Board of Directors Meeting Minutes ACBL Unit 503
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, via Zoom
Directors Present
Liz Koh, Marc Cervellino, Dan Thatte, John Schwartz, Geraldine MacDonald, Allen Simon, Dana Shelley, and Dianne Giancarlo.
Directors not Present
Alex Narasin, Stephanie Youngquist, H. Paul Davis
Others Present
Alan Templeton, Sandy Lee Chen, Bill Chow, Debra Willrett.
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 September 8, 2026, Board Meeting were approved via email.
Celebrity Seminars
Liz K. reported on behalf of Dede Barsotti that the most recent Celebrity Seminar is going well. Michael Berkowitz presented the first part of his seminar on October 10th and the second half will be presented on October 17th. In general, attendance at Celebrity Lectures is down slightly probably because we have been offering many interesting learning opportunities.
Mentor Program Update (Sandy Lee Chen & Bill Chow)
Sandy Lee Chen and Bill Chow, our Mentor Program Coordinators, reported that they are getting good traction on the new 4-over-1 program and the traditional mentor/mentee program. Sandy C. observed that Alan T. has been very helpful in posting the 4-over-1 games and the EZ bridge games on the Unit website. Bill C. reported that the increased marketing of the Mentor Program has been helping to attract new players to Unit 503. In September we gained about 7 new members because all mentee participants in the Mentor Program players must be Unit 503 members. Sandy C. observed that many new players at the bridge center are not familiar with the ACBL and so she and Bill Chow are able to explain to them the details of becoming an ACBL member.
Feedback on Team Ge celebration game
Liz K. reported that the Team Ge celebration game held on Saturday, October 3rd was very successful in terms of the number of players it attracted (33 tables), the revenue it brought to our Unit, but even more so by the good will it garnered for our Unit. Liz K. reported that she received several emails from attendees remarking how much they enjoyed the camaraderie at the bridge center especially as represented by this event.
Financials Update
Marc C. reported that weekly table count has remained very strong, with an average of 77 tables per week. Marc C. reminded Board members to thank Prue Saunders for all the work she has put into bolstering the Tuesday game, particularly the limited section. Similar thanks were directed to Dana S. and Alex N. for the work they have done to promote the EZ games offered on Monday mornings and to Chris Chung for continuing to develop these and Friday morning limited games. Chris C. has been providing a free lecture on Friday mornings for intermediate players which have been well attended. Dana S. suggested that Chris C. take advantage of the free marketing services that the ACBL offers as well as sending out emails through our reservation system.
Next Sectional October 22-25
Marc C. reported that the Unit’s next sectional will be held at the bridge center October 22-25. Marc C. noted that normally our October sectionals are quite successful but this year it will overlap with several other events and so attendance may be down. Pre-registration will not be required.
Liberty Forum to license Bridge Center
Liz K and Marc C reported that Liberty Forum will license the Bridge Center on November 10th. This requires that all boxes and cards be removed from the bridge tables and returned before the next game which is a fair amount of work. However, we have allowed the Liberty Forum to license the Bridge Center because historically our landlord IFES has asked us to do this for them. Recently we adjusted the licensing fee paid by Liberty Forum to reflect the work that this requires.
2027 Firecracker Site
Marc C. reported that he has been reviewing our options on where to hold the 2027 Firecracker tournament. Over the past two years we stopped renting extra space from IFES because they raised the rent dramatically. Although this has had a positive effect on our bottom line, we have had to turn away some players when we reached maximum capacity. The Firecracker will be held in June 2027 once again due to conflicting tournaments in July.
Annual Membership Meeting
Liz K. reported that we are required to hold our annual membership meeting. She proposed that we hold it before our next regular Board meeting on Tuesday, November 10th at 4:00pm. Marc C. will prepare slides to present at this meeting.
Volunteers recruitment
Liz K. reported that Sandy Nakata helped tremendously with the food prep for the Team Ge game along with 4 or 5 other bridge players, mostly from the limited section. Sandy N. has agreed to head up a hospitality committee which the Unit can call on when the Unit hosts events at the Bridge Center.
Status on new initiatives (to increase F2F play)
Next Pro-Am game. The next Pro-Am game will be on Thursday, October 15, organized by Denise Pitsch and H Paul Davis.
Next special event Halloween. Stephanie Y. is organizing our annual Halloween celebration on October 30th.
Holiday Party. Liz K. reported that Alex N. will be helping to organize the Unit holiday party that will take place on Sunday, December 13th.
Status of new EZ game on Mondays. John S. reported that the Monday EZ games continue to be well attended.
D21 Unit Representative
Liz K. reported that Dana S. has resigned from her role as D21 representative for Unit 503 and that the Unit has proposed electing Gerry M. to take over this role. D21 has conferred with all relevant parties and has agreed to accept our proposal.
The regular Board meeting adjourned at 5:15 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, October 13th at 4:00PM via Zoom