Meeting Minutes
USATF Board of Directors
Des Moines, Iowa
June 26 - 27, 2010
ATTENDANCE
Stephanie Hightower, Jack Wickens, Ken Taylor, Philip Dunn, Dr. Evie Dennis,
Elizabeth Phillips, Deena Kastor, Aretha Thurmond, Jeff Darman, Kim Haines,
Willie Banks, Steve Miller, Steve Holman, Bob Hersh, Larry James (non-voting
Council), Darlene Hickman (non-voting Secretary)
Office Staff: Doug Logan, Mike McNees, Norm Wain, Jill Geer, Benita
Fitzgerald Mosley, Gina Miller, Terry Crawford, Shayna Sangster
Guests: Vince Peters, Jon Drummond, Dexter McCloud, Lionel Leach
Quorum was present. Stephanie Hightower opened the meeting at 8:00pm
(CDT).
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
MOTION(Darman): Approve the May 26 minutes.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
Chairman/President’s Report
Stephanie Hightower recently visited Washington DC for the announcement of the
President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Allyson
Felix was appointed a member of the council.
In Washington, Hightower spoke with members of the AAU. She received
insight into the program and would like to find ways to gain a better working
relationship with the organization.
The NACAC Under 23 Championships will take place in Mirmar, Florida July 9 – 11,
2010. The Women’s Conference will take place during the same time period.
All Board members are invited to attend.
MOTION(Phillips): Move into Executive Session.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
USA Track & Field Staff and guests exited the room for Executive
Session at 8:18pm and returned at 8:57pm.
Lamont Jones recently stepped down as the General Counsel at USA Track &
Field. Doug Logan announced Norm Wain as the new General Counsel. Norm
Wain spent the last 10 years as the VP of Corporate Legal Affairs at Finishline.
In Executive Session the Board reviewed and discussed the term sheet for the
revised contract of the CEO.
MOTION(Phillips): Approve revised CEO contract.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
Treasurers/Finance Report
Ken Taylor reviewed the 2010 financial results through April 30, 2010 and the
2010 budget update distributed prior to the meeting. Overall, the
2010 results are aligned with budget expectations. The cancellation of the
Tyson Invitational as part of the indoor VCS is the most notable budget variance
to date. All activities occurring after April 30, 2010 have not been fully
booked, but Gina Miller believes these activities were completed in line with
budget expectations. A request was made to revise future year-to-date
financial results to indicate the expected tri-annual expense and revenue
result.
Miller presented the 2010 budget revision along with a Board resolution.
The budget revision made an adjustment to the allocation of sponsorship funds
throughout the contract term. The requested change was to budget the
revenue on a cash basis rather than the straight-line basis originally used.
MOTION(Wickens): Amend the 2010 USA Track & Field budget with the
Chief Financial Officer’s suggested changes.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
Board Counsel Report
Larry James, Board Counsel, distributed his report via email prior to the
meeting. Some discussion items included: doing an internal audit,
protecting the USATF trademark, and implementation of a volunteer policy and
handbook. James met with Logan to discuss the roles of the Board and staff
counsel.
All Board members need to complete the Code of Ethics Report.
Audit Committee Report
Prior to the meeting, Gina Miller and Kim Haines distributed the 2009 audited
financial statements and related management discussion and analysis. The
Audit Committee met in Indianapolis in May to review the audit report.
Miller presented the Board with the financial statements with an “unqualified”
(clean) opinion.
CEO’s Report
Doug Logan distributed his report in a written format prior to the meeting.
A point of discussion was the change in duties of the Board and National Office
counsel. Logan and James met in the weeks prior to discuss the
remuneration of the Board Counsel. They came to an agreement and asked
that the Board adopt the proposed arrangement.
MOTION(Phillips): Approve the resolution to make changes in the
fiscal remuneration of the Board Legal Counsel.
Concerns were voiced over the distinction of duties between the Board and
National Office legal counsel. Logan mentioned the duties have been
defined and would distribute the information at Sunday’s meeting.
MOTION (Banks): Table the approval of the recommended changes in the
fiscal remuneration of the Board Legal Counsel until the defined duties are
provided.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
Logan met with the sports chairs to discuss the draft of the 2012 Trials
Schedule. He is working to get consensus before he brings the draft to the
Competitions Committee. The Competitions Committee will then make a
recommendation to the Board. Steve Miller mentioned that it is important
to review the contracts with the broadcasters and the local organizing committee
(LOC) to ensure they agree with the shortened schedule. Logan stated that he has
been meeting with the LOC and keeping them involved in the process.
Deena Kastor asked whether Logan has been working with disabled athletes.
Logan responded by noting that he has been working with the USOC to accommodate
portions of the Paralympic Trials in the USATF Olympic trials.
New Business
Aretha Thurmond voiced elite athlete concerns with the national office.
Concerns included feeling that there is no sense of urgency regarding Project 30
and PPF funding. She also voiced concerns over the current insurance
coverage policy and inadequate housing for high performance meets. A major
issue mentioned in these concerns was a lack of communication.
