Alumni Executive Council Business Meeting Minutes

January 30, 2016

I. President Forbes called the meeting to order at 1:58 pm.

II. Ms. North called the roll:

Members Present: Chatterjee, Cowan, Dana, Danielson, Faulkner, Forbes, Hallock, Halstead, Hansen, Kuno, Lee, Lloyd, MacBrayne, McKee, McLaughlin, Montgomery, North, Posener, Sprague, Sullivan, Taylor, Terrillion, Weaver, Weaver, Williams.
Student Delegates Present: Hyde, Goulet, Vazquez, Williams.

Members Absent: Armstrong, Bantz, Casler, Farnham, Olivo, Rood, Scheider

Mr. Forbes declared a quorum was present for the conduct of business.

III.

The minutes from the Fall Meeting in October were approved unanimously on a motion by Mr. Posener and a second by Ms. Danni Weaver. The minutes from the Virtual Meeting in December were approved unanimously on a motion by Mr. Chatterjee and a second by Ms. Hansen.

IV.

Ms. Kuno gave the Treasurer’s Report, reporting 2015 Revenue of $69,426 and Expenses of $37,150 (not finalized for the year.) She presented the 2016 budget for approval by the Council membership, with Revenue projected at $65,200 and Expenses projected at $55, 950. The $10,000 reserve approved during the December meeting has been recommended by the Finance Committee and will be set aside from Ending Cash for 2015. The detailed budget is available on the AEC Dashboard. The proposed 2016 Budget was unanimously approved on a motion by Ms.Terrillion and a second by Ms. Hansen, with a proposed revision to the language at the bottom of the budget. No one opposed.

V. Mr. Forbes provided the following President’s Report.

First, he thanked the Council membership for their participation. He then presented the Council Year in Review presentation that he gave to the Board of Trustees. We agreed that at Canaras we will revisit the AEC Mission, including the possibility of some interactive exercises around the mission. One purpose of this review and discussion would be to evaluate the activities we are funding and whether we should make changes. Mr. Forbes requested that the membership should give thought to this topic and come to Canaras prepared to discuss.

Mr. Forbes passed a thank you note from the DC Connect students and another from George Vollmuth, whose wife, Janet Langlois ’71, passed away, thanking Council for a gift to scholarship in her memory. Langlois was an emerita trustee and emerita Council member.

Finally, Mr. Forbes reminded Members that Committee Chairs will be asking for participants for various programs today and to please sign up.

VI. Student’s Report

Mr. Hyde reported that all of the Student Delegates enjoyed their time on Council. He relayed that they tell stories to their friends who think a day full of meetings is boring, but they had fun. He thanked Council Members for welcoming them with open arms. He noted that the student participation numbers have been great this year. And, he has enjoyed seeing our initiatives come to life in the Career Services office. He continued to encourage students to participate in programs.

Ms. Williams reiterated that this has been a great experience for all of them, noting that she applied to be a Student Delegate “off the cuff” but it’s been a highlight of her SLU career. She is proud of pushing friends to participate; informing them that we won’t bite and that they’ll be “among family”.

Ms. Vazquez also felt this was a wonderful experience, and especially enjoyed seeing the impact of alums. It was her first time seeing the Laurentian Family follow through.

Ms. Goulet thanked Council membership for the amazing relationships formed, connections provided, fun evenings at Canaras and bonding. She will encourage students to apply for a delegate role.

Mr. Forbes presented gifts to the Student Delegates (diploma frames).

VII. Committee Reports

a. Finance & Resources

Ms. Kuno reported that the F&R Committee spent their 2.5 hour meeting discussing the Silent Auction. The plan to conduct the Auction has been developed and is quite extensive and complicated. Ms. Williams and Ms. Vazquez will work with the Committee this spring as paid students. The goal of the Committee is to institutionalize the Auction process and this provides a map. Ms. Kuno thanked Ms. Cania for encouraging Ms. Hissong of University Advancement to sit in on the Committee meeting and participate as a partner. She noted that we’re “not selling cookies at a bake sale anymore”! Ms. Hallock has collected quite a few donation forms; please submit if available now. The Committee had a long discussion about the fact that we’re raising a substantial amount of money that enables Council to not only continue traditional
programs but also provides the opportunity to do more. The Committee expressed interest in doing more on alumni networking as well as student activities. Ms. Kuno challenged the Members to think about how we might do that, particularly on alumni side. She noted that there are several good anecdotes about auction donations, which will be put to paper and used in promotions. Ms. Hansen reinforced the need to brainstorm opportunities to apply funds going forward. The mission discussion at Canaras will be useful in that regard.

b. Advancement & Engagement

Mr. McLaughlin noted that it is the time of year when A&E shifts into high gear and that he is thankful that the Committee’s strength is supplemented by 6 Emeritus members. He noted that we need the help of extended AEC body to get the greatest ROI.

