MBB JULYBOARD CALL SUMMARY-07-19-12

Board Members attending: Lynn Cole (President), Judith Gilmore (Secretary), Prabha Sankaranarayan (Treasurer), Jack Boyson, Dave Joseph, Jean Kling, Doug Noll, Laura Perrault, Steve Seeche & Rachel Wohl; Staff: Charlie Pillsbury, Gillian Saxby, Tadios Tekeste & Ingrid Lenz

President L. Cole convened the meeting at 11:07AM EDT and described the Rwanda Project team’s consultation with the Executive Committee regarding project team travel in or near areas of conflict. Lynn reported that the EC ultimately left the decision of where to travel in Rwanda to the team leaders and referred the issues raised by this consultation to the Projects Committee for their consideration.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE’S REPORT

May and June Board Minutes were reviewed and approved after there was a quorum of Board members (at least 8/majority of the Board per the by-laws) on the call.

Motions: To approve the May and June minutes were made by S. Seeche and seconded by D. Joseph, and were approved unanimously.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

  • Database. Executive Director C. Pillsbury provided an update on the status of MBB’s new database and the training that T. Tekeste received from Ohava Computers, the database vendor. The ED C, Pillsbury noted that the database is very searchable and is also now better equipped to address lapsed members and to generate automatically renewal reminders.
  • Website. The ED and Program Director G. Saxby also gave an update on the selection process for a vendor to redesign MBB’s website. The final decision was delegated to the ED.
  • WMF. The ED also reported that the EC had approved his attending the 2012 World Mediation Forum in Valencia, Spain, in Octoberto represent MBB and promote our upcoming Congress in Istanbul. MBB members Gail Ervin, Ginny Morrison and P. Sankaranarayan will be presenting at the WMF Gail’s research on monitoring and evaluation and it application to the Liberia project..

STRATEGIC PLANNING REPORT

Committee chair D. Joseph provided a brief Strategic Planning update. He reported that the Committee held a full day retreat/conference call on Wed. 7/18 to develop recommendations regarding strategic directions to take.

Participating in person in Rhode Island were D. Joseph, C. Pillsbury & S. Seeche; and participating by conference call and/or Skype were L. Cole, J. Kling, D. Noll & Laura Perrault; A. Panikkar was unable to participate. The topic areas discussed included:

  • CURRENT PROJECTS
  • NEW PROJECTS
  • DOMESTIC CHAPTERS
  • INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS
  • INTERNATIONALIZATION
  • DEFINITION OF MEDIATION SERVICES
  • MEDIATION [CONSULTATION & TRAINING] SERVICES
  • BUSINESS MODEL
  • MEMBERSHIP
  • VOLUNTEER COSTS & SELF-FUNDING

The Strategic Planning Committee will meet again in DC on Thursday, August 23, at a place TBD.D.Joseph agreed to prepare an interim memorandum updating the Board on issue areas before the August Board meeting.

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

J. Boyson presented the proposed Board Conflict of Interest Policy for adoption. After discussion, the Board deferred voting on this new policy until Para. 3 was clarified, especially the meaning of “any personal profit or gain”. L. Perrault and S. Seeche volunteered to develop a composite statement clarifying the meaning and effect of this language.

DEVELOPMENT REPORT

FDC chair J. Kling gave updates on

  • Challenge Grant – we have exceeded our goal by 10%, having raised $21,940. This is $1,940 more than the $20,000 required to receive a matching donation pledged by a very generous donor.
  • J. Kling reported that Board participation was very important in achieving this goal and is expecting 100% Board participation by September 1.
  • C. Pillsbury will follow-up with the donor to clarify his intent, as it is unclear whether the pledged $20,000 matching grant will come in the form of unrestricted or restricted dollars.

PROJECTS COMMITTEE REPORT

Board Committee liaison J. Gilmore presented the Kenya Project Assessment Trip proposal for Board approval. She noted that:

  • this new project had excellent team co-leaders: Gail Ervin and Michelle Mikesell,
  • the proposal contained an exemplary section on project team member security, and
  • the Projects Committee unanimously recommended approval to the Board.

Motion: To approve Kenya Project Assessment Trip was made by S. Seeche and seconded by J. Boyson, and was approved unanimously.

CONGRESS 2013 & MBBITI REPORT

L. Cole provided an update on planning for both the 2013 Congress in Istanbul and the pre-Congress International Training Institute (MBBITI). Regarding the Congress, she had prepared a draft agreement to send to the president of the university where the Congress will be held. She also reported that the planning committee expectedto use an RFP process to solicit proposals for Congress content. Regarding the MBBITI, she noted that we were referring to the pre-congress training as MBBITI, and not MBBITC, which is the acronym/term used for describing our alliance with SMU. She reported that currently she, P. Sankaranarayan and V. Isler were involved in planning this gender-focused training event.

AFFILIATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT

P. Sankaranarayan reported on MBB’s efforts to develop a partnership with Rotary International (RI) at both the organizational and project levels. She has convened a very active RI/MBB working group co-chaired by Vikram Kapoor and Enda Young; E. Young is an MBB member from Belfast. Prabha also mentioned that MBB members/Rotarians Mark Kirwin and Scott Martin had attended a regional RI meeting on Peace in

Portland OR in late June, at which Global Advisory Council member Ambassador John McDonald was a featured speaker.

FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

Treasurer and Finance Committee chair P. Sankaranarayan and ED C. Pillsbury presented the 07/16/12 Fin.Comm.Mtg.Summary; the 05/31/12 Project Financials; and the 06/01/12 Projects bank statement. They reported that, during its July 16 meeting involving C. Pillsbury, P. Sankaranarayan, S. Seeche (by phone) and T. Tekeste at MBB’s office in Arlington VA, the Finance Committee took the following actions in connection with MBB’s project finances: Repaid the Liberia project for its $10,000 operations deficit and made other transfers to clean up the project account.

R. Wohl asked a question regarding the Ecuador Project team’s fund balance. C. Pillsbury reported that MBB had reached an agreement with the Ecuadorian American Chamber of Commerce in Quito to serve as the Ecuador Project’s fiscal agent.

OTHER BUSINESS

  • NEXT FACE-TO-FACE BOARD MEETING: scheduled Fri. & Sat. 10/26 & 10/27, in Denver, Colorado, at a place TBD.
  • P. Sankaranarayan reported on a joint MBB/ACR Reception on Wed. 9/12 in New Orleans.
  • G. Saxby reported that the Membership Engagement Committee was working on a lapsed member initiative
  • G. Saxby also reported that the Training Committee would be submitting the Committee’s proposed Roles & Responsibilities to the Governance Committee in September.
  • J. Gilmore reported that the Board has already approved MBB copyrighting its logo under the Berne Convention. In addition, on behalf of MBB, she has submitted a bid for the domain which is currently owned by an Australian company. Finally, she asked Tad to provide the Board with a list of the domain names already owned by MBB.

President L. Cole adjourned the meeting at 1:17PM EDT.

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