In Attendance

Officers:

Qifan Wang (President), Jim Lyneis (President Elect), Mike Radzicki (Past President), David Packer (Secretary), Robert Eberlein (Vice President—Electronic Presence), David Andersen (Vice President--Finance), Deborah Lines Andersen (Vice President—Publications), Ginny Wiley (Vice President—Chapter Activities), Deborah Campbell (Vice President—Member Services), Andreas Grossler (Vice President Meetings), Joel Rahn (Vice President at Large), and Roberta Spencer (Executive Director).

Members: Approximately 50 members of the Society at the start, with more arriving during the meeting.

Meeting Items

President Qifan Wang called the meeting to order at 8:00 am.

Secretary Dave Packer moved approval of the minutes of the business meeting in Nijmegan in July 2006, Joe Rahn seconding. The motion carried unanimously.

President Qifan Wang declared the society to be in good health, with over 1050 members. He reported on a successful Policy Council Meeting on Sunday, with several important accomplishments such as a new income-based dues structure, which more closely matches Society dues with individual’s ability to pay, significant improvements to the nominating process and its transparency to members, and acceptance of a new German chapter, our seventeenth.

Vice Presidents then reported to the meeting (Note: all detailed reports are on the website)

VP Finance: David Andersen reviewed the Society financial structure and Society operations. He noted the society is healthy and has a strong asset base, which could provide opportunity for investing in the field’s future.

VP Publications: Deborah Lines Andersen reported much progress with making Wiley SDR issues, Dynamica, and current proceedings on line as well as many old proceedings and other items. Also that Dana Meadows “Electronic Oracle” is available at $12.

VP Member Activities: Deborah Campbell reported that her role covers membership service and activities and includes Special Interest Groups (SIGs), which are doing well. She noted the new, improved dues structure which she sponsored and which should encourage membership.

VP Meetings: Andreas Grossler thanked organizers for the success of this conference, the largest ever, and reviewed the future schedule. 2008 will be in Athens, Greece; 2009 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and 2010 remains in process, but will likely be in Asia. He requested expressions of interest for sponsors for following years. He noted that there are several exciting conferences stemming from local efforts and urged members to look at them with interest.

VP Electronic Presence: Bob Eberlein announced that the Society website if being moved to its own server which should enhance service to all users. There will be free space for SIGs and Chapters, and Wiki capability is coming. He asked that people contact him with further ideas.

Executive Director: Roberta Spencer encourage people to review her comprehensive annual report on the web and noted it is great resource for understanding what the Society is and what it offers.

VP Chapter Activities: Ginny Wiley reported that the Society now has seventeen Chapters with the new German Chapter and that there are three more in the wings. Chapter growth is a real success story for the Society and for the field. She thanked Aldo Zagonal for the terrific job he has done in the Assistant VP role and encouraged all to look at the fine Chapter reports on the web.

PhD Colloquium: A special report from Stephen Grossler for the Student Chapter noted that 14 students presented at this forum, which included a panel as well. The number of presentations is for the moment not increasing, so advisors were urged to motivate students to submit presentations to this forum.

Nominating Committee: Qifan Wang noted that the outgoing President is charged with forming and chairing a Nominating Committee for the following year and announced that the committee will be President Qifan Wang (chair), Past President Mike Radzicki, President Elect Jim Lyneis, Yaman Barlas (one-year term), Özge Pala (two-year term), and Deborah Campbell (three-year term). This committee of six implements the changes in Nominating Committee structure approved at the last Policy Council meeting.

The slate they propose will be published in the Newsletter with brief biographies by the end of the year and will take effect if there are no other nominations made by twenty-five signatures (in which case a vote would ensue).

Mike Radzicki announced that forms are available to provide suggestions to the Nominating committee of personal interest in positions (including Officers, Assistant VPs and Policy Council membership) or for suggesting others who might be considered. The group was encouraged to take advantage of this new process.

Thanks: Qifan Wang thanked people who have completed their terms of service in leadership positions with the Society as of the end of 2006. They are Graham Winch, Bob Cavana, Allen Boorstein, David Excelby, and Tim Haslett and Gianliborio Marrone.

Call for Questions: Qifan asked for any questions or discussion items. None were raised and a motion to adjourn then passed unanimously at 8:45am.

Respectfully Submitted,

David W. Packer, Secretary

Assisted by Ed Anderson, Assistant VP (Secretary)

17 August, 2007

packerdw@aol.com