Present
George Gray, Secretary/Treasurer (via telephone)
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 E. McGowan, Jr., Chairman of the Board

Guests
F. Guy Bonney, MGS, Inc.
Tom Renolds, Phoenix Police
Jim Shelton, Global Companies, LLC 

Vice Chairwoman Marian Ritland called the Board of Directors Meeting to order at 3:02 p.m. ET on November 7, 2009.

Vice Chairwoman Marian Ritland called for additional new business items.

Old Business

No old business items were discussed at this meeting.

New Business

The Board reviewed the membership list for approval. Greg Schweizer moved that the Board approve the membership list dated November 7, 2009 for those members designated as renew or new as submitted by the Chief Operating Officer. Seconded by George Gray. The motion passed unanimously.

Mary Lou Regan informed the Board that the 2009 Election Committee received a proxy from an organization authorizing their vote for the 2009 Board of Directors be transferred to another UNITE member. The Board discussed whether or not the organization was a member in good standing because it fell under the former CUBE organization as a Tom Grier Lifetime Member and they had not attended a recent conference or paid the membership fee. The Board then reviewed the UNITE Policies and Procedures Manual regarding predecessor organizations’ membership qualifications. Catherine Murphy moved that the following UNITE members be granted complimentary lifetime membership in UNITE  (USE/CUBE/UNITE Past Presidents, USE Lifetime Members, CUBE Tom Grier Award Recipients, UNITE Original Board Members, and UNITE Star Award Recipients). Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously. The Board agreed that the proxy was valid. Mary Lou Regan will notify the Election Committee and update the UNITE Policies & Procedures Manual to reflect the motion.

The Board reviewed the Opening General Session and the Closing General Session schedules of events. Mary Lou reminded the Board that Ed Coleman’s keynote address would be recorded by Unisys. Mary Lou then reviewed with the Board their meeting schedules throughout the week.

Marian Ritland informed the Board that she scheduled a telephone interview with Unisphere 5 Minute Briefing during the conference and that her remarks would appear in the November 11, 2009 Unisphere 5 Minute Briefing online publication.

Mary Lou Regan then reported on the registration numbers to date.

Catherine Murphy reported that one of the Unisys RTE (Real-Time Enterprises) presentations was changed to a panel format and that one of the GE (General) session speakers cancelled at the last minute. The cancelled timeslot was filled by another speaker who had requested additional time for his session.

Mary Lou Regan reported on the status of the potential sleeping room shortfall per the contract with the Hyatt Minneapolis Hotel. To date, UNITE met 59% of the 80% minimum and was approximately $5,000 short of its minimum food/beverage per contract. The Board authorized Mary Lou Regan to reasonably increase the level of food for the Tuesday night reception and the food for the Working Group Thank You events in order to minimize the food/beverage shortfall.

Catherine Murphy recommended that the Board permit all conference attendees be allowed to attend the conference sessions regardless of their badge designations as long as they have a 2009 conference badge or a Unisys ID badge. The Board agreed.

Catherine Murphy moved to go into Executive Session. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously.

Catherine Murphy moved to close the Executive Session. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously. No action items resulted from the Executive Session.

Mary Lou Regan informed the Board that she, George Gray and George McGowan had a phone conversation with the sales representative from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Antonio and Jeff Berger from Conference Planning Resources about rebooking the cancelled 2010 conference. The original contract had been cancelled per the Board’s direction. The Hyatt agreed to apply $15,000 of the $30,000 cancellation fee as a deposit toward the rebooked meeting should UNITE agree to sign a new contract by November 30, 2009. The Board discussed in great detail the UNITE conference specifications and other potential locations. Catherine Murphy moved that the Chief Operating Officer be authorized to request a proposed contract from the Grand Hyatt San Antonio Hotel for the 2010 UNITE Conference. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously. Additional discussion regarding the 2010 conference will be addressed at the November 12, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting.

Marian Ritland suggested that UNITE hold focus groups during the 2009 conference with attendees in order to gather their opinions about the future direction and focus of UNITE. The Board agreed. The Board discussed in detail the mechanics of organizing the focus groups. The Board agreed that two focus groups would be planned – one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday mornings from 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Jim Shelton agreed to facilitate the meetings and report back at the November 12, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting.

Chairwoman Marian Ritland recessed the Board of Directors Meeting at 5:19 p.m. on November 7, 2009.

Chairwoman Marian Ritland reconvened the Board of Directors Meeting at 9:10 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2009.

