U.S. SYNCHRONIZED BOARD OF GOVERNERS - MINUTES SEPTEMBER 16-17, 2011 JACKSONVILLE, FL

President Duke Zielinski called the meeting to order at 8:05pm. He welcomed all to the USAS Convention and the Board of Governors meeting.

I. AGENDA : The following agenda items were requested to be moved around i. Move Governance report to Sat AM ii. Move Judges report in place of the Governance report iii. Remove item 6a from the agenda since minutes are posted on the website. It was moved, seconded and accepted to change the meeting agenda per above. MSP Nichols

II. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS : Parliamentarian Barbara Eaton read the Special Instructions and Standing Rules that are in place during the Board of Governors meeting. It was moved to accept special instructions. MSP Nichols

III. INTRODUCTIONS : Dawn Bean introduced special guests: The very first synchronized swimming competition was held in 1939. The 3 women from the team that took part in this competition, Irene, Holly and Doris, were introduced and recognized by President Duke Zielinski and Judy McGowan.

IV. MINUTES : The minutes of the Board of Governors meeting from September 18- 19, 2009 2010were approved as corrected (mainly formatting and spelling corrections). MSP Nichols

V. FOUNDATION REPORT : Brian Eaton, newly elected Foundation President, provided the following highlights: a. $2.2MM in assets as of today b. $1.7MM in grants as of today c. Building Americas Teams program was launched 2 years ago with $84k raised to date. d. Paulette Roche introduced Lip Synch competition. Semifinal event took place during the Foundation Dinner last night. Bids and votes will be collected once the final round takes place.

VI. ZONE REPORTS (filed and posted): a. North: presented by Ginny Jasontek (acting for Myrna Hagedorn) b. South: presented by Cheryl Cook c. East: presented by Laura Ehrenreich

Page 1 of 12 d. West: presented by Patricia Jones

VII. PRESIDENT’S REPORT : a. President Duke Zielinski explained the changes made to the BOD structure in the past year: USOC came to USSS with a request to make very strict changes with regards to its structure and terns of service. 4 board members graced us by accepting such request. Duke recognized Betty Hazle, Karen Rosolowski, Ginny Jasontek and Carole Mitchell and thanked them for many years of service to the organization. b. Duke discussed the mission of the organization and listed several important questions that we should be asking and answering: i. Governance – working through the uncomfortable time ii. Business – cycle of change iii. Budget constraints and finding creative solution to financial issues • Explained that we asked Foundation for a $100k loan, but that we don’t want to do so again, and need to start paying the loan off. • Shared that he asked each VP to work with their committees and find a way to raise $50k each c. Asked “What is USA Synchro today” d. Asked everyone to be bold, courageous and emphasized Trust.

VIII. NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT : Chair Diane Hunsinger thanked the nominating committee for their work and presented the following nominations and asked for nominations from the floor: a. Treasurer: Nancy Rosengard and Tom Wiita. b. Olympic International VP: Nathalie Bartelson and Karen Josephson. c. Competitive Operations: Toby Smith. d. Marketing and Membership: Traci Lunsford. e. Vicky Knutsen nominated Joanna Scoons for Marketing VP from the floor. f. No additional nominations were made from the floor and the ballot was closed. g. It was moved, seconded and approved to accept the VP Operations ballot by acclamation. MSP McGowan

IX. EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION : Vice President Shannon Korpela recognized all the judges who attended National Championships and presented them with the certificates of recognition based on the number of national and international competitions a judge attended in 2010.

X. AUDIT COMMITTEE REPORT: Toby Smith submitted a written report and provided the following highlights from the committee work over the past year:

Page 2 of 12 a. Audit of 2010 and 2009 Financial Statements was performed by our Independent Auditor, Dunbar, Cook & Shepard, P.C. The Audit Committee found no reason to disagree with the Representation Letter. Thus the Audit Committee recommended that the Board accept the Audit and 2010 Financial Statements. b. Reviewed the USOC Audit of USA Synchro for 2008 and 2009 and made several recommendations to the Board including recommending that the Treasurer propose amendments to the Financial Policy and Procedures Manual to improve financial controls recommended by the USOC. To date, we have not seen such amendments and urge that the Treasurer take immediate action on the recommendations.

