Minutes Special Meeting of the USA Fencing Board of Directors December 5, 2017 via Teleconference Present: Donald Alperstein, Don Anthony, David Arias, Raquel Brown, Sam Cheris, Diana Hoadley, Alan Kidd, Lorrie Marcil-Holmes, Ann Marsh-Senic, Jeff Salmon Absent: Cody Mattern, Daria Schneider, Adam Watson Guests: Sam Callan, Kris Ekeren, Nicole Jomantas, Melissa Jones, Bill Korbus, Jim Neale, Greg Papineau, Kate Reisinger, Christy Simmons I. General Information and Organizational Items Remarks – Donald Anthony, President (Appendix A) Motion (Mr. Alperstein): to add an item to the agenda in new business to incorporate the FIE’s change to rule t.18. Second Ms. Marsh Senic Motion passed. II. External Audit Report Mr. Papineau with BiggsKofford gave an oral report on the external audit. Mr. Papineau stated that the audit was issued with an unqualified opinion. USA Fencing has continued to improve their financial position over the past year with an increase of $336K in net assets. The biggest change to the audited financial report is that USA Fencing has established an account with the US Olympic Endowment. The purpose of this account is to establish an operating reserve account. Management of USA Fencing cooperated fully with the auditors. Motion (Diana Hoadley): to accept the external and USOC audit reports Second Mr. Alperstein. Motion passed. USA Fencing Board of Directors December 5, 2017 Meeting Minutes III. Consent Agenda Items Motion (Ms. Hoadley): to add an item to the consent agenda to appoint Soren Thompson to the International Relations Committee. Second Ms. Marsh Senic. Motion approved. 1. To approve the minutes of the September 10, 2017 meeting 2. To approve the financial reports for July, August, September and October 2017 3. To receive the Audit Committee, International Relations Committee, Marketing & Communications Resource Team, Sports Development Resource Team and Sports Performance Resource Team reports as submitted to the Board 4. To appoint Soren Thompson to the International Relations Committee Second Ms. Marsh-Senic Motion passed. IV. Executive Director’s Report (Appendix B) V. Finance Update Ms. Ekeren provided an oral report based on the October 2017 financials. Membership Services total net income is currently behind budget by $59K. Coaching revenues are below budget by $65K. We are looking into the possible impact that the new Competitive +CheckEd category may have on coach memberships. National Events total net income is currently behind budget by $4K. Based on preliminary numbers we feel that national events will recover in November. General Admin total net income is currently behind budget by $11K. This is due to higher than budgeted credit card gateway fees. Sports Performance is currently ahead of budget by $16K. There are currently timing difference with Cadre to World Cup showing a positive revenue budget variance of $10K. Developments total net income is a positive $7K as of October. Marketing, Executive Office, Board and Committees and US International are on budget or close to budget with no major variances. We are preparing to do a thorough budget review of all departments as we have just USA Fencing Board of Directors December 5, 2017 Meeting Minutes closed out our 1st quarter. Any adjustments and or cuts deemed necessary will be made. Mr. Cheris – We would like to see a report on the investment of assets and if we should have more money in accounts that are not bank account in order to earn more interest. Ms. Ekeren – We will provide this information to the board for the February meeting. VI. Legal Update Mr. Neale encouraged club owners to be aware of what their insurance policies cover before they have a claim that is not covered. For clubs who are covered under USA Fencing’s policy, the owners and coaches must ensure that they are in compliance with the 100% individual membership requirement. We recently had a club claim that was denied because not all individual club members were members of USA Fencing. Mr. Neale attended a meeting of NGB legal counsels in Lexington. There was very good information provided at this meeting. We have one case in arbitration right now. We will discuss further in executive session. VII. Strategic Plan Update Ms. Ekeren: The National Office is working with a graphic designer on the strategic plan presentation. If any board members have final comments on the business objectives and metrics, please contact her. Board members David Arias and Raquel Brown will review the final presentation before it is sent to the full board. VIII. Tournament Summit Update Ms. Ekeren: Thank you to all of the Tournament Summit group for all of their work on this project. Christy Simmons will be providing an interim report on the operational items. The final report