Minutes of the General Business Meeting
Of the
System Dynamics Society
31 July 2002
Grand Hotel Villa Igiea, Palermo, Sicily
Officers: David Andersen (V.P. Finance), Bob Eberlein (V.P. Meetings), David Packer (Secretary)
Members: Approximately 60 members were present by the end of the meeting.
Bob Eberlein called the meeting to order at 8:05 am.
· Executive Director’s Report: Executive Director Roberta Spencer reported on Home Office activities including conference management, membership support, sponsor relations and other items, detailed in the written annual report.
· Chapter Reports: Chapter representatives in attendance gave brief updates on their membership and activities.
· Japan: One hundred plus members, with good growth and eight meetings in the year.
· Korea: One hundred members, program includes conferences, publications, and projects.
· Italy: Palermo conference has been the big activity for the year. Currently there are about fifty members.
· UK: Has over seventy members and two major events, a winter gathering and a summer seminar in London. The student prize, established recently, is being given annually with good results. Looking forward to the 2004 Conference at Oxford.
· Australasia: At least fifty members, with system dynamics now in six universities, and with bimonthly discussion groups via telephone conferencing.
· Special Groups: Activity is occurring in Higher Education, Public Policy, Environment, and Education.
· Report of the Vice President-Finance: David Andersen reviewed the Society’s business activities (Products, Conferences, and Member Services) and described the Home Office staff (2 full time and a half time student). He noted the transition from a purely voluntary organization to the professional staff we have today represents an investment in the growth of the field. He noted that there is concern about the projected deficits for 2002 and 2003 ($36,000 and $38,000 respectively), but that the existence of cash resources gives us time to bring our financial picture into balance.
· Report on Policy Council Actions: Bob Eberlein briefly summarized actions of the Policy Council, which met at the conference. Key items are:
· Approval of two new chapters, the Egypt Chapter and the Hellenic Chapter.
· Approval of a proposal endorsing Special Interest Groups and Local Area Groups as important Society entities as well as approval for a Higher Education Special Interest Group.
· Approval of the 2003 Society Budget and actions aimed at reducing future deficits and achieving sustainability in our operations.
· Approval of a set of Conference Program Guidelines that will improve conferences via a more consistent approach.
· Established a Committee to review our current Vice Presidential structure and propose any changes that would make the Society more effective as our membership grows.
· Report on Conferences: Bob Eberlein summarized the future conferences.
· 2003: New York City, July 20-24, at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
· 2004: Oxford University, Keble College.
· 2005: To be determined, current candidates are Anchorage, Alaska and Las Vegas, Nevada.
· 2006: To be determined, to date there are expressions of interest from Egypt and Switzerland (St. Gallen).
· Report of the Awards Committee. John Morecroft reported that the committee is being expanded, as there are now two awards (the original Jay W. Forrester Award and now the Dana Meadows Award for student papers). He noted information about awards is on the Society web site.
· Report from Wiley: Dianne Taylor reported that 500+members are using the on-line capability and that interest continues to rise.
· Approval of Minutes: Dave Packer moved and David Andersen seconded a motion to “approve the Minutes of the last business meeting of the society which took place in Atlanta, GA on July 27, 2001”. The motion was approved unanimously.
· Thanks: Bob Eberlein thanked retiring officers and Policy Committee Members for their efforts and welcomed those starting terms in 2003.
There being no further business a motion to adjourn by George Richardson, seconded by Ginny Wiley was approved unanimously at 8:58am.
Respectfully Submitted,
David W. Packer
Secretary
31 July 2002