XI. ETHICS COMMITTEE: Laurette Longmire, the chair of the Ethics Committee, thanked the committee for their work. a. The committee was formed in May 2011 b. Drafted and presented a new policy statement to the BOD and all committee members. This policy will require every BOD member to disclose any actual or perceived Conflict of Interest (CoI) prior to any meeting/discussion. c. In disclosing CoI, the board is not discouraging members to participate in a discussion, but rather by disclosing, they have an ability to recuse themselves from a topic. d. At the start of every meeting or conference call, the very first agenda item would call for a CoI disclosure as it pertains to the agenda of the meeting. Such CoI would be documented in the form and filed with the Executive Director. e. Policy for Confidentiality is currently in the works. f. Betty Hazle asked a question: when will this rule be in affect? Laurette reported that the BOD approved this new policy on 9/14 in concept. The committee needs to make a few revisions and will get back to the BOD for a final approval in 3-5 weeks.

XII. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT : Executive Director Terry Harper introduced special guests: Rachel Isaacs and Stephanie Isley from the USOC and provided updates on the following topics: a. Nationals Teams – presented HP plan to USOC in August. b. Education – upcoming coaches’ college and addition of skills competition where we saw much higher attendance than expected.

The meeting was recessed until 9am, Saturday, September 17, 2011.

c. President Duke Zielinski introduced Kent Burgene, a new independent director to the Board. Kent said a few words about why he joined the organization. d. Janet Redwine asked Terry a question: “Office staff is underpaid and overworked. We have resources in the organization that are untapped. Why

Page 3 of 12 are we not using them?” Terry assured that the office would be happy to use these resources and is also working on employing the interns. e. Betty Hazle asked if we have any new sponsors. Terry reported that we have 2 that we are negotiating with for several months now, and one is very close to the positive outcome and will have a “dollar” contribution. f. Betty Hazle asked what apparel company was used to prove for NT uniforms. Terry responded that this was a sensitive matter and he would prefer to not state the name. Betty requested that all FINA judges are outfitted from the same company. g. Karen Rosolowski asked how did the arrangement with the consultant bringing us additional sponsorship worked. Terry answered that both potential new sponsors were brought by the consultant. h. Charlotte Davis asked what specific events necessitated asking for a $100k loan from the Foundation and what are the plans to pay it back? Terry responded that the loan was not necessitated by events in 2010, but rather the plans for the National team in 2011. The terms of the loan are payable in 5 years and plans will be developed as we plan 2012 budget. i. Carole Mitchell requested that after each BOD call or a meeting an email is sent to the membership with the link to the meeting minutes. j. Sue Nesbitt asked why Junior World event lost money. What is the breakdown of the areas where we lost money? Terry responded that we didn’t contract a meet host who can take a risk for the event. USSS organization took on this event as a host. Ginny Jasontek helped answering this question: i. FINA has very tight requirements including doping control, doctors at events, FINA members traveling business class, deck look, etc… All of these has a price tag ii. Ginny didn’t think that there poor planning contributed to the deficit, quite opposite – many volunteers worked long hours to plan for this event. But the costs of putting such a high class event pushed the budget to be $25k in deficit. k. Dawn Bean wanted to know the plans to pay the Foundation loan back. Terry responded that budgeting process starts now and staff will making a proposal to the BOD and then work together to implement it. l. Karen Rosolowski asked if we have a strategic plan under which we currently operate. Duke responded that USOC offered their resources to help us with future planning.

XIII. MARKETING & MEMBER SERVCIES: a. Awards: Chair Judy McGowan talked about our organization losing two valuable members: i. Del Niel, who was “Mr. Rules” in his tenure with USSS and ii. Margaret Forbes, one of the “giants” in the organization who will be remembered for her creativity and her talents in coaching. She was the first person inducted into San Antonio hall of fame.

