wiley has been successfully negotiated, that an important new product, the D-Memo DVD, will be out soon, and that the Society Newsletter now comes four times each year, two email and two hard copy.
In discussion, it was noted that chapters could do their own journals while Special Interest Groups are limited to publication of working papers and the like.
System Dynamics Review Executive Editor: Brian Dangerfield reported that the journal is in healthy condition, that the use of conference papers has been effective, and that a special environmental issue is coming out now, including models available on Andy Ford’s web site. Another special issue focusing on supply chain dynamics will be out in 2005. Finally, Wiley’s tool for automating paper handling, called “Manuscript Central” is being evaluated and looks promising.
Executive Director: Roberta Spencer noted that this conference has approximately 400 participants, the maximum for the site. Membership continues to rise and will likely reach 1000 next year. Encouragingly, Beer Game sales are up sharply after being down last year. Another record has been achieved—the number of sponsors, up by 17.
VP Members and Chapters: Ginny Wiley reported that the Society now has thirteen Chapters (2 new this year—Swiss and Economic Dynamics) and 4 Special Interest Groups (2 new this year—Health Policy and Security). Chapters were invited give reports, and a number did so, including Swiss, Australasia, Japan, Korea, Latin America, Student, and the UK. Special Interest Groups reporting were Education, Environmental Dynamics, and Health Policy.
Ginny noted that web sites are a general problem for Chapters and SIGs and this issue needs Society attention.
Questions and Discussion: The question of why Economic Dynamics is a Chapter rather than a SIG was dealt with by Mike Radziki. He explained that being a chapter makes it possible to have a journal, more formal recognition, and dues to provide resources for activities. This is also allowed in our by-laws.
Bob Eberlein received kudos and applause for being a proactive President of the Society.
Bob welcomed the incoming new Officers and Policy Council Members for 2005. They are Graham Winch--President; Bob Eberlein—Past President; Mike Radziki—President Elect; VP Publications—Deborah Andersen. He also thanked departing Policy Council members for their participation and contribution. They are Andreas Groessler, Taehoon Moon, Kevin O'Neill, and Qing Rui Xu.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:50am
Respectfully Submitted,
David W. Packer
Secretary
12 August 2004
packerdw@aol.com