Present
Catherine Murphy, Director Conference Planning
Marian Ritland, Vice Chairwoman of the Board
Greg Schweizer, Director User Advocacy
Ed Phillips, Unisys Liaison
Mary Lou Regan, Chief Operating Officer 

Absent
George E. McGowan, Jr., Chairman of the Board
Kenn LeFever, Conference Planning Vice Chair

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

The Board of Directors reviewed the Minutes of the October 15, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting. Greg Schweizer moved to approve the Minutes of the October 15, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting as amended. Seconded by Catherine Murphy. 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. 

Vice Chairwoman Marian Ritland reported that Guy Bonney from MGS, Inc., Marian Ritland from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and Jim Shelton from Global Companies, LLC were elected to the Board of Directors for two-year terms by a vote of the UNITE general membership present at the 2009 Annual Technology Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Marian continued by reporting that George E. McGowan, Jr. did not run for re-election due to term-limit and George Gray did not run for re-election due to his organization’s move from the Unisys environment. There were three positions open and four candidates running for the Board of Directors – they were Guy Bonney, Tom Renolds (Phoenix Police), Marian Ritland, and Jim Shelton. Results of the first vote by the members present resulted in the election of Marian Ritland and Guy Bonney and a tie between Jim Shelton and Tom Renolds. A run-off vote was held resulting in the election of Jim Shelton.

Greg Schweizer moved to close the Board of Directors Meeting. Seconded by Catherine Murphy. The motion passed unanimously. There being no further business, Vice Chairwoman Marian Ritland adjourned the Board of Directors Meeting at 9:16 a.m. ET.

Mary Lou Regan opened the Board of Directors Meeting at 9:16 a.m. Mary Lou informed the Board that her duty here was to ask for nominations for Chairman of the Board. Marian Ritland moved that Jim Shelton from Global Companies, LLC be nominated as Chairman of the Board for a one-year term. Seconded by Catherine Murphy. The motion passed unanimously. Marian Ritland moved that nominations for Chairman of the Board be closed. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously. Mary Lou Regan then turned the meeting over to Chairman Jim Shelton.

Chairman Shelton called for additional new business items. 

New Business

2008 Post Conference Review 

• Conference Planning – Catherine Murphy reported that with the exception of a few minor problems the conference was a success. Although the registration numbers were low most of the Working Groups were pleased with the attendance in their sessions. She said the decision to cut down the number of simultaneous sessions paid off because it increased attendance in the scheduled sessions. 
• General – Catherine Murphy reported on behalf of the GE track. The Working Group had a total of 13 sessions consisting of 4 Unisys, 3 delegate, and 6 vendor presentations. The average attendance per session was 10.5. Attendee evaluation cards indicated 83.6% of the sessions were rated either as excellent or very good. 
• MCP – Marian Ritland reported on behalf of the MCP track. The Working Group had a total of 24 sessions consisting of 14 Unisys, 5 delegate, and 5 vendor presentations. One session was cancelled due to a speaker cancellation. The session slot was filled by another speaker who had requested additional time for his presentation. One comment card from the opening business session suggested four session topics and the track scheduled all four of them. Additional comments indicated continued requests for lab sessions, UNITE have a presence on Facebook, more webcasts, confusion about the Unisys e‑Community – how it works, how it can be searched, and more security oriented sessions. Other comments were the MCP clinic format had changed to a conference call format. This makes it difficult for those who have both MCP and DMSII issues to participate in both because they were scheduled at the same time. Don’t schedule the conference over banking holidays. 
• OS 2200 – Greg Schweizer reported on behalf of the OS 2200 track. The Working Group conducted a total of 20 sessions consisting of 16 Unisys and 4 vendor presentations. There were no cancellations and there was one speaker change. The majority of the evaluation cards indicated positive ratings. One attendee indicated the presentation seemed more like a sales pitch than informative. Another attendee commented some presentation slides were too busy. A few others thought some sessions were too short for the amount of information covered. 
• RTE – Greg Schweizer reported on behalf of the RTE track. The Working Group conducted a total of 9 sessions of which 6 were Unisys and 3 were vendor presentations. Two-thirds of the comment cards rated the sessions as either excellent or very good. Attendance was up from last year’s conference.
• EAE – Tom Renolds reported on behalf of the EAE track. Overall the sessions were well attended. The lab sessions were very successful due in particular to Alan Hood and his team from Unisys for coordinating and setting up the equipment. The track did not encounter any major problems.
• BIS – The Working Group held a total of 14 sessions which consisted of 8 Unisys, 4 vendor, and 2 delegate presentations. The average attendance in each session was 26.4.  Attendee evaluation cards indicated 25.7% of the sessions were rated excellent and 42.3% were rated very good.
• User Advocacy – Greg Schweizer reported that no new requirements were submitted. One customer attended the User Advocacy meeting. Greg said that although only one customer attended the meeting, the mechanism should remain in place should any requirements be submitted in the future.
• Expo Hall – Marian Ritland reported that one of the major changes made this year in the exhibit hall was to have a “strolling lunch” rather than a sit down luncheon area. She said it was well received. Marian recapped some of the major items discussed at the vendor closing meeting – it was suggested the 2010 vendor opening meeting on Sunday be moved from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in order to allow more vendors to participate in the meeting, the possibility of moving the 2010 conference to the spring timeframe, reduce the exhibit hall footprint in order to allow more hotel options, use less fancy hotels, create a vendor track where each vendor could highlight their own products and services.
• Marketing – Greg Schweizer reported that the conference registration incentive programs were well received. Periodic e-mail blasts were sent promoting specific areas of the conference offerings, monthly articles were submitted to the Unisys 5 Minute Briefing online newsletter, two webcasts were sponsored by UNITE and Unisys on the Unisys eCommunity highlighting two of the six 2008 Best of Conference award recipients’ sessions – “AB Suite and Visual Studio Guided Tour” and “Data Security - Not Optional Anymore”, and two webcasts were held exclusively for UNITE members – “Eclipse IDE for OS 2200: Enhanced Development Tools for COBOL Development” and “Empowering MCP Developers With Eclipse IDE”.
• Unisys – Ed Phillips reported that overall Unisys was pleased given the fact conference attendance was a big issue and it remains so from a Unisys perspective. Ed was asked that Unisys be proactive in helping UNITE reach out to Unisys clients. Ed said Unisys promoted the conference through the Unisys eCommunity and the Unisys sales teams talk to their customers. Ed said there had been some internal discussions on how Unisys could work with UNITE to market the conferences.
• Business Office – Mary Lou Regan reported that on the whole the conference ran smoothly and the office did not encounter any major issues.

