WASFAA Transition Meeting Minutes: Sunday April 13th, Reno Nevada
Attendance:
Frank Green, Laura Hughes, Nichole McMillan, Ashley Munro, Sue Shogren, Adam Hatch, Diana Mateer,
Tawny Crum, Tami Sato, Mindy Bergeron, Oscar Verduzco, John Bender, Leonard Walker, Ed Walker,
Diana Dowling, Lynne Garcia, Jack Edwards, Abril Hunt, Terri Eckel, Helen Faith, Cindy Baldwin, Nichole
Doering, Kay Soltis, Lakia Wilson, Mary Booker, Barbara Bickett, Kevin Jenson
Kevin: Welcome everyone to EC. Very excited for the time spent. Today we’ll cover how the leadership
of WASFAA works, think about the year ahead.
Introductions
Jack Edwards: Review of WASFAA Mission, Values & Goals, Strategic Plan 2014-2016. Mission and CORE
Values speak about why we exist. Review of 8 strategic goals and Measure Tracking Tools. 2013-2014
will be finalized soon and will be sent out for review. We’re waiting for final year end numbers (Spring
training, Conference, Summer Institute). By-laws and Policies & Procedures are on website. Bylaws are
our guidelines, P&P is the support documents. By-law changes have to be voted on by entire
membership. We don’t get a lot of voters (746 members, 97 people voted in last bylaw change.). P&P
changes can be made by this board, and do not need to go to membership.
Kevin: WASFAA is a non-profit organization, we do have assets, we are the leadership of the
organization. Its our job to make decisions to benefit the membership. We need to continually review
mission statement and core values to make sure we are making right decisions. Why do we have this
many committee chairs? This is why. Review of mission statement. We are about training. Training is our
bread and butter- Its WASFAAs mission. Kay was chair of Strategic Planning Committee when we created
the most recent version. Documents represent a lot of investment by people who really care about
WASFAA. One of Kevin’s personal goals- try to engage you. When we get together in person, we’re here
to make decisions. We need to be prepared when we arrive, and Kevin’s goal is to make that happen.
Please take the time to go out and click on links to do the research beforehand. We need to be more
efficient.
Association Leadership and Organizational Structure
Review of spreadsheet to show members of the EC (available in your binder) Voting Members
(President, PP, PE, Sec, Treasurer, EDAC) represent Executive Committee.
Voting Members- yellow tags are voting members, green tags are non-voting members. State
representatives are not required to be state presidents. President can designate someone else from
their state. State presidents have a vote, if you are unable to attend, please appoint someone else from
your state to attend and to vote for your state. Its not a proxy. Check your own state by-laws, you might
have something in there that specifies who you should ask to be a representative.
Date sheet: Dates in yellow are subject to change. This document will change throughout the year.
Specific Date Notes:
 Next year’s WASFAA Conference is at the same time as the Ellucian Conference.
 June 25-26 Next meeting, at Silver Legacy (to match with Summer Institute)
 November meeting will match with Management & Leadership Institute
 Spring WASFAA webinar R2T4 training May 19th R2T4 1pm PST.
 Alaska Conference moved to 10/20-10/21 Monday Tuesday.
If you have events lined up for 15/16, this would be helpful information for planning purposes. Dates
should go to Tracey Lehman, as Vice President. She is responsible for updating online calendar. Please
CC Kevin.
Standing Committees: the chair of these committees is a voting member. EDAC, Executive Committee,
By-Laws, etc.
Special Committees- conference, SI, etc. these can change as President or EC desires. Co-Chairs are
available if work increases.
Special Task Forces- travel coordinator (Sandi) will be at all meetings anyway due to chair of scholarships
and awards. John Bender leading Website Evaluation Task Force. We need to evaluate the effectiveness
of the electronic tools we have. We need tools to engage our membership.
Sandi- Travel Coordination: Its very important to respond to request for travel arrangements quickly.
Everything is time sensitive. Last minute cancelations are not good. We have signed a contract with
hotel for room block, meeting rooms and food. We also need to request early enough to book airline
tickets. Travel Request Form may be electronic this year, coming from either Kevin or Sandi.
Role and Responsibilities of the WASFAA Executive Council. Review of NASFAA Duties of Board
Members. There are 6 regional associations, WASFAA being the largest geographic region. We are
unique. We represent folks that don’t have a voice anywhere else. We have the largest education
system (CA) and the smallest (NV). We have thousands of miles, and some places past the international
dateline. We are a legal corporation, we file taxes, we have assets we need to spend appropriately. (over
$1million). We have a fiduciary responsibility- we have to act in the best interest of our association. No
personal agenda. “Duty of Care” bullet points on NASFAA Docs.
We use consent agenda. You are expected to show up and know what was reported on before
attending. Come prepared to ask questions.
When here in this room, we are making decisions based on WASFAA member. Duty of Loyalty. This may
mean that your state may not agree. Conflict of Interest- some things may come up, WASFAA may need
to make decisions that may disagree with your employer, you may need to let the EC know that you
have a conflict of interest.
Guest Craig Munier- National Chair, NASFAA Thank WASFAA for inviting him to be with us today. Been in
FA since 1982.
Mindy Bergeron- Submit travel reimbursement form, she will issue travel reimbursements. She also
