The Board of Director’s Meeting was held on Wednesday, October 20 via a Zoom/In-person Hybrid. The in-person portion of the group met at President Susan’s house. Club membership on September 30 was 241 Active members, plus five Honorary members and twelve Inactive Emeriti. Attendance for the month’s four meetings was 28%. Average attendance at each meeting was 68 members plus eight guests. Our Engagement Ratio for the month was 48%. The board unanimously approved to accept six new members into our club (Brian Stenger, Mehmet Onder, Spencer Symington, Ellen Putney Moore, Miriam Perry and Eric Macke) and one incoming transfer (Carlos Valderrama from the Bogata club)
The Operating Fund Balance on September 30 was $35,675. The Club’s Endowment Investment market value was $2,922,026, a 3% decrease from the previous month.
The District Gala with Jennifer Jones (President-Elect) is coming up on November 9th. Since she will be doing a special recognition of the new members, we encourage all new members to attend. The board moved and approved to pay the fee for our eight newest members to attend the District Gala.
We have $2000 in the budget for the Polio Eradication Fund. President Susan suggested submitting donations to this fund in honor of each the speaker’s at our weekly business meetings ($40 for each speaker). The board approved a proclamation which states that our budgeted gift for the Polio Eradication Fund will be made in honor of our speakers.
We currently do not have the level of corporate membership that we would like to have for a club our size. We plan to join the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber soon and wish to have a .presence at each meeting. It is important for the local businesses to feel obliged. The board discussed forming a committee to assist in developing a strategy and put together a value statement on why the corporations need to be more involved in the community. John Sepp offered to chair a committee to pursue this. He also offered to attend the Chamber meetings.
As immediate Past President, Joanne had the pleasure of convening the nominating committee for our new slate of officers (according to Article VII, Section 2 of our by-laws). The committee will present the slate of nominees one month prior to our annual meeting, which is scheduled for December 1st.
The committee consists of Lou Callaway, Barbara Eichmuller, President Susan Froelich, President-elect Mark Ouimet, Rob Shiff and Joanne Pierson.
The new people stepping into leadership roles are:
Director of Club Outreach: Mary Avrakotos
Director of Public Image: Jennifer Fike
Director of Youth Achievement: John Sepp (extending his term)
President-Elect (President 23-24): Mark Foster (his father was a past president)
The 2022-23 Officer positions are:
President – Mark Ouimet
Immediate Past President – Susan Froelich
Secretary – Kathy Waugh
Treasurer – Steve Pierce
