Minutes of the General Business
Meeting
Of the
System Dynamics Society
20 July 2005
Seaport Hotel, Boston, MA USA
Officers:
Graham Winch (President), Robert Eberlein (Past President), Jay W. Forrester (Founding President), 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 40 members of the Society at the start, with more arriving during the meeting.
President Graham Winch called the meeting to order at 7:35am.
Policy Council Review: Graham Winch briefly reviewed actions of the Policy Council taken at their meeting on Sunday, July 17 2004. He noted the major decisions were: the 2007 Conference location (Boston, MA USA), implementation of the complimentary membership program, changes to the VP structure (splitting the VP Chapters and VP Members roles, adding a VP Electronic Presence, and establishing Associate VPs to gain experience and help with the workload), that the Awards Committee will review the awards structure, continuation of the Diversity Committee, and the intent to review by-laws and policies. (See minutes of the Policy Council Meeting).
Nominating Committee: Bob Eberlein explained the nominating process for 2006 officers and Policy Council members. Nominees are: President Elect—Qifan Wang; VP Publications—Deborah Andersen; new Policy Council members—Gloria Perez (Mexico), Santanu Roy (India), Ali Kerem Saysei (Turkey), and Krys Stave (USA).
VP Finance: David Andersen reviewed the history of the Society’s development and the business structure with which we operate. He noted the Society is healthy with a current small surplus and a substantial cash balance. He noted that all details are available on the web for those interested. Questions arose as to whether membership dues show in core operations (yes, but this component still runs a deficit) and why the web component shows a deficit (there are home office costs associated with it, in addition to the heavy volunteer efforts). David commented that these deficits are normally offset by profits from products and conferences.
VP Publications: Deborah Andersen noted that web activity is up this year with a wealth of publications on the web site. She commented on the open source issue (making more assets available on the web) and asked for volunteers to participate on a committee dealing with this topic. She also asked for volunteers for dealing with policy and other issues relating to establishment of a web repository for models.
System Dynamics Review Executive Editor: Brian Dangerfield reported that the journal continues to do well, now being ranked 35th in management journals worldwide. He noted that special issues are important and reflect the vitality of the field and asked for ideas for future ones, which should occur every two years or so. He announced Editorial membership changes, with Pal Davidson and Bob Cavana joining Andy Ford as Managing Editors and with Jac Vennix stepping down to another role. He also noted that Wiley is now scanning old issues, and may also scan the predecessor journal to SDR.
VP Members and Chapters: Ginny Wiley reported that the Society now has fifteen Chapters (2 new this year—Russia and Pakistan) and 5 Special Interest Groups (1 new this year—Business), continuing the success story for the Society in this domain. Chapters and SIGs were invited give brief reports, and a number did so. Chapters reporting were UK, Economic Dynamics, Australasia, Swiss, Student, Korean, Japan, Latin American, Russian, and Egypt. Special Interest Groups reporting were Environmental Dynamics, Education, and Security.
Ginny noted that web sites are a general problem for Chapters and SIGs and this issue needs Society attention.
VP Meetings: Jim Lyneis thanked organizers for the success of this conference, and reviewed the future schedule. 2006 will be Nijmegen, The Netherlands: 2007 in Boston or Cambridge, MA and will be a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the field: 2008 proposals at this time are Spain and Korea and there may be others; and 2009 will likely be a return to North America.
VP at Large: Bob Cavana gave thanks to Wiley for the 20 complimentary memberships, which will be useful in stimulating chapter activity in areas where membership is a difficulty.
Executive Director: Roberta Spencer noted that Society membership now exceeds 1000, that this conference has more than 500 participants, and the Society continues to be in a healthy state. A full report is on the web.
Diversity Committee: Graham Winch reported that the Diversity Committee has been formalized and will be chaired by Deborah Campbell. Comments and ideas should be sent to Deb.
2007 Nominations: Graham Winch announced that he will convene a Nominating Committee to propose a slate for Officers and Policy Council members for terms beginning in 2007. Anyone interested or with recommendations should contact him directly.
In closing, Graham Winch thanked those ending their terms on the Policy Council at the close of this year for their good work and efforts.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:50am
Respectfully Submitted,
David W. Packer, Secretary
22 August, 2005 (Revised)
packerdw@aol.com