February 2024

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes ACBL Unit 503
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 via Zoom

Directors Present

Liz Koh, Marc Cervellino, John Schwartz, Geraldine MacDonald , Dan Thatte and Dianne Giancarlo

Others Present for All or Parts of the Meeting

Alan Templeton and Sid Chen

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 4:03 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 January 10, 2024 Board Meeting were approved via email.

Celebrity Lecture Series

Kathy Wheeler, who organizes our Celebrity Lecture Series, was not able to attend our Board meeting but she provided slides to show how the program is going which Liz K. presented.  The first 2024 Celebrity Lecture was held on Saturday morning, January 27^th by Amber Yu Lin. It was a great success with 62 attendees (via Zoom). Future Celebrity Lectures are Michael Berkowitz on March 30, Barbara Seagram on May 11, Gavin Wolpert in August TBD,  and another TBD probably in October. The Board also discussed the possibility of posting past celebrity lecture webinars on-line for purchase, subject to approval from the respective celebrities.

Financials Update

Marc C. reported that financials are better than budget and we are seeing a nice upward trend in F2F club game table count over the past few months.

March Open and NLM Sectional

Marc C. reported that the Unit will hold its first four-day Open and NLM Sectional from March 21-24.  Volunteers are still needed to help with setting up and taking down tables and to sit at the partnership desk. 

Monday NLM Sectionals and Monday Swiss Team club games

Marc C. reported that we have now had one Monday NLM Sectional and one Monday Swiss. There was not as much participation as we hoped for at the Sectional, but we did have a solid 10 tables. The Monday Swiss game was very well attended with 16 tables. We will continue to hold these events monthly through March. John S. mentioned that as a result of member interest, he and Will Watson have discussed the possibility of Will moving his Wednesday game to begin in the early afternoon from it’s current time of 10:30. 

Volunteers Recruitment Update

Gerry M. reported that she is having a fair amount of success in recruiting new volunteers. She is still specifically looking for help with marketing and the free speaker series. Gerry M. asked that we let her know if we know of anyone who might be willing to volunteer.  Liz K. announced that Board attendee Sid Chen has volunteered to run the Mentor Program.

District 21 Charity Committee

Gerry M. is also trying to recruit a volunteer to be the Unit 503 Representative on the District 21 Charity Committee. This volunteer does not need to be a Board member.  

Cards and Flowers Process

Dan T. described how decisions are currently made as to whom the Unit sends flowers and cards: a person such as a Board member or a director or an owner brings a proposal to the attention of the President or the Treasurer and then a decision is made. The Board agreed to continue this policy as it is currently working well.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:32 PM.