Page 4 of 12 b. Judy recognized all members of the History Subcommittee and requested 2 hours for the awards committee meeting at the next convention. Presented the following awards: 1. awards • and USOC Athlete of the Year – Mary Killman • USSS Hall of Fame – Bill May 2. Coaches Awards • Recognized last October: Masters’ Coach of the Year - Dawn Bean • Previously recognized at events this year: o Collegiate Coach of the Year – Linda Witter o Junior Coach of the Year – Kim Probst, Walnut Aquanuts o Senior Coach of the Year – Linda Witter, Ohio State University • Coaches named at convention o Coaching Merit Award – Presented to a coach of an established club (previous Age Group finalists) other than the head coach, who has developed who have attained finals at the U.S. Age Group National Championships – the honoree is Pam Hoying, Indy Synchro o Age Group Developmental Coach of the Year – Presented to a coach of a club whose athletes have reached a final at the US Nationals for the first time. – the honoree is Cheryl Dodge, Garden Synchro. o USSS Developmental Coach of the Year and our nominee for the USOC Developmental Coach of the Year – Kim Probst, Walnut Creek Aquanuts o Coach of the Year – Linda Witter, Ohio State University • Contributor Awards o Lillian MacKellar Distinguished Service Award – Joanne Wright o USSS Synchronized Swimming Hall of Fame – Myrna Hagedorn c. Marketing/Promotion: Vice President Traci Lunsford discussed i. Branding and what is a “branding tattoo”, a mental imprint and how to develop the appropriate brand ii. “we need spend money to make money” iii. Suggested some promotional ideas: National USA Synchro day and/or Synchro De Maya day on May 5th d. Membership: Carole Mitchell i. Asked that BOD members introduced themselves and requested that BOD introduce themselves at the start of the meeting. ii. Membership will be collecting emails of swimmers to keep up with their communications

Page 5 of 12 iii. How can we grow our collegiate program: created poster highlighting all collegiate programs that will be distributed to all clubs iv. Explained why she is no longer a member of the BOD and that she will continue her work to support the organization.

XIV. ELECTION RESULTS : Election Committee Chair Pat Easterling thanked the election committee for their work and announced results of the election: a. Total votes: 157 b. Total votes casts: 149 c. VO OI: Nathalie Bartelson, 79, and Karen Josephson, 70. Congratulations Nathalie! d. TRESURER: Nancy Rosengard, 73, and Tom Wiita, 76. Congratulations, Tom! e. MARKETING & MEMBER SERVICES: Traci Lunsford, 88, and Joanna Scoons, 61. Congratulations, Traci!

XV. VP COMPETITIVE OPERATIONS : VP Competitive Operations, Toby Smith, filed his report and introduced John Ortiz, Chair of the Athletes Program Committee. a. John described the Athlete Program committee format to be a town hall meeting. He then went over the main points from the discussions regarding the idea of combining Junior and Senior National Championships. • Generate revenue – it is believed that combined meets will generate additional revenue and minimize expenses. • Exposure and development: Laurette Longmire discussed a pilot proposal for the LA84 Foundation program and the Junior Olympic titling; its benefits to growth, development and exposure within the Los Angeles Park and Recreations Department/City-Wide Aquatics and Inner-City Kids of the Greater Los Angeles area. b. Meet Management: Toby Smith thanked Patty Flanagan who no longer can fulfill her role and thanked Betsy and Pete McGeoch for taking on this job. • Pete and Betsy discussed the need for volunteering at different events. • They received requests from officials regarding some timing adjustments that are needed and will work on it for the upcoming competitions. • They created a draft schedule for the combined Junior / Senior National Championship • Betsy thanked the committee for their hard work. c. Sites: Ted Roche thanked sites committee for their work and reported on the following recommendations: • The 2013 US Collegiate Championships be awarded to Stanford University, to be conducted March 20-23, 2013, at the Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford University, California.

Page 6 of 12 • The 2013 US National Championships (including Junior and Senior Divisions) be awarded to the Greensboro Coliseum Complex and Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau to be conducted April 10-14, 2013, at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC. • The 2013 eSynchro Age Group Championships be awarded to the Southern California Association of United States Synchronized Swimming, to be conducted June 21-29, 2013 at the Riverside Aquatic Complex, Riverside, CA. • Sue Nesbitt requested that the bid package and contract for hosting the National meet be the same for consistency, and that providing meals to officials and coaches is part of the requirements in the bid packet and the contract. • It was moved, seconded and approved to accept the recommendations from the Sites Committee BOD: MSP Smith (unanimous)

XVI. COLLEGIATE REPORT: Rebecca Story presented the Collegiate Report: a. Thanked the Collegiate Committee for their work b. Thanked Jennifer Hatt for her work to create a flyer that celebrates collegiate programs c. Asked the BOD to support collegiate programs by providing quicker responses and a follow through on requests d. Counts for technical elements were moved to Collegiate Manual

