Meeting Minutes
Meeting: / District 12 DelegatesDate: / 15 October 2006
Chairman: / Billy Walsh, DVP
Recorder: / Alexander Bobovitch, DVP-elect/Secretary
Location: / Hyatt Regency Hotel, Houston, Texas, USA
Distribution: / Meeting Attendees, District Council Members
PRESENT
Alexander Bobovitch (St. Petersburg), Kevin Dignam (Ireland), Patrick Flanders (Saudi Arabia), Jim Long (Ireland), Declan Lordan (Ireland), Juan Carlos Marana (Spain), Orazio Mirabella (Italy), Brian Nolan (Ireland), Gianfranca Sanzeni (Italy), Billy Walsh (Ireland).
APOLOGIES
Smail Djirar (Abu Dhabi), Khalil Esmaiel (Kuwait), Jean-Pierre HAUET (France), John Kinsley (Saudi Arabia), Willy Leuvering (The Netherlands), Jennie Norton (England), Ron Migliorini (England), Eoin O’Riain (Ireland), Peter Partington, (England), Fernando Trucharte (Spain), Carla Zani (Italy), Pino Zani (Italy)
26 January 2006 ISA Executive Committee Minutes Page 3 of 3
1. CALL TO ORDER
District 12 VP Billy Walsh called the meeting to order at 15.40 hours. He recognized the presence of District Officers, Delegates and Members.
2. REVIEW OF THE AGENDA
DVP Walsh reviewed the proposed delegate meeting agenda. It was approved as circulated.
3. DISTRICT INFORMATION / NEWS
Honors & Awards Banquet
The following people / sections from the District will be honored at the Honors & Awards Banquet on Monday night 16 October 2006.
§ Maurice Radford - Ireland Section - Golden Achievement Award.
§ John Lotty - Ireland Section - Distinguished Society Award.
§ Kevin Dignam - Ireland Section - Emerging Leader Award.
§ Allan Rodrigo M. Gaban - Politecnico di Torino, Italy - Norman E. Huston Endowment worth $2000.
§ Spain Section – Section Performance Award – recognition for a specific accomplishment – developing a Master in Instrumentation and Control Program.
§ The Italy Section and the Ireland Section receive a Certificate of Accomplishment.
Information / News
§ The new District 12 Vice President-elect/elect is Kevin Dignam, Past President of the Ireland Section, his term as DVP-elect will be 2007-2008 and as DVP will be 2009-2010.
§ The District 12 Nominator for 2007-2008 is Eoin O’Riain from the Ireland Section, he was recently re-elected for a second and final two year term of office.
§ The Belgium Section had its charter revoked at the Board of District Vice Presidents Meeting on 15 October 2006. The Section has been Inactive since December 2001.
§ The International Student Games have a joint team entered from SUAI in St. Petersburg Russia and Catania in Italy so as to represent the District at the EXPO 2006 Reliant Centre in Houston on Tuesday 17 October 2006.
4. COUNCIL OF SOCIETY DELEGATES MEETING
§ DVP Walsh stated that 9 Active Sections within the district would be represented by a district attendee at the Annual Members Meeting and the Council of Society Delegates on Monday 16 October 2006.
§ The following were the nominated delegates representing the district sections: Abu Dhabi (Billy Walsh), England (Jim Long), France (Kevin Dignam), Ireland (Brian Nolan), Italy (Gianfranca Sanzeni), The Netherlands (Declan Lordan), Saudi Arabia (John Kinsley), Spain (Fernando Trucharte), St. Petersburg (Alex Bobovitch).
5. MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
§ D12 Membership Chair, Gianfranca Sanzeni reported that she had sent an e-mail to the District Section Presidents concerning an autumn Membership Drive, she continued by saying that no replies were returned in response.
§ DVP Walsh stated that he would check with Laura Crumpler to make sure that all the District Presidents were coded and that their e-mails were accurate, this would enable the D12 Membership Chair to make contact with the Section Presidents once more as it was important to have an on-going Membership Drive within the district.
6. FINANCIAL REPORT
§ D12 Treasurer, Declan Lordan reported that the balance in the District 12 bank account held in the USA was greater than $17,000 as an exact figure was not available due to recent ongoing transactions.
§ DVP Walsh stated that the overall District financial affairs were in a healthy state due to prudent management.
7. REGULAR SECTION REPORTS
§ DVP Walsh noted that Regular Section Reports were presented by the following delegates: Ireland (Brian Nolan), Italy (Gianfranca Sanzeni), Saudi Arabia (Patrick Flanders), Spain (Juan Carlos Marana), St. Petersburg (Alex Bobovitch).