will be provided prior to the February board meeting. Ms. Simmons provided an oral report on the proposals from the Tournament Summit group. o Beginning with the 2017 October NAC the strength factor will be used for all Division I North American Cups and the July Challenge and The Division I National Championships with a minimum strength factor of .8 and a maximum Strength Factor of 1.1. o The international points table is currently under review. o Ticketing for National Tournaments would begin during the 2018-19 season. The revenue from ticket sales would fund a more robust security presence at national tournaments and provide a more secure venue for athletes and spectators. Complimentary entry into national competitions will be available to USA Fencing members. o 2018-19 SYC tournaments will remain at a maximum of 12 o 2018-19 ROC tournaments will remain at a maximum of 35 USA Fencing Board of Directors December 5, 2017 Meeting Minutes o Looking at adding a high school championship o Introducing “Tournament in a Box” kit for the 2018-19 season o Proposed increase in regional and SYC fees: . RYC registration fee remains the same at $30 and the event fee increased to $45 . ROC/RJCC registration fee remains the same at $30 and the event fee increased to $45 . SYC registration fee increased to $35 and the event fee increased to $50 . Bid fees for all events would be $75 and the participant fee would be $6 o Looking into possibly assisting with the Collegiate Club Championships o Developing a communications plan Motion: (Mr. Kidd) to add an item to the agenda under new business to increase regional and SYC bid, participant and event fees. Second Ms. Hoadley Motion passed. IX. Coach Education Update (Sam Callan) Mr. Callan provided an oral report on the coach education program that he is developing. The goals are to increase knowledge, increase the number of coaches, improve “soft” coaching skills and address and meet national and international standards for coach education. X. New Business Motion (Mr. Alperstein): That USA Fencing amend its Rules of Competition, effective January 1, 2018, by adopting the deletion of the final two sentences of § t.18, ¶ 5, and to remove the reference in t.120 to reversing the line of the shoulders at foil, as approved by the FIE at its November 2017 Congress. Second Ms. Hoadley. Motion passed. Motion (Mr. Kidd): to increase the regional and SYC fees as listed below. RYC registration fee remains the same at $30 and the event fee increased to $45 . ROC/RJCC registration fee remains the same at $30 and the event fee increased to $45 . SYC registration fee increased to $35 and the event fee increased to $50 . Bid fees for all events would be $75 and the participant fee would be $6 Second Ms. Hoadley USA Fencing Board of Directors December 5, 2017 Meeting Minutes Motion passed. XI. Good and Welfare Mr. Anthony: o The FIE membership increased as Angola was added as a full affiliated and Pakistan as a provisional affiliate member. o Congratulations to Daira Schneider & Mariel Zagunis on the birth of the new babies. o The Barb Lynch RYC, being held December 16-17, 2017. The event is held to honor Barb Lynch who passed away in 2010 after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was a Division chair and served on the Board of Directors for more than a decade, and was a Vice-President for 4 years. If you are interested in making a donation, please reach out to David Sapery or Lisa Campi-Sapery. o Herb Spector passed away last month. Herb was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father named him Novera which means “new era” in Esperanto. With a wry smile Herb offered an alternative meaning, “new error”. Most of his school years were spent in New York City culminating with City College graduation. Herb told wonderful anecdotes of his friend Richard Feynman. They were Chess and Math Club teammates. Herb began his adult life during the Depression. With no money and a new wife he took up work as a machinist, a logical field for a biology major! He moved to L.A. where he worked for Lockheed building aircrafts during WW ll. Working as a machinist for a large company he became a union organizer and leader. As such he helped protect the welfare and wages of 100s of employees. Herb filed a lawsuit that led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the right of workers to organize. Herb and his family moved back East where he decided to return to a scientific career at age 40. The whole family pitched in to make it possible for him to study full time at the University of Pennsylvania where he got his Phd in physiology. He first worked at the National Science Foundation after which he moved to NIH as a grants administrator, where he enjoyed a long illustrious career.