Meeting Highlights July 2011

Industry Advisory Council
Chicago
July 10, 2011

Present Members: Fred Weiss, Bob Brock, Bruce Flessner, Robert Gluck, Duane Jasper, Elizabeth Scarborough, Dan White

Volunteer leader: Cassie McVeety, Paul Sheff, Peter Rooney

CASE staff: John Lippincott, Ron Mattocks, Lori Woehrle

Highlights

I. Call to Order and Welcome – Mr. Weiss called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. and welcomed members and others, who introduced themselves.

II. President’s Report – Mr. Lippincott talked about the “state of CASE” in terms of revenue, expenses, member retention, and major activities. Highlights:

•  As of July 1, 2011, CASE has 3,418 institutional members (a historical record) 
• CASE has 18,773 professional members (as of July 1, 2011)
• CASE has 186 educational partners as of July 1, 2011, versus 171 on July 1, 2010.  The increase is primarily among the new associate partner category, designed for single-person firms.
• The CASE FY11 budget (July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011) is $15.38 million in operating revenue and $16.34 million in operating expenses, leaving an operating net of -$0.42 million.
• Preliminary FY11 results estimate revenues of $16.63 million and $16.36 million in expenses, leaving an operating net of $0.27 million.

Mr. Lippincott reported that CASE is offering a new membership upgrade called Premier Benefits as of July 1, for individuals associated with member educational institutions. Benefits include:

• A subscription to CURRENTS magazine
• Personalized service from the InfoCenter
• Monthly podcasts (Advancement Talk)
• A weekly e-newsletter for managers (Advancement Weekly)
• Special savings on conference attendance
• A matching gift smart phone app (MatchMyGift™)
• Access to the member directory
• Access to CASE whitepapers

Mr. Lippincott outlined recent and upcoming CASE activity supporting the CASE strategic initiatives of growth in target markets, recruitment of staff, advocacy for advancement, internationalized services, and leadership resources.

For growth in targeted markets, CASE has launched a Center for Community College Advancement that is developing specialized resources specifically for community colleges. Paul Heaton, formerly director of public relations at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Mich., is director of the center.

For Internationalized services, the CASE board approved permanent establishment of CASE Latin America, which has been a pilot project for two years.

Mr. Lippincott reported that at the request of the board, CASE for the first time is developing a five-year financial plan. (Budgeting has been done on a 12-month basis.) The plan includes several business development opportunities, including Peer Advancement Review, in which three CASE members, at the request of an institution, would conduct a review of advancement activities as a one-time engagement.  The program would focus on peer assessment rather than recommendations. Mr. Lippincott described the program as akin to a primary-care physician who diagnoses health issues, but sends the patient to a specialist for treatment.

Ms. McVeety noted that the service would focus on organizational structure, investment and staffing issues.

Mr. Brock said the program would be direct competition to the core business of his firm.  He said a lot of what he does is “diagnosis” and not always “treatment.” He said a related service that would make sense to him would be a clearinghouse service of firms that could conduct an assessment.

Several members, including Mr. Weiss and Ms. Scarborough, said the program could create opportunities for consulting at institutions that might otherwise not have developed, as institutions are made aware of problem areas that need attention. Mr. White said he is surprised by the large number of institutions that are unaware of resources such as consulting that are available to be tapped.

Ms. Scarborough said she sees the program as putting institutions in her market, ready to take advantage of her firm’s services.

III. Mr. Rooney reported on developments of the District Chairs/IAC Joint Task Force that was created in July 2010 to review educational partner engagement in district conferences as exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers. The task force developed recommendations for common protocols to enhance the engagement experience for both the districts and the educational partners. The task force delivered draft recommendations to the District Chairs Council for consideration on July 10 (a meeting that was simultaneous with the IAC meeting).  Mr. Rooney distributed the draft protocols.

Among the draft protocols is a recommendation to disconnect speaking opportunities from a requirement to sponsor a conference if the speaker works for a for-profit company.

Mr. Flessner (a member of the task force) noted that common protocols will help, but the district organizations are each different and have varying policies and procedures.  Ms. Scarborough noted that the draft protocols still allow districts to require a company to exhibit if their representatives are speaking on the program. Mr. Brock said that practice will discourage very small companies—particularly one-person consulting firms—from speaking