prepares treasurer reports for every meeting. We have assets, maximer accounts, and
operating/checking account, 2 long term investments (Vangard and Charles Schwab). The CS account is
invested with NASFAA ($400,000). She tells us how we’re doing with these accounts through treasurer
reports. Treasurer, Sandi and 3 presidents all have credit cards. We have money in reserves. We keep 2
years’ worth of reserves, as well as all contractual agreements. We have more than that now. How can
we put some of those funds back into the organization- training, etc. Report that is most helpful is the
Budget Vs Actual for the year. Our fiscal year is a calendar year, its different than our membership year.
Wendy, the fiscal chair, makes the budget. If you need more money, or less money, Wendy is your
contact.
Kevin- budget varies, largest budget was 2006-2007 and smallest 2010. Some important numbers here,
current asset reserves. Charles Schwab account, only 2 regional associations did this, we have the most
money in here. Review of spreadsheet summary that shows revenues throughout the year, broken
down by event. This is a reference document, something for event chairs to work towards.
For 2013, we consistently underspend and over-generated revenues. So this year, we have a
responsibility. Dream big for your committee. How are we going to take the association’s assets and
invest them into this membership this year? We have a commitment for the future, not just this year.
Build momentum for future years.
Meeting Protocols and ExpectationsCome ready for meetings. Do work beforehand.
We run meetings in an informal way. We have spent time looking at Robert Rule’s of Order. We want to
make sure that everyone has an opportunity to speak and that everyone is heard. We report informally,
but make decisions formally. We do “Consensus-Oriented” Decision Making. (See binder for more
information). Decisions are determined by simple majority. We come with an agenda, consent agenda
section and discussion. When time to make a decision, we will use a simplified version of RROO.
Consent Agenda- there are specific sections for lining up of decisions. The consent section- this part
refers to reports that were sent beforehand, we all should have read. We make a motion to approve of
that section of the agenda as a chunk. This is where questions come up, but not full verbal reporting.
This has helped with budget, so we can do 1.5 days of business in a day. To make this work, reports need
to be submitted in a timely manner. Reports are due at least 1 week out to allow everyone time to read.
Also, reports need to be read.
Kevin will send email out with a link to a drop box file with forms, past year-end reports. He will also
send expectations for reporting before the June meeting to help with 1st report.
Conducting Business:
On website, forms- quarterly report and year-end report template. The data for appendix E comes from
reports, so this is required information in report.
Jack- one of the strategic goals, collaboration. How did you collaborate with between state and
WASFAA? Include that in your report.
Ashley S.- What is available for member engagement. About WASFAA- about our association, where you
will find your committees, chair contact information and members. Governing Documents- Bylaws P&P,
Past Presidents, History (years at a glance).
Member Services- your administrative access. You can add and remove committee members, send
emails
Meetings with your committee members- use GoToMeeting. Ashley S or Sue can set up meetings. States
can also use this for $600 a year.
Ashley M. Blog, Facebook, Twitter, information can go to Mary Booker, new Communications Chair.
Break Out Sessions:
Executive Team:
Its our role to make sure that our people have the necessary items to make what they want work. How
do we keep people from merely “just participating”.
 Membership survey- through Strategic Plan. We ask, what’s working, what’s not. Looking at
existing operations and new ideas. What can we do other than email? Too many emails, survey
can get lost. How can we get more participation? Its not a priority. Would in person surveys
work? Can this be done at MLI? In-person training? Summer Institute is too late. Can we use
state presidents to push it down? A few years ago 1/3 responded. Looking for current members
with 1-2 years past members.

Do we need to look at membership in general? Individual? Institution? Hybrid?

Website evaluation- Helpful for EC, business information, not helpful for WASFAA members.
What is in it for them? Can we add NASFAA stuff? Who would monitor the information? NASFAA
has paid staff.

To help everyone else- we need to help them figure out what is required of them. What was
done last year. The shared site will help with all of that.

Transition- can we have Vice-Chairs? Choosing chairs earlier so they can serve on committee for
a full year. For some selected committees, bring VCs into EC meetings. Getting new EC members
to understand time commitments. Teach how to juggle your job. Who do you need support
from. More in depth meeting.

Automatic Membership Billings-we have to start fresh every year to get people to sign up. Old
members get cut off, so they may not be getting announcements for events, and not able to sign
up.
Member Engagement Team When someone reaches out, we should try to have a mentor.
State Presidents Helping to plan trainings,
 locations that better serve state members
 continue the auction.
Events Goal of increasing participation.
 Marketing

Increase quality of what we offer.
TO DOS:
Review Mission Statement, Core Values and Strategic Goals
Travel document- Ashley S. needs to make sure that the correct Travel document is up on the website.
One that makes sure that receipts are required for travel reimbursement.