APPROVED
Telephonic Board of Directors Meeting
October 15, 2009

Present
George E. McGowan, Jr., Chairman of the Board
Catherine Murphy, Director Conference Planning
Marian Ritland, Vice Chairman of the Board
Greg Schweizer, Director User Advocacy
Ed Phillips, Unisys Liaison
Kenn LeFever, Conference Planning Vice Chair
Mary Lou Regan, Chief Operating Officer

Absent
George Gray, Secretary/Treasurer

Guests
F. Guy Bonney, MGS, Inc.
Tom Renolds, Phoenix Police
Jim Shelton, Global Companies, LLC
Lynn Lovelace, UNITE Business Office

Chairman George E. McGowan, Jr. called the Board of Directors Meeting to order at 2:04 p.m. ET on October 15, 2009.

The Board of Directors reviewed the Minutes of the September 2, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting. Marian Ritland moved to approve the Minutes of the September 2, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting as submitted. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board of Directors reviewed the Minutes of the September 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009 Board of Directors Meetings. Catherine Murphy moved to approve the Minutes of the September 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009 Board of Directors Meetings as submitted. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board reviewed the outstanding action items from previous Board of Directors Meetings. Outstanding action items appeared on the agenda for this meeting or remained on the action list for later action.

Old Business

No old business items were discussed at this meeting.

Chairman McGowan called for additional new business items.

New Business

The Board reviewed the membership list for approval. Greg Schweizer moved that the Board approve the membership list dated October 15, 2009 for those members designated as renew or new as submitted by the Chief Operating Officer with the exception of one organization being vetted by the Membership Chairman. Seconded by George Gray. The motion passed unanimously. Greg asked Mary Lou Regan to include in her membership report to the Board a note indicating that vetting had been approved by the Membership Chairman for organizations that fit that criteria. The Board agreed.

Mary Lou Regan reminded the Board the raffle drawing for conference attendees staying at the Hyatt Minneapolis Hotel would take place on October 16, 2009. The Board agreed that individuals receiving complimentary conference registration and UNITE paid hotel rooms would not be eligible to participate. Catherine Murphy suggested the drawing be delayed until October 21, 2009 so that one last reminder e-mail could be sent announcing the incentive program raffle drawing. The Board agreed.

Mary Lou Regan reminded the Board that the 2009 conference registration fee of $1,225 expired on October 9, 2009. She asked the Board to consider keeping the discounted rate in effect for a longer period of time. The Board discussed this. Marian Ritland moved that the $1,225 conference registration fee remain in effect through November 5, 2009. After that date, the onsite registration fee would be $1,825. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. Four voted in favor and one voted against. The motion passed. Mary Lou Regan was asked to update the conference registration form on the UNITE website to reflect the decision.

Mary Lou Regan informed the Board she was working on the Board Conference Schedule of Events document and would email it when completed. She continued by asking the Board Members who had not yet sent her their conference travel itineraries to do so as soon as possible. George McGowan reminded the Board that he would not be able to attend the Saturday Board Meeting and that George Gray would participate via phone. Greg Schweizer said his flight is scheduled to arrive at 1:17 PM so he may be late for the meeting. Marian Ritland suggested the Saturday Board Meeting begin at 3:00 PM rather than 2:00 PM to allow additional time. The Board agreed.

Mary Lou Regan was then called upon to report on the status of the registration numbers to date for the 2009 Conference.

Mary Lou Regan briefed the Board on the estimated liability to date that UNITE would be responsible for due to not meeting the sleeping room commitment outlined in the 2009 contract with the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis Hotel. Mary Lou will keep the Board informed. George McGowan suggested UNITE may be able to reduce its liability by offering sleeping rooms at the Hyatt Hotel for registered conference attendees who booked sleeping rooms at competing hotels. Mary Lou Regan and Lynn Lovelace were asked to contact the delegates and vendors registered for the conference but not registered at the Hyatt Hotel to inquire if they would be willing to move to the Hyatt. Marian Ritland moved that the Business Office contact any vendor or delegate who is registered for the conference and is not a registered guest at the Hyatt Minneapolis Hotel informing them that UNITE would match the room rate at the hotel they are registered at if they move to the Hyatt Hotel. Seconded by Catherine Murphy. The motion passed unanimously.

Marian Ritland moved that the booth rate for the 2010 conference remain the same as the 2009 rate of $24.00 per square foot plus $200.00 for furnishings. Seconded by Catherine Murphy. Voice vote resulted in four in favor and one abstention (George Gray, yes; George McGowan, yes; Catherine Murphy, yes; Marian Ritland, yes; and Greg Schweizer, abstained). The motion carried.

Chairman McGowan reviewed with the Board the potential 2009 conference sleeping room short-fall liability to date at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis Hotel. Chairman McGowan then reminded the Board that the contract with the Grand Hyatt San Antonio for the 2010 Conference has a cancellation clause that must be exercised no later than October 30, 2009 in order to incur the minimum cancellation penalty of $30,000. The Board discussed in detail the option to cancel the 2010 contract with the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. Marian Ritland moved the Board authorize Mary Lou Regan to notify the Grand Hyatt San Antonio Hotel that UNITE would exercise the option to cancel the 2010 contract and to empower her to conduct negotiations accordingly. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously.

Chairman McGowan thanked the Board for the work they did in putting together the Future Business Models. The Board agreed to postpone the Future Business Models discussion to the November 7, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting.

Greg Schweizer reported that he spoke with a representative from Fore Associates, Inc. about contracting out the management of the UNITE conferences and other related activities. The Fore representative suggested it would be advantageous for her to attend the 2009 Conference in Minneapolis to observe how UNITE manages the conference. The Board talked about allowing the Fore representative to attend the conference at her own expense in order to observe the way UNITE manages a conference. A straw vote resulted in not allowing her to do so.

Greg Schweizer then reminded the Board that an e-mail blast was sent to the UNITE membership promoting the RTE mini-track sessions at the 2009 conference covering such topics as virtualization, consolidation and cloud computing. In researching this, Greg thought these might be areas in which not too many people were aware so he spoke with some Unisys people about promoting the mini-track sessions on the Unisys eCommunity but Unisys has not taken any action on this. While this was in the works, an e-mail from Unisys was sent in which they scheduled a session on the same topics for free just a few days prior to the UNITE conference. This could be a good thing if Unisys is just touching the tip of the iceberg to gain interest in the conference sessions and a bad thing if the subject material covered is the same as the material being covered at the conference. Greg said he had hoped Ed Phillips could address this and also to help promote the RTE mini-track during the eCommunity program. Chairman McGowan asked Mary Lou Regan to send an e-mail to Ed Phillips asking him to address Greg’s questions and to provide additional information.

Chairman McGowan called for Good of the Order.

Greg Schweizer moved to close the Board of Directors Meeting. Seconded by Marian Ritland. The motion passed unanimously. There being no further business, Chairman McGowan adjourned the Board of Directors Meeting at 3:42 p.m. ET.

Respectfully submitted by,

Mary Lou Regan
Chief Operating Officer

Attested by,
George Gray
Secretary/Treasurer