The Key activities of A&E include the following:

L4L week is the last week of March and will include 5 theme days (Learn, Give, Connect, Serve, Celebration) culminating in Charter Day on 03 April. Council’s role is to educate alums, promote the events on social media, and donate to the challenge campaign promoted on Give day. This year’s campaign is the “160 challenge” which is all about class participation. SLU’s current participation is 26%. Looking for 160 donors/class; each member of first 3 classes will get a pub cookie. If successful, this challenge will increase our participation to 30%. He noted that gifts already made this fiscal year count to 160. Council is funding the coffee for Give day, as well as the pub cookies. Ms. Hansen asked several clarifying questions and Mr. McLaughlin offered to circulate the details.

In the social media area, our role is to drive social media content to the FaceBook page, which is a change to the process. AEC will no longer post content, but will serve up interesting ideas. The Committee will educate us on what to look for.

The Volunteer Recruitment Initiative is underway. The goal is to work with University staff to better define recruitment roles. Clear volunteer descriptions are underway which will help us to target potential volunteers and determine what is the most appropriate role for an individual. Ms. Hissong and the University staff working on the role descriptions. The Committee role is to provide feedback and then to provide pipeline of candidates. Joe Keniston and his staff are driving the structure and process for this initiative.

Good progress is being made with the Laurentian Network initiative, with activities occurring in Atlanta, LA, Pittsburgh and Portland, ME.

Reunion planning is in full swing for the weekend of June 2-5. Several Council members are reunion chair. This is a role that will be included in the volunteer recruitment initiative so that a pipeline can be developed.

Finally, Mr. McLaughlin updated Council on the Capital Campaign, which is currently in the nucleus phase and has not been publicly presented. Discussions are underway with key donors. On July 1, the University will roll into the quiet phase. The official kick-off celebration is expected to be in the Fall of 2018. The duration of the campaign will be 5 years; the financial goal is not yet set.

c. Membership & Honors

Mr. Chatterjee noted that due to travel difficulties, his Committee has not yet met and therefore does not have a report for this meeting. Mr. Forbes thanked M&H for their excellent work to deliver on expansion and we look forward to meeting new members at Canaras is June.

d. Student Service & Recruitment

Ms. Terrillion reported that applications for the 2020 class is up 2% with 237 Early Decision applications this year. 16% of the applicants are CHIPs.

She introduced a new event for recruiting that is under development. Alumni parents with prospective students will be invited to campus to learn about college recruiting process. The weekend will be 28-29 July 2016 and is still evolving. AEC will support in any way we can. Ms. Terrillion encouraged the membership to alert friends and acquaintances in the target audience to save the dates.

Off campus interviews were the topic of a healthy discussion in the SS&R Committee meeting. Ms. Terrillion explained that AEC members have previously met with parents to talk about SLU and answer questions when students are being interviewed. University Admissions would like to move forward with this initiative again. Additional details and training on the role, what you should stay, what to steer away from, will be forthcoming, so AEC is better informed. Ms. Terrillion notes that this will benefit all Council members because we’re often around students, parents.

Ms. Terrillion relayed thanks to all Council members who made yield calls to accepted students last year. The calls appear to have a positive impacted so this year, the by Admissions staff would like to extend the initiative beyond phone call to a note/letter to thank students for applying and connect with them as Alumnae. This could be in addition to a call attempt explaining that the individual tried to reach the student. If a connection is by phone, the note would summarize what was discussed. The timing of this initiative is March and members will have the chance to sign up during survey. Ms. Hansen requested that we be provided with more details on how to handle certain types of questions. Ms. Terrillion suggested this be included as training for the initiative.

Career services has thanked Council for the mock interviews, which were very successful. They would like to extend the mock interview concept to skype and phone
interviews, as students are having more of those types of interactions. Sign up for this will also be included on the post-meeting survey.

Once again, the Mocktail event was very successful. Ms. Terrillion thanked Mr. Halstead for doing the introduction and Mr. Posener for planning the event.

Laurentian In Residence will continue. The Council role is small, limited to having someone on site to introduce the speakers.

Ms. Terrillion noted that the DC Connect in January 2016 included 33 students and over 80 alums.

Finally, 81 alums have agreed to shadow a saint over Spring break.

VIII.

In lieu of a Campus Report, Ms. Cania announced that after 18 years as the AEC Liaison, her stewardship of this role is coming to an end. She believes that SLU’s journey over the last 18 years to become what it is today is due to in large measure AEC efforts. Ms. Kim Hissong will become our new liaison. More details about the transition will be forthcoming.

Mr. Cowan read a poem in Ms. Cania and Ms. Chism’s honor.

Mr. Forbes noted that he is deeply committed to making the transition smooth. He reassured us that Lisa is not leaving SLU. AEC looks forward to working with Ms. Hissong. He thanked Ms. Cania for the mentorship she has offered. She has been a magnificent partner.

IX. New Business

Mr. Forbes opened the floor to new business. Ms. Montgomery asked if we celebrate the tenure of Council members when they leave. Mr. Forbes confirmed that at Canaras we have a celebration of all retiring members. Ms. Montgomery’s concern was around people who may not make it to Canaras for the last meeting.

X. Adjournment

President Forbes called for a motion to adjourn. The motion to adjourn was made by Ms. Terrillion and seconded by Ms. Hansen. The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Forbes at 3:18 pm.

As is our tradition, the alma mater was sung by the assembly.