Minutes
Meeting of Executive Board
USMA ‘57

23 March 2005

The Meeting commenced at 1935 EST. Present were Galloway, Voorhees, Schwehm, Kovel and Kehoe. McNeil, Golden and Gadd attended telephonically. Absent was Stephenson. Class Trustee Hatch attended.

Note: A preparatory meeting was held by teleconference on 19 March to resolve the constitutional provision regarding the number of class members needed to qualify for regional group recognition. The Board determined that for the purpose of a forming a regional group, a minimum of !0% of the total of living class members, who live within the region, must positively affirm their willingness for such representation. Silence does not equate to willingness.

1.  The agenda was approved as presented.

2.  Two Regional Group Representatives were seated as members of the Board. Bob Gadd represents the Mountain Region, Les Prichard is alternate. Bill Golden represents the Far West Region, Jerry Zabriske is alternate. Other areas are working toward representation: Texas and contiguous states (Frank Knight), Southeast (Jack Solomon), Mid-Atlantic (Hank Hatch). It is known that Solomon and Hatch understand the 10% requirement. Schwehm will ensure that Knight does also.

3.   Minutes of the 26 February meeting were approved as submitted.

4.   Kovel reported on planning for the 50 year book. He distributed proposed explanatory letters, questionnaires, and response sheets. The response sheet will gauge interest and obtain commitment (in the form of down payments) to support a go-no-go decision. He estimated 250 positive replies would be required to move forward. The explanatory letter and the response sheet will be part of a forthcoming president’s letter providing reunion details. The questionnaire will be mailed later. As editor-in-chief, he plans to employ company representatives and functional editors. Considering that class gift projects (see item 6 below) have used company representatives in the past, discussion ensued about the number of representatives required per company. It was tentatively decided to use two; Kovel will recruit one per company for the book and Stephenson one per company for gift fund raising. They will coordinate their efforts, the final decision pending discussion between Stephenson and Kovel. Future correspondence with the class will make clear that the projects are separately administered.

      It was decided that advertising will be sought to reduce the net cost, and that the book will be prepared in such time as to be distributed at the 50^th reunion. All up-front funds expended on the project, e.g., mailings and earnest money will be supported by our administrative accounts. These accounts will be reimbursed by book purchases. McNeil will maintain the records.

5.   Reunion. Upon the advice of several recent reunion classes including our own 45^th committee, Galloway has contracted with Mrs. Joan Emmer in the capacity of facilitator. By prearrangement, she took part in the meeting by telephone for reunion discussions. Mrs. Emmer has performed the service for many classes. Her husband is the longtime lacrosse coach. She explained the services she provides, which includes advising on the practicality of proposed events, making arrangements with commercial sources and with West Point, and overseeing in real time all aspects of each event. She showed impressive detailed knowledge of the tasks. Galloway described to her our plans thus far, generating considerable discussion. Some decisions were made. A Monday morning memorial service will be held on Trophy Point rather than Camp Buckner, for seating considerations, among others. We will plan for lunch at Buckner that day. Mrs. Emmer expressed some reservations from her previous experience with lack of readiness of the facility and will pursue that issue. Monday late afternoon and evening will be devoted to a New York harbor cruise. The desirability of briefings by Academy senior staff on Tuesday was discussed without decision. Similarly, the ideas of a golf outing on Saturday, prior to the start of the reunion, was discussed without action. Mrs. Emmer will make suggestions regarding tour possibilities: drive-by tours, visits to the newer facilities, cadet store, cemetery, etc.

      A letter with four enclosures will provide information to the class on the reunion, class gift, and 50 year book. Email will be used for those with known valid addresses, postal service for the remainder. Enclosures will consist of reunion agenda, the 50 year book explanatory letter, and two surveys, one on reunion interests, and one on the book. These latter two will be set up as to allow electronic response through the class website.

      Golden noted that a comprehensive list of reunion committee responsibilities had not been formulated. Galloway will develop one. Some are agreed to at this time: Galloway–chair and gift; Stephenson–gift fund; Voorhees–tours; Schwehm–dinner cruise and reunion acceptance matters; McNeil–reunion and book financial accounting; Kovel–book and memorial service; Kehoe–masterminding reunion and book correspondence matters; Gadd–hospitality suites.

6.   Class gift. Galloway reported that rooms in the new library were not available for class sponsorship. An alternative could be some sort of ‘57/honor-oriented area inside the building overlooking our honor plaza. However, bids for the building have come in higher than anticipated so there are many uncertainties. Other possibilities for our support were broached; an honors program within the Department of English, field trips, an AOG endowment. The board agreed to continue to look for something within the library. Galloway will continue to pursue the nature of the gift.

      Fund raising goals were again discussed. A consensus was tentatively reached to set individual giving recommendations in alignment with the cost of the gift decided upon, and to not establish a level of contributions which could provide an excess that could be used for future gifts, with the caveats that a desirable although higher cost gift opportunity may arise, or that Stephenson, the gift fund chair, may later present a persuasive case for setting higher goals.

7.   Nomination of AOG leadership candidates. Voorhees reported that none of our especially distinguished classmates he contacted were interested in seeking the chair or vice chair of the to-be-formed AOG Board of Directors. As we expect soon to be asked to seek a nominee for member of the Board, Voorhees will continue that responsibility.

8.   Hatch reported on the effort to revise the AOG by-laws. Based on his detailed comments on the changes , the board voted to communicate to the class a recommendation to vote affirmatively on the new by-laws. A forthcoming AOG letter to class presidents may be of value in supporting this letter of recommendation.

9.   McNeil reported the disbursement of $2000 for the mess hall mural print, and $2000 to the reunion hotel. Upon receipt, the hotel contract will be finalized. Our administrative accounts stand at $3,368.72 locally (the USMA 1957 Reunion Fund) and $17,845.94 (held for us by the AOG). He advised not to make financial commitments that incorporate sales taxes until we obtain tax exempt status.

      Galloway reported the class gift fund account balance as $306,423.66. Discussion ensued as to how the funds were held; stocks, bond, mutual funds, cash, etc. Hatch showed data from the overall gift fund (all classes) that indicated a diversified and balanced portfolio, which raised further questions, e.g., why then do additions to our account show up as solely interest, rather than interest, dividends, and capitol gains, and why does the account appear to be risk-free even though it holds assets subject to market fluctuation. Galloway will pursue.

10. Kehoe reported that about 350 class members use email. However, 10% or more of the addresses of record are invalid at any given time due to changes without notification. Spam filters are also a barrier. Notwithstanding, because of costs, the means of choice for communicating with the class is email for most matters, such as the AOG by-laws recommendation of item 8 above. For voting, reunion matters, etc. both email and postal service will be used.

      Kehoe made a plea to class members to advise him of email address changes. When mailings are rejected, he must attempt to telephone the individuals, a tiresome task when multiple rejections are involved. He noted that regional representatives have already been valuable in ferreting out correct addresses and that company representatives can also be helpful when they become active. After discussion, it was decided that communications to the class would best come directly from the board rather than relayed through regional representatives. Regional representatives are free to re-forward anything from the board at their discretion should they perceive address problems at the board level, want to comment or emphasize, etc.

11. In closing, Galloway encouraged cooperation and coordination between board members while working on reunion matters, particularly in dealing with the AOG. Avoid duplication, and "work within your lanes".

The meeting was adjourned at 2305, the next TBD.

Respectfully submitted,