System Dynamics Society
General Business Meeting
July 27, 2011, Washington, DC, USA
(Unapproved at time of publication—Please send corrections to the Society office.)
David Lane called the meeting to order at 8:40.
David thanked the outgoing officers and members of the Policy Council.
David welcomed the incoming officers and PC members:
David also thanked and welcomed the officers continued for another term:
A motion to approve the minutes of the 2010 General Business Meeting was made, seconded, and passed.
David Lane reported on some electronic votes of the Policy Council. Juergen Stroeheker was appointed to nominating committee. The Conflict, Defense and Security SIG was formed.
Officer Reports:
VP of Finance – David Andersen
David explained that SDS is a MA 501c3 corporation and presented a chart showing society finances since 1984. The Society operates with a contract with the University of Albany for home office services. We first became professionally managed in 1996. Reserves would have allowed us to stay in existence for about 5 months. By 2001, it was scary to note that reserves were of about 2 years. We do well when conference is attended well. We are budgeting this year to make some use of our cash reserves. David explained the budget that was approved by the PC. Now, we have a column for investments, so that we can disentangle investments from operating performance. We will use about $27K of investment income to support operations.
VP of Electronic Presence – Bob Eberlein
Bob is trying to update the website to use as a contact management system and has had some trouble. Many people have used the discussion forum. The reviews from this conference will be posted on the discussion forum. Bob encouraged use of the discussion forum for questions and discussion. We did have a Wiki, which has been moribund for several years, so we will take it down. We tried to launch a new forum for formulation issues on discussion forum. We need a new webmaster, since Jack Pugh has retired.
Chapters should be aware that it is easy for us to provide support to any chapters or SIGs that want to have a web presence.
VP of Meetings – Andreas Groessler
This year, 2011, attendance is the second largest ever. Next year, as per the promo video we saw, will be in St Gallen. The lodging will be distributed across several hotels, and the sessions will be at the university. The 2013 conference will be at the Hyatt in Cambridge (Boston). This will be our first conference under the new default location policy. The 2014 conference will be in Europe, but the location has not yet been chosen. We have not had many events from chapters, but we would be happy to support chapter events.
VP of Member Services – Etienne Rouwette
Member Services also deals with SIGs. Three main ongoing activities are: 1) Planned to have a focus group meeting in the UK, but the target group wasn't there, 2) Working with Martin, VP Chapters, to improve coordination, and 3) Trying to build a case repository to post on Society website.
VP of Publications –George Richardson
The recently reconstituted Publications Committee has three people with staggered 3 year terms: Andy Ford, Rogelio Oliva, and Etienne Rouwette. The VP Publications and the Committee work with the Executive Editor on journal issues. Current areas of focus include increased attention to bibliometrics and impact factors; working with Wiley on processes; putting in some effort to get proceedings cataloged under Scopus. The main immediate responsibility is to nominate a new editor, since we are heading towards the end of Brain's period as editor. The current impact factor is around 0.67; the 5-year impact factor about 1.5. It is useful to cite the SDR and even more useful to publish in other journals. Alan said it is hard work to publish. David A. noted that it takes work to get cited in other fields and listed examples in public policy. The work is worth doing.
Executive Director – Roberta Spencer
The full report is available on line. Highlights include a new contract w Albany and several web based initiatives. Membership is up a little. Sales have reached a plateau. The bibliography is available on the web site. Organizing the conferences requires lots of work. The home office works on three conferences at any time.
Nominating Committee – Rogelio Oliva
As past president, Rogelio serves as the chair of the Nominating Committee. They present a slate of candidates for PC members and officers. We are always interested in people who want to serve. Please let him know if you are interested.
VP of Chapter Activities – Martin Schaffernicht
David Lane reported that lots of things have been happening. Chapters are critical to the vibrancy of the field. We need chapters to complete their chapter reports. We now have a line item for a Chapter Development Fund, as a one-year experiment, to provide funding to support chapter activities.
Kim mentioned that Martin has been asking to find out state of the field of SD, e.g., how many people are doing SD; how many courses are there; and so on. It is really difficult to find out the true state of the field.
Some have said that the organization of chapters vs. SIGs is a bit confusing. The distinction is that most chapters are geographic. A Chapter has a constitution of its own. It is a more formal structure; e.g., a chapter can raise money or charge dues. A SIG cannot. In addition to the geographically organized chapters, there are an Economics Chapter and a Student Chapter.
David Lane announced the officers and PC Members who have been elected and will take office in 2012. These people were nominated by the nominating committee in the fall, approved by the Policy Council in the winter meeting, announced to all Society members via newsletter, and become nominees designate if no one petitions for an election. The new officers and PC members are:
President Elect: Kim Warren
VP Electronic Presence, Bob Eberlein (reappointment)
VP Member Services, Etiënne Rouwette (reappointment)
VP Publications, George P. Richardson (reappointment)
Policy Council Members
David Lane introduced David Ford as the incoming president for 2012.
David Lane opened the floor for other business and general questions, of which there were none.
Brad Morrison moved (Kim Warren seconded) that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed.