Officer/Staff Reports

Dave Lockhart – President

• Called the meeting to order at 7:04PM, EST
• Dave is going to research where our IPMS/USA charter document is located
• Kudos to Mike Oberholtzer for spearheading the Wild Apricot integration efforts with the National Convention registration team.
• Asked for concerted effort to get the membership records updated to help keep the Journal going out to the membership on time.
• Dave initiated a discussion regarding IPMS/USA’s liability insurance.  We need to re-evaluate our coverages to include major catastrophe (i.e. covid, etc.)  Rob to work with Dave to research the requirements.
• Dave asked John to research the cost IPMS/USA sponsoring a light meal for the judges meeting at the Nats.
• Dave proposed that the winner of “Best Junior” at Regional contests be awarded a complimentary one-year membership in IPMS/USA as part of their award.  The Board concurred.
• Dave asked Ro and Mike to research the possibility of posting links to the Chapter newsletters on the IPMS website.  Dave Knights indicated that each chapter needs to provide consent.
• Dave asked each of the E-Board members to review the IPMS Constitution and By-Laws and propose any revisions they feel might be necessary.  Comments to be sent to Rob.
• Rob is to collect Conflict of Interest forms from all board members and RCs.  Needs to be completed by April 1.

Phil Peterson – 1st Vice President

• 520 reviews posted for last year – down slightly.
• +/- 133 review corps members
• Phil contacts the manufacturers to request samples.
• Phil to work with Mike to get our review vendor contact information added to the WA database to facilitate easier interaction and information exchange regarding the Reviewer Corps, National Convention vendor information, etc.

John Bonanni – 2nd Vice President

• 2022 Nats
  • Online meeting held with Dave Lockhart, John Bonanni and the Omaha 2022 Nats Convention team.  Planning is on schedule and going well.  They are all set to launch pre-registration, tours, merch, etc. on February 1, 2022.
  • Push for getting the word out on the social media channels, to other IPMS Branches and through other communication avenues to attract folks from outside the society to attend
  • The Omaha team is working to provide additional hotel locations and details on their website
  • IPMS/USA will put out an email distribution via the WA system just prior to the 2/1 pre-registration opening that explains the procedure for and benefits of registering online for the convention.
• National Convention Long Range Planning
  • Zoom meeting was held to discuss chartering a “National Convention Steering Committee” with Len Pilhofer and Rob Booth
  • The function of this committee will be to provide information and advice to the Executive Board and the membership regarding long term planning and improvements to the IPMS/USA National Convention and Contest experience for our members, and the scale modeling hobby community.
  • Len Pilhofer will serve as the first Chair of this Committee and he and John are currently researching available data from past conventions for analysis.
  • The committee will work with the 2ndVP to draft and implement a simple and easy to understand document that outlines the basic requirements of bidding for, planning and hosting the IPMS/USA National Convention event.  IPMS/USA members will be allowed easy access to this document.
  • The chartering meeting will be held on February 26.  Participants to be determined.
  • The board is open to proposals from all areas of the US to host the 2024 IPMS/USA National Convention.  Hosting proposals can be put forth by individual chapters or regional “teams” with members from multiple chapters in key roles.  Contact John Bonanni at ipmsusa2ndvp@ipmsusa.org for information and guidance.
  • John is looking for a time to set up a discussion with Mark Persichetti to discuss the relationship between the IPMS/USA National Contest Committee and the IPMS/USA Executive Board, and how they interface regarding the National Convention Contest.

Mike Oberholtzer – Treasurer

• Wild Apricot system went live online on January 1, and is working well
• Year-end financial statements will be done in a week or so
• Interim financial reports are posted to the website monthly for the previous month
• IPMS Privacy Policy has been revised.  Main change is in age of junior members.  Revised to be 13-17, and mainly affects the family membership status.  We currently show 14 junior members of which 6 are “active”.
• The membership application form will be reworked to be more current with regards to information.

Rob Booth - Secretary

• Discussed protocol for brevity redaction for E-Board meeting minutes posted to the website from the live recorded discussions
• Discussed protocols for distribution of and responses to inquiries received at the IPMS/USA website general E-mailbox
• Goal set to have E-Board Quarterly meeting minutes posted to the IPMS/USA website within 2 weeks of the meeting date (E-Board Meetings are scheduled for the first Sunday of January, April, Saturday morning at the IPMS/USA National Convention, and November)
• Rob will work with Dave and Jeff to come up with an information document that can be sent to individuals that show interest in forming an IPMS/USA chapter in their area if there isn’t one in their area, or one that may have gone dormant.

Jeff Neal – Director of Local Chapters

• Reports that a group in the St. Louis area is interested in forming a new local chapter.
• Working on increasing outreach through the RCs to local chapters.  This will help with the rechartering of chapters, and the availability of the society’s insurance coverage for their events.
• Currently +/-133 chapters have re-chartered
• Jeff is reaching out to dormant chapter contacts to make contact and see why they are inactive.
• Chapter contacts need to update the chapter information on the WA website to keep it current.

Ro Annis - Historian/Publications Director

• Latest issue of the Journal (Nov/Dec) is at the printer and should be available for distribution in a couple of weeks (mid-January).
• Reviewing archival digital copies of the Journal for possible future on-line posting.
• Still working on the “final” version of a vectored IPMS/USA official logo.

David Knights - Recruitment and Retention Secretary

• Text copy for the tri-fold handout will be ready in about 2 weeks and distributed for review.  It will contain a revised membership application form but will encourage individuals to apply on-line (through the new WA system).
• Working with John regarding harnessing the National Convention advertising to increase membership.
• Dave has the inventory of 25 and 50 year membership pins.  Requests go to him to verify and then distribute or present at the National Convention.

Marie Van Schoonhoven - National Office Manager

• Record number of contact information and address updates from members.  This is critical for members to receive their copies of the Journal and can be done by the individual member on the new website.
• Working closely with Mike Oberholtzer on updating membership information.

The next quarterly meeting of the IPMS/USA Executive Board will be held via Zoom on Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 6:00PM CDT.Dave Lockhart adjourned the meeting at 8:17PM CST.

Submitted by Rob Booth - Secretary-IPMS/USA

01/16/2022