Call to orderÐthe meeting was called to order by President David B. Lipsky at 7:29 p.m. Present at the meeting were officers David Lipsky (president), Steve Sleigh (past president), Eileen Hoffman (president elect), Peter Feuille (secretary/treasurer), Adrienne Eaton (editor-in-chief), William Canak (NCAC) and members: Sara Adler, Paul Almeida, Peter Berg, Jack Fiorito, Morris Kleiner, Jill Kriesky, Lisa Lynch, Tony Oliver, and Donna Wilson-Renner. Board members not able to attend included Amy Dean, Jerry Calhoun, Nancy Peace, Gordon Pavy and Robert Taylor.

     Committee Chairs attending included: Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Marlene Heyser, Paula Voos, and Charles Whalen.

     National office staff present included Paula Wells, Anna Mehl, and Lisa Sprinkle.

     Approval of minutesÐA motion was heard by Paul Almeida to approve the minutes of the Boston Board meeting held in January 5, 2006. It was seconded and unanimously approved.

Committee and Officers Reports

        Report of the Industry Council Advisory Committee Report—Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld reviewed his handout, highlighting the continued growth in councils; prominent Council program contributions to the 2006 NLMC; selected innovations in member engagement; recommendation to explore new industry councils in education, transportation, retail/service and pharmaceuticals/bio-technology; and proposed intensive focus on industry-related policy and administrative priorities in advance of LERA National Policy Forum in Spring 2007.

     Joel noted that LERA Industry Councils were being highlighted in National Labor Management Conference brochure, there was a LERA Industry Council brochure in all the 1,500 NLMC registration packets, and that they Industry Councils served as the sponsor for Thursday's breakfast.

     Report of the Development Committee—David Lipsky The development campaign has raised $639,879 to date. There has been communications with board and committees on new initiatives to help us reach our goal. Volunteers are stepping up to help with campaign, John Burton proposed an initiative to approach current and past board members for contributions and expects 100% commitments from those entities. David reported he will develop a program to reach out to University centers and schools for their participation. At present, there are no volunteers in place to approach corporate or management side. Lipsky reported he and Steve Sleigh met with Ted Kheel in February and that ideas from that meeting are still being considered. We are hoping to get one large contribution from an interested party and still very confident we can make our goal. Over the next two and a half years, the Foundations Committee is continuing to look for grants and foundations that would fund initiatives by the LERA.

     The LERA Best Dissertation Award is being renamed Kochan-Sleigh Best Dissertation Award; this has been made possible by Dennis Rocheleau and General Electric. In 2 years, a total of $50,000 will be donated by the two entities. The Fund will be used to fund $1,000 gift and plaque each year. A motion was presented from the Development committee to name the award as requested by Rocheleau after Kochan and Sleigh for a minimum of 15 years, or until 2020. Paul Almeida moved, Bill Canak seconded and the motion was unanimously accepted.

     Charitable organization State Law compliance. Paula Wells asked the Board to review the awards procedures for LERA awards and adopt and also to review and agree to sign an agreement stating there would be no conflict of interest for them to serve as a Board member as is required of non-profit organizations registered in the state by the Secretary of State of Illinois. A motion was made to accept the awards procedures and for all Board members to sign the CoI agreements. Motion made by Paul Almeida and seconded by Peter Feuille. The motion was voted on and unanimously passed. Paula Wells will send CoI agreements by email and ask board members to sign and return.

     Report of the Secretary/Treasurer Report and the Finance and Membership Committee—Peter Feuille went over the budget and membership information for the actual budget for the past 2 years, the 2006 budget through July 2006 and the estimated budget for 2007. He pointed out the dues income is the same as it was in 1997 and dues have doubled since then. As the Sloan grant final payment was in January 2006, the association would be operating in a deficit mode in 2007. He discussed membership figures back to 1997 and showed how the membership decline is across all categories, down almost 1000 members from 1997. He also noted the good news that the renewal rate is up. Continuation of the status quo in income (no new funding or grants) may mean dramatic cut backs in the operating status of some LERA Programs. Paula Wells also pointed out that in the 255 new members reported in 2005 was the highest in several years and that marketing efforts would continue at an increased pace. However, she also noted that the best recruiting tool was still person to person contact.

     Paula Voos made her own personal contacts this year she is going through list of people at LIR schools and sending them emails. This is working very well and almost 50% of the people personally contacted join LERA. Lisa Lynch proposed that the members of the Board send an email to 20 people they know asking to join the association. Paula suggested board members use the online member directory to search colleagues to check their membership status and to send emails to those who are not but might be good candidates to join.

     Morris Kleiner agreed to work with Paula Voos to identify the people to target and send prospecting emails to them as well.

     The staff requested that Board members contact the National office with names of people contacted to avoid duplication. These contacts will be added to prospect list and sent promotional materials, to continue the effort of getting them to join LERA.

President Lipsky requested that Board members are responsible for contacting 20 people by December 2006.

     Report of the Editorial Committee—Adrienne Eaton made a motion to accept the 2008 Research Volume as titled—The Gloves-Off Economy: Problems and Possibilities at the Bottom of America's Labor Market. Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld moved to accept, Bill Canak seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

     2007 editors are Teresa Ghilarducci and Christian Weller, Employee Pensions and Labor Employment Relations, should be out late summer 2007.

     2006 volume, editor is David Lewin, Contemporary Issues in Employment Relations, will be out late 2006.

     Report of the 2007 NPF National Policy Forum Program Chair—Eileen Hoffman reported the theme for the meeting will be: Searching for the New American Dream. Jim Auerbach has agreed to serve as the meeting coordinator (a paid position) and Marlene Heyser, Rachel Hendrickson have agreed to serve as co-chairs. The meeting is scheduled for June 14Ð15, 2007 with the Board meeting in the afternoon of June 13. The DC LERA Chapter will again hold a chapter dinner at the Hotel Washington on the evening of June 13, 2007 and the LERA will arrange for Board members to attend the dinner and program. Steve Sleigh encouraged Eileen to get a prominent Honorary Co-chair for fundraising.

     Report of the LERA 60^th Annual Meeting Program Chair—Eileen Hoffman reported on the that Bonnie Prouty Castrey and Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld have agreed to serve as Co-Chairs of the 60^th Program Committee, the complete roster is in Board packet. The theme of the meeting will be Rebuilding America in a Changing Global Context. The meeting will be held January 4Ð6, in New Orleans, LA.

     The Board discussed the need to broaden the call for papers in the Annual Meeting program and to search for ways to bring more students into the meetings. It was discussed and agreed to include a student on the Program Committee to serve a term of one year and that the position be rotated among different schools. It could be that it be a rotating term with a Ph.D. Consortium chair serving on the Program Committee the year after chairing the Ph.D. Consortium. This appointment will be made by the Program Chair (president) each year with this outline in mind.

     Other innovations in the annual meeting program were discussed and Eileen requested these ideas to come to her and the two co-chairs, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld and Bonnie Castrey.

     New Business—There was no new business.

     Other Business—There was no other business.

     Next meeting—President Lipsky reminded the Board that the next meeting would be held on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007 at the Chicago Hilton.

            Meeting adjournment—The meeting was adjourned by President Lipsky at 10:00 p.m.