Board of Directors Meeting Minutes ACBL Unit 503
Tuesday, July 14, 2026, via Zoom
Directors Present
Liz Koh, Marc Cervellino, Dan Thatte, John Schwartz, Dana Shelley, H. Paul Davis, Allen Simon and Dianne Giancarlo.
Directors not Present
Geraldine MacDonald, Alex Narasin, Stephanie Youngquist
Others Present
Alan Templeton, Sandy Lee Chen, Bill Chow
M/S/P = Moved/Seconded/Passed
Call to Order
Liz Koh, President of the Board, served as Chair of the meeting, called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM and announced that a quorum of the Board members was present and that the meeting, having duly convened, was ready to proceed with business. Dianne Giancarlo served as Secretary of the meeting.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
Dianne G. announced that the minutes of the June 9, 2026, Board Meeting were approved via email.
Mentor Program presentation (Sandy Lee Chen & Bill Chow)
Sandy Lee Chen and Bill Chow, our new Mentor Program Coordinators, prepared a slide presentation after gathering information in the last 1.5 months which was previously provided to the Board. Sandy and Bill presented their findings to the Board, noting the following observations, (1) most notably, there is generally a greater demand than availability of mentors, (2) mentors must be carefully evaluated, and (3) mentor and mentee expectations must coincide. They made proposals for (1) different mentoring formats, (2) offering mentor training, and (3) providing mentor recognition. They also requested $100 annual budget for Mentor Badges.
The Board thanked them for their great presentation and encouraged them to pursue their proposals.
Financials Update
Marc C. reported that weekly table count has remained strong, having increased from about 65 tables per week last year, to now up to 77 tables per week. The EZ games offered on Mondays and the popularity of the limited games on Tuesdays and Fridays and Wednesday nights has helped to contribute to this increase. As a result, revenue has grown from both the greater number of tables and due to the increase in the table rent fee introduced in 2025. Our Unit membership is down about 4% for the year.
Firecracker Post Mortem
Dana S. and Marc C. chaired this year’s Firecracker which was held in June for the first time due to a conflict with the NABC held in July in Minnesota. Although only by 2%, the Unit experienced the first increase in attendance at the Firecracker in three years, so Dana S. and Marc C. were able to conclude that moving the date to June did not deter attendance. The midflight pairs were very successful, having increased by about 5 tables per session over last year. The ACBL shared with the Unit the results of a survey of the attendees of the NLM Regional. Generally, the responses were favorable to the Unit although there were complaints about a few things such as long waiting time at the ladies room, the need for more variety in the snacks, and the poor quality of the playing cards. Liz K. thanked Dana S. and Marc C. for their hard work and complimented them on a very smooth and well-run event. Liz C. suggested that we explore some possible ways to rent additional space for the Firecracker next year.
August Sectional
Dana S. and Solveig Kjartansdottir are chairing the upcoming August Sectional which will be held August 6-9. Dana S. noted that we still need more volunteers and asked that the Board and all Directors talk up the Sectional to get the word out.
Celebrity Seminars
Liz K. reported on behalf of Dede Barsotti that attendance at last year’s Celebrity Seminars was very good but this year there has been a decrease in attendance. Some reasons that may account for the drop is that the Unit is offering many other learning opportunities which may overlap with these seminars and some players may not be interested in the topics offered.
2027 GNTs Flights B&C April 3-4
Liz K. reported that Grant Vance has agreed that the GNT Flights B and C on April 3 and 4, 2027 will be held at the Bridge Club.
2028 District 21 NAP Finals
The Board discussed whether the Unit would be willing to host the 2028 District 21 NAP Finals.
Chris Chung’s License Agreement and Summer Classes
Friday Club Game Co-Owners, Kevin O’Leary and Paul Davis, have sold half their shares to Chris Chung, so that Chris now owns 50% and each of Kevin and Paul own 25%. The Board approved this ownership change via email distributed and collected by Liz K.
Separately, the Board also approved via email for Chris to offer classes during this summer on Tuesday evenings.
Bridge Center updates
Electricity and Utilities methodologies. John S. complimented Liz K. and Marc C. and thanked them for their outstanding job working with the IFES and finally resolving the methodology for determining our share of the electricity and utilities. Liz K. noted that we are still accumulating data on water consumption before finalizing this number.
Water consumption- Calculation methodology almost complete.
Volunteers recruitment
Liz K. reported that David Merenbech has taken over the responsibility of preparing Heart of the District reports for our Unit. Liz also reported that ilya Sherman has agreed to be our volunteer to get supplies for the Bridge Center. (Marc as Treasurer will reimburse him.). In addition, Debbie Carey will gather some volunteers to help organize the kitchen and storeroom.
Status on new initiatives (to increase F2F play)
Special event game: Summer Fun celebration – Fri. 7/31 – Stephanie Y. is organizing a special game at the bridge center on July 31.
Special Unit game to celebrate Team Ge’s USBC win – Sat. 10/3 (Liz/Marc) This game has been set for October 3rd. Details to be worked out.
Status of new EZ game on Mondays (Dana/Alex) – Dana S. reported that the Monday EZ games have been well attended. John S. noted that all seems to be going well with the Monday EZ game and players have commented to him how appreciative they are to have this game and the pregame lecture by Chris Chung, with support also by other volunteers.
Next Pro-Am game to book date (Denise Pitsch/H. Paul) – H. Paul Davis reports that they are thinking of holding the game on a Saturday. They considered Saturday, August 15 but worry that we will need more time to market it. They will probably move it to the fall.
Next Free Lecture to book date (Ken Rosenfeld/ H. Paul) — Debbie Rosenberg will provide the next free lecture. A date has not been selected.
The Board meeting adjourned at 5:35 pm.
Board of Directors Meeting Agenda
To be held by video teleconference
For information about how to join the call, Unit members may contact Liz Koh
Tuesday, July 14th at 4:00PM via Zoom