XV. LERA ANNUAL REPORTS

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m. by President Stephen R. Sleigh. Present at the meeting were officers Sleigh, Marlene Heyser (past president), Pete Feuille (secretary/treasurer), David Lipsky (president-elect) and members Peter Berg, Jackie Blanchard, Paul Almeida, Jerry Calhoun, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Morris Kleiner, and Tony Oliver. Invited guests included Jim Auerbach, Paula Voos, and Charles Whalen (edi-tor-in-chief, Perspectives on Work). Board members unable to attend included Sara Adler, Amy Dean, Ann Frost, Jill Kriesky, Andy Levin, Nancy Peace, and Robert Taylor. National Office staff present included Paula Wells and Lisa Sprinkle.

Approval of Minutes - President Sleigh asked for approval or amendÐments to the minutes of the last board meeting on January 7, 2005. A motion was made to accept as presented, seconded, and unanimously approved.

Committee and Officer Reports

Report of the Development Committee - Chair David Lipsky began by giving a history on the committee and highlighted the recommendations that came from the recent committee meeting. He reported that since the formal fundraising activities were started in January 2004, over $670,000 has been raised through grants, donations, etc. The Committee recommended increasing the target fundraising goal to $1.5 million. Donations should reach $750,000 by January 2006. He reported all committee members have pledged their own participation in this effort and pledged to contact six people each by January 2006. Lipsky encouraged all members of the executive board to pledge to the campaign too. The Committee's motion to increase the fundraising goal to $1.5 million was unanimously approved. It was agreed to announce the formal proposal for a three-year campaign at the annual meeting in January in Boston.

The chair also reported that the committee was seeking approval on a motion to establish donation levels of silver, gold, platinum, the President's Circle, and other, and to hold an annual fundraising letter campaign each year before renewal efforts began in the fall. The Committee's motion to hold the annual fundraising effort to the general membership was unaniÐmously approved.

Report of the National Policy Forum Meeting - President-elect and program chair for 2006 David Lipsky made a motion to hold the National Policy Forum every other year in Washington, D.C., and teaming up with FMCS for the National Labor Management Conference (or another group) during the even number years. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

Report of the 59th Annual Meeting (2007 in Chicago) Program Commit-tee - Program chair David Lipsky discussed his idea for a theme for the Chicago meeting as Conflict and Cooperation in Employment Relations. Lipsky heard a number of suggestions and agreed to incorporate them in his call for session proposals.

Industry Council Coordinating Committee - Chair Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld reported that there were two Industry Council charters that needed to be discussed and decided upon. These included the ConstrucÐtion Industry Council and the Utilities Industry Council charters. Joel reported Industry Council memberships increased from 482 members to 886 since last year. Of the new LERA members, nearly half signed up to join a council. The Committee presented a motion to accept the charters for the Construction Industry Council and the Utilities Industry Council and the Board approved it unanimously.

He also reported that all the co-chairs of the Industry Councils will make up the Industry Councils Coordinating Committee along with an executive board member. Charles Whalen is an ex-officio member to coordinate Perspectives on Work reports.

The Report of the Secretary/Treasurer and Executive Director - Treas-urer Peter Feuille gave highlights of the LERA Mid-year Financial and Membership Report. He noted the unplanned and unbudgeted FMCS grant this year for Airline Industry Council research activities and its impact on staffing and the income and expense projections. He reminded the Board that grants tend to fund specific additional activities - not ongoing ones - and that the Association continues to run an annual operating deficit of about $30,000 and that this is the key driver behind the development campaign.

A ten-year look at LERA financials and membership numbers show that the revenue has been basically the same over the years while membership numbers have been declining. Paula Wells pointed out that the number of nonrenewing members is slowing down and that we have an 87 percent renewal rate, which is good for an association. She also reported that she expected new member numbers to begin increasing this year, due primarily to the expanded efforts over the past two years and in 2005 to increase new members. However, she cautioned that rebuilding membership would likely be a long and slow process.

Strategic Direction of LERA

President Steve Sleigh led a discussion about the strategic direction of the Association, pointing out that the Association had been through some major transitions in the past year including the name change, adding Industry Councils, and the intense work of a new Development Committee to plan a fundraising effort. These are all positive areas designed to help grow LERA membership. The questions before the board are the following:

How do we get membership to grow? What should we be doing to grow our influence in the labor sector? The academic sector? The management sector? The neutral sector? The discussion included the following observations from the members:

Industry Councils. Many other organizations seem to be specific to one occupation whereas LERA is very broad in focus. Industry Councils are a way to bring focus to specific groups and topics. Getting people to join the Industry Councils is a great way to get them to know LERA as a result.

Chapters. There was discussion on whether there is a disconnect between chapters and national. Steve Sleigh visited eleven chapters during the year. It was mentioned that people join associations to advance careers. If one had a local career, they tended to join local chapters, whereas if one had a national career, they were prone to join the national organization. It was asked what might be done to involve more chapter members in national membership. It was also pointed out that several major regions do not have chapters and suggested that appropriate Industry Councils could pave the way to start up some new chapters

Focusing on Issues. It was suggested that providing a broader view of workplace issues (like Work and Family) would provide potential new members something of value and could be used to help the organization grow. Facilitating dialog on big issues is important. Also, focusing on where work is going in two, five, and ten years would be helpful especially since there have been so many fundamental changes to work. LERA should focus on bringing folks together in ways that tackle the issues.

Not Focusing on Issues. Conversely, it was suggested that LERA is speakÐing to the issues of the day, which is not necessarily good for building memÐbership. Issues come and go, and they are not a great platform to build membership on.

Other Disciplines. Reaching out to adjacent disciplines - economics, sociology, psychology, etc. - to let them know what LERA has to offer them was recommended, as was reaching out to other associations for possible joint meetings or activities.

President Sleigh asked the Board to think more on these ideas to further discuss at the January meeting, including how we can implement ideas to grow the membership It was put forward that a Strategic Planning Committee of approximately five people might be developed to tackle these issues rather than depending on a Board that had three-year terms. Sleigh suggested more discussion on that issue in January.

New Business

There was no new business.

Other Business

Nominating Committee Approval - President Sleigh nominated the following LERA members to serve on the Nominating Committee: Janice Bel-lace (chair), Mike Belzer, Jody Hoffer Gittell, Jerry Glass, Gordon Pavy, and Arnold Zack. Past president Marlene Heyser will also serve as directed by Association bylaws. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

Finance and Membership Chair Approval - President Sleigh put forward the nomination of Paula Voos to serve as chair of the LERA Finance and Membership Committee, replacing Greg Woodhead. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously. President Sleigh thanked Ms. Voos for her willingness to lead this important LERA committee.

Next Meeting - The next Board meeting will be on January 5, 2006 in Boston.

Meeting Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned by President Sleigh at 5:32 p.m.