Logan responded by apologizing for the athletes delay in receiving the Project
30 and PPF funding. He noted that once the Project 30 program is
completely established, things will run smoother. Logan also promised that
the national office will do a better job of communicating. Hightower noted
that she has spoken with Logan and Benita Fitzgerald Mosley to see how these
issues can get resolved.
Challenge Grants
Challenge grants were awarded for Youth, Masters and Race Walking.
There were no applications for the disabled athletics grant. Upon approval
of the recommendations, contracts will be drawn up between USATF and the
awardees.
MOTION(Banks): Adopt Grant recommendations.
All in favor. Motion passed.
Hightower suggested a conference call with the Operations and Competitions
Committee to find a plan for the excess grants monies.
MOTION: (Miller) Adjourn meeting.
All in favor. Motion passed.
Sunday, July 27, 2010
Hightower opened meeting at 7:39am
CEO Report (continued)
Mike McNees distributed the updated Strategic plan prior to the meeting.
The document included a status update for each of the action items.
Hightower suggested that each committee break down their areas of concentration
and keep track of the progress.
MOTION (Banks): Reopen the motion to recommended changes in the
fiscal remuneration of the Board Legal Counsel.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
Logan provided each of the Board members with the duties of the Board and
National Office counsel. He also provided them with the job description of
the staff counsel.
MOTION (Banks): Approve the resolution to make changes in the fiscal
remuneration of the Board Legal Counsel.
All in favor. Motion Passed.
Youth Committee Report
Lionel Leach presented the Board with a written report focused on the Youth
Division’s webcasting plan. The committee partnered with PlayOn Sports to
offer a pay per view package ($4.95) for each of the youth championship events.
The Committee also hopes the additional viewership will attract new sponsors.
DVD’s will be available at the conclusion of each meet. Hightower
requested that a communication strategy be put together to distribute this
information.
The Youth Committee is currently working on an online system to enter athletes
into the Junior Olympic meet. This will cut down on the amount of paperwork
submitted, help with age verification and increase membership.
Leach also updated the Board on conversations with the AAU. Both
organizations have agreed to not schedule conflicting meets. The AAU has
also been talking about hosting a national indoor meet. The Youth
Committee is interested in doing a similar event and would like to make sure
they can stay competitive without hosting conflicting competitions.
Lastly, Leach updated the group on the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships bid.
Greensboro, North Carolina became very interested in the event after hosting the
2009 Junior Olympic Championships. They submitted a letter of intent to
the IAAF and have become one of three finalists.
AAC Report
John Drummond, Chair of the Athletes Advisory Committee (AAC), spoke on
behalf of the athletes voicing frustrations with the national office staff.
Their concerns included a lack of transparency, athletes not being involved in
on-going decision making processes, information not being shared in a timely
fashion and a lack of urgency from the staff. Concerns were also expressed
over funds that were earmarked for allocation by the AAC.
Some suggestions from the AAC included hiring an athlete’s representative in the
national office, adding a certification and appeals panel for the Coaches
Registration and awarding the AAC the funds that were allocated to the committee
by the Eugene local organizing committee.
Logan responded by noting that athletes are included in the decision making
process, but clarification needs to be made on the point at which they need to
be involved. A plan must also be put in place to ensure that those who are
involved disseminate the information to other members of the AAC.
Darman suggested that an ombudsman would not be the right direction, but instead
a cultural shift. Everyone at the national office should be thinking about
how their decisions impact the athletes. In this way, every staff members
is an ombudsman.
Hightower suggested that Logan and Drummond meet to prepare a better
communication plan for the athletes.
Disabled Athletes Report
Jack Wickens presented on behalf of the Disabled Athletes Committee.
The presentation consisted of a video overview of disabled athletics.
MOTION (Wickens): Board embraces a vision of inclusion and
commissions a work group to pursue a business plan to determine how and when to
incorporate the disabled into the USATF program.
The Disabled Group has had a committee, but there hasn’t been anyone on staff
designated to work directly with this group. Bob Hersh suggested
appointing a group to explore the feasibility of increasing USATF’s activities
and involvement in athletics for disabled athletes, including elements of
organizational integration.
Concerns were voiced over adding another constituency group when there is still
a lot of work to be done with the current constituency groups. This could
require multiple staff members for oversight.
Jack Wickens withdrew his motion.
MOTION (Darman): Board instructs staff to evaluate current USATF
activities for the disabled. USATF Board reiterates its strong support for
increased events for the disabled in its sanctioned events.
Motion withdrawn.
MOTION (Hersh): Appoint a group to explore the feasibility of
increasing USATF’s activities and involvement in athletics for the disabled
including elements of organizational integration.
All in Favor. Motion passed.
New/Old Business
Philip Dunn asked the Board to revisit the Race Walk Challenge Grants.
Dunn reviewed the applications and believed one race walk application was
broader in scope than the others. He argued that a missing component in race
walking is education and this particular application addressed that issue.
MOTION (Dunn): Reconsider the motion to award racewalking challenge
grant.
Majority Approved. Motion passed.
MOTION (Hersh): Take the racewalk applications back to the
Competitions Committee for further discussion.
All in Favor. Motion passed.
MOTION (Hightower): Move into Executive Session.
All in Favor. Motion passed.