Catherine Murphy moved to go into Executive Session. Seconded by Guy Bonney. The motion passed unanimously.

Marian Ritland moved to close the Executive Session. Seconded by Guy Bonney. The motion passed unanimously. No action items resulted from the Executive Session.

Jim Shelton then reviewed with the Board the results from the two focus groups held during the 2009 conference. In addition to talking to conference attendees, the vendors, Working Group Officials, and Ed Phillips (on behalf of Unisys) were also asked for their input. The Board discussed the ideas and suggestions generated from these discussions. They identified several areas for further discussion and consideration.

The Board then talked about and revised the conference footprint and talked about potential conference sites for a spring 2010 conference. Guy Bonney moved that Mary Lou Regan be authorized to contact the Grand Hyatt San Antonio Hotel to determine if UNITE could move the October 2010 conference to either May 15-21, May 22-28, or June 5-11, 2010 and to find out how this would impact the current contract. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously. Guy Bonney moved that Mary Lou Regan investigate the cities the Board agreed upon in addition to the Grand Hyatt San Antonio over the dates of May 15-21, May 22-28, or June 5-11, 2010 according to the conference footprint agreed to by the Board. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously. Mary Lou will report back to the Board as soon as possible.

Mary Lou Regan reported on the actual sleeping room pick up as opposed to the contracted minimum from the 2009 conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The Board agreed to postpone discussion about the potential attrition and the proposal from the Hyatt Hotel to book a future meeting to help mitigate attrition charges until the next Board of Directors Meeting.

Chairman Shelton made the following Board appointments and liaison assignments

Chairman Shelton appointed Linda Agresta from SUMMIT Education as the vendor representative for a one-year term.

The Board then talked about the schedule for the monthly telephonic Board of Directors Meetings. They agreed on the first Thursday of each month beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET for one hour.

Guy Bonney moved to go into Executive Session. Seconded by Greg Schweizer. The motion passed unanimously.

Catherine Murphy moved to close the Executive Session. Seconded by Marian Ritland. The motion passed unanimously. No action items resulted from the Executive Session.

Chairman Shelton called for Good of the Order.

Marian Ritland moved to close the Board of Directors Meeting. Seconded by Guy Bonney. The motion passed unanimously. There being no further business, Chairman Jim Shelton adjourned the Board of Directors Meeting at 5:56 p.m. ET.

Respectfully submitted by,
Mary Lou Regan    
Chief Operating Officer

Attested by,
Guy Bonney
Secretary/Treasurer