§ Walsh noted that all the verbal Section Reports were very informative and interesting concerning section activities, he made special reference to the Saudi Arabia Section report from Patrick Flanders and the Spain Section report from Juan Carlos Marana:
1. Flanders reported that it would not be uncommon to have over 200 attendees at an ISA Technical Talk in Saudi Arabia and he noted that it was often a “captive audience” with dinner included during the evening for the attendees. Many of the well known local instrumentation suppliers work closely with the section volunteers in organizing the Technical Talks in Saudi Arabia throughout the year.
2. Marana reported on the recent ISA Meeting that the Spain Section organized and held in Lisbon, Portugal in order to get their neighbors formative ISA Section established, he continued by saying that there were 37 attendees and a Steering Committee was formed with 20 companies committing themselves. Marana also mentioned that Master in Automation and Control Program had 35 students enrolled for the current academic year and that one of the students was sponsored by the Spain Section.
8. STUDENT SECTION REPORTS
§ D12 Student Chair, Orazio Mirabella presented a detailed report outlining the activities conducted over the past year and those that are planned for the coming year in relation to the ten chartered Student Sections within the district.
§ Mirabella noted that the second ISA European Students Paper Competition (ESPC – 2006) had taken place during April 2006 with student participants from Italy, Spain and Russia. Certificates were presented at the International UNESCO seminar “Education for All” in St. Petersburg during late June 2006.
§ Mirabella stated that the third Italian / Russian Students Seminar took place in Catania, Italy during July 2006.
§ Alexander Bobovitch stated that an Italian / Russian Students Program took place in Genoa, Italy during September 2006 so as to coincide with the hosting of the BIAS Show in Milan.
§ Alexander reported that the second SUAI (Russia) – ISU (USA) International Students Exchange Program was to take place immediately after the FLM in October 2006.
9. GLOBAL ACTIVITIES
§ DVP Walsh reported that ISA headquarters had recently recruited Mr. Tim Feldman as Director of Global Operations and his role will be to develop and manage the business relationships of ISA in relation to globalization.
§ Walsh stated that Mr. Bruno Kisala has been recruited as the Managing Director of the Automation Federation (AF) which consists of four organizations at the moment (ISA – Founding sponsor, OMAC – Charter member, WBF – Charter member, WINA – Charter member).
§ Walsh continued by reporting that due to the addition of Mr. Bernard Penney to ISA staff earlier in the year as Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications, the society had therefore filled three key senior management positions and this greatly enhanced the overall available skills that are available as ISA headquarters.
10. NOMINATIONS FOR HONORS & AWARDS 2007
§ DVP Walsh reminded all delegates about the importance of the ISA annual Honors & Awards (H&A) Banquet as it is a very prestigious event for the society and that it is held every year in conjunction with the Fall Leaders Meeting (FLM) and EXPO.
§ Walsh urged society leaders to identify candidates within their own respective Sections that may qualify for recognition as it enhances the profile of their own ISA Section as well as the affiliating District.
§ Walsh stated that it was his wish that all District 12 Sections would submit the names of several candidates to the H&A Committee for review prior to 10th February 2007 deadline for ISA Service Awards and 1st June 2007 deadline for Section Performance awards.
§ Walsh noted that the ISA Sections in Italy, Ireland and St. Petersburg were consistent in sending nominations to the H&A Committee for consideration on an annual basis.
11. DLC & COUNCIL MEETING 2007
§ DVP-elect/ Secretary, Alexander Bobovitch reported that the next DLC would be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday 25 May and Saturday 26 May 2007.
§ Bobovitch stated that a website has been set up for the DLC and this could be accessed at the top left hand side of the District 12 webpage front page: http://www.isaeur.org
§ Walsh thanked Alex Bobovitch and his Russian colleagues for their dedication and commitment concerning their advance planning for the forthcoming DLC in St. Petersburg.
12. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
No additional items were presented
13. ADJOURNMENT
§ District 12 VP Billy Walsh thanked all those present for their attendance and valuable contributions.
§ Walsh noted that it would be the last District 12 Delegate Meeting that he would chair as his term as DVP expires on 31 December 2006.
Walsh adjourned the meeting at 17.10 hours.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ITEMS
Information Item 1-10-06
The 8th Offshore Mediterranean Conference & Exhibition (OMC 2007) is scheduled to take place in Ravenna, Italy, 28-30 March 2007. The ISA Italy Section is one of the sponsors.
Conference & Exhibition Website: http://www.omc.it
Conference e-mail:
Exhibition e-mail:
Information Item 2-10-06
An International Conference & Exhibition SAVE (Vertical Solutions and Applications of Automation Instrumentation Sensors) is scheduled to take place in Verona, Italy, 23-25 October 2007.
Exhibition Website: http://www.exposave.com
Exhibition Secretariat Website: http://www.eiomfiere.it