XVII. ATHLETES’ REPORT : a. Kim Probst reported that one of the big goals for this year was to collect emails for all athletes for future communications. b. Anna Eng who served 9 years on the USSS Board of Directors is being replaced by Janet Redwine. Thank you, Anna, for your service!\ c. Election results: i. BOD At Large: Janet Redwine ii. VP IR: Deborah Shim iii. VP Competitive Operations: Emily Wills iv. VP Marketing: Emma Baranski

XVIII. OLYMPIC INTERNATIONAL : a. Ginny Jasontek, FINA Representative, presented her report: • She discussed the importance of supporting FINA’s World Trophy competition. This is the first year where 2 panels of judges were used in this new format: one panel consisted of celebrities, and one had FINA judges. • 3 scores is the way the scoring is done in the world and we should continue our transition to this scoring system.

Page 7 of 12 • Ginny congratulated the following USA judges: o Shannon Korpela for being promoted from G to B level judge o Judy McGowan and Barbara McNamee were recognized for their work on the degree of difficulty and received a FINA gold and silver pin respectively. o USA has proposed the following judges for the upcoming events: Irene Hawes for the Olympic Qualifying Linda Loehndorf for the Sue Johnson was selected by the TSSC as a Chief Recorder for the Olympic Games. Congratulations to Irene, Linda and Sue!

Following a break, President Duke Zielinski called the meeting to order. It was moved to allow the Rules Committee chair to call on motions BOD: MSP Rosolowski (unanimous)

XIX. RULES: a. The committee recommended approval of items 1-21 (no item 7) as submitted b. BOG Pulls: Item 1, 5, 11, 16. c. It was moved to accept the committee recommendations with exception of the pulled items. MSP T. Roche d. After some discussion, it was moved to approve item #11 (entry deadline) MS S. Nichols, motion was rejected. e. It was moved to approve item #16 (entry deadline) MSP S. Nichols f. It was moved to approve items #1 and #20. MS Rosolowski • Patricia Johnson moved to amend item #20 to read as follows: “any # of competitors age 13-14 may be used to compete in a US Junior Championship team event.” - Motion rejected. • Don Kane moved to amend item #20 to read as “Competitor who is 13 or 14 years of age may participate in the Team Event at the US Junior Championship. At least one competitor must be in the proper Junior Group. Any number of competitors may move up to compete in the team routine.” Motion rejected. • Item #20 was rejected from the original motion to approve as recommended by the committee. • Barbara McNamee moved to amend item #1 to read as CP 5.2 p.19. Amendment passed. • It was moved to accept item #1 as amended. MSP B. McNamee • Item #5 – Barbara McNamee moved to amend to include word “calendar priority” MSP B. McNamee

Page 8 of 12 g. BOD pulled item #20 h. Item #19 needs 50% votes to pass. It was moved to approve item #19. BOD MSP Eng (unanimously) i. It was moved to accept all items as recommended by the BOG except item #20 (pulled) and item #19 (requiring 50% votes) BOD MSP Eng (unanimously) j. It was moved to accept item #20 as rejected. A vote in favor is a vote to accept the rejection. BOD MS Eng (For: Rosengard, Korpela, Smith, Bergen, Lunsford; Against: Probst, Eng, Lowe; abstained: Zielinski) The BOD didn’t have the required 90% of the votes to approve this motion.

XX. GOVERNANCE COMMITEE: a. It was moved to allow the Governance Committee chair Becky Meitin to call on motions MSP Nott b. Report with committee recommendations was filed. c. The committee recommended that “The Governance Committee should be included in any deliberations about changes to the Code before being printed or distributed electronically to USSS Membership”. d. The following items were pulled: #1, #4b, #9a, #10, #11, #12 e. It was moved to accept the Governance Committee Report as presented with the exception of the pulled items MSP Roche f. Ann Murphy moved to amend Item #1 in 3.02.c.5b as follows: “A director shall not be considered independent if within the preceding two years, and while in service….” MS Murphy (For: 58, Against: 14; Abstained: 19), amendment was rejected. g. President Duke Zielinski announced that Kent Burgene, an independent director, recused himself from this discussion. h. It was moved to reject Item #4b MSP Nott i. It was moved to accept Item #9a (housekeeping) MSP Nott j. It was moved to accept Item #10 as amended MSP Nott k. It was moved to accept Item #11 as amended MSP Nichols l. Discussion regarding Item #12 followed. Laurette Longmire moved to amend to add an “OR” to “… by mailing OR by any other media…” It was moved to accept Item #12 as amended MSP Mitchell m. BOD pulled Item#7.

Page 9 of 12 n. It was moved to accept the Governance Committee Report as presented with the exception of the pulled items BOD MSP Eng (unanimous) o. It was moved to amend Item #1 to include ..”and while serving..” BOD MS Eng (For: Eng, Probst, Korpela, Lunsford, Lowe, Rosengard; Against: Smith; Abstained: Bergene, Zielinski), Motion rejected. p. It was moved to approve Item #4b. BOD MS Korpela (For: Probst, Korpela, Lunsford, Lowe; Against: Eng, Rosengard, Smith, Bergene; Abstained: Zielinski), Motion rejected. q. It was moved to approve Item #7. BOD MS Eng (For: Eng, Probst, Korpela, Lunsford, Lowe, Rosengard; Against: Smith; Abstained: Bergene, Zielinski), Motion rejected. r. After some discussion it was moved to approve Item #9a as amended. BOD MSP Probst (unanimous) s. After some discussion it was moved to approve Item #10 as amended by the BOG. BOD MSP Rosengard (unanimous) t. After some discussion it was moved to approve Item #11. BOD MSP Eng (unanimous) u. After some discussion it was moved to approve Item #12 as amended by the BOG. BOD MSP Eng (unanimous)

XXI. NATIONAL TEAM: National Team Director, Sandra Mahoney, filed her report and summarized the National Teams activities and progress: a. National Team 1 will not be able to make their presence at Convention this year as they are training for Pan Am Games. b. Acknowledged the National Team Committee members, Head and Assistant coaches, Team managers and all National Teams Athletes. c. Discussed the updates to Junior National Team Selection Criteria. It was moved to approve Junior National Team Selection Criteria as corrected. MSP Hazle BOD: MSP Bergene (unanimous) d. It was moved to approve 13-15 National Team Selection Criteria as corrected. MSP Hazle BOD: MSP Bergene (unanimous) e. It was moved to approve 12&U National Team Selection Criteria as corrected. MSP Hazle BOD: MSP Korpela (unanimous)

XXII. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE

Page 10 of 12 a. Betty Hazle, the Chair of the International Relations Committee, filed the report. Due to limited time, the report was not reviewed in front of the BOG. b. It was moved to approve Appendix F Club Options & Exchange Polices as filed. MSP Nichols BOD: MSP Smith (unanimous) c. It was moved to approve Appendix N International Relations Policies and Procedures as filed. MSP Nichols BOD: MSP Korpela (unanimous) d. Betty thanked all FINA judges, NTD Sandra Mahoney for their work, and USOC and BOG for their support.

XXIII. TREASURER : Nancy Rosengard filed her report and thanked the BOG for their votes. She wished Tom Wiita, the newly elected Treasurer success in his position.

XXIV. JUDGES BOARD REPORT: a. Shannon Korpela will post a summary of Coaches and Judges Boards reports on line. b. Discussion regarding the judges uniform, specifically the request to change the color of the judges pants be changed to black effective January 2012 followed. MSP Hazle BOD: MSP Eng (abstained: Smith, Zielinski)

XXV. NEW BUSINESS a. Betty Hess requested a follow up on her proposal to form an ad-hoc committee to review judge’s evaluations. Shannon responded that she is working on a response letter that will document the current process and answer outstanding questions. In addition an ad hoc committee was formed and announced with the following members: Linda Loehndorf (chair), Ginny Jasontek, Laurette Longmire, Barbara McNamee, Sue Johnson and Shannon Korpela.

XXVI. ANNOUNCEMENTS a. Duke expressed his thanks to Barbara Eaton for being Parliamentarian. b. Thank you to Pat Easterling for overseeing and managing the election! c. Duke also expressed his thanks to the Board of Directors for their service and welcomed the new members.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:05pm

Respectively Submitted,

Eugenia Gillan

Page 11 of 12 USSS BOD Secretary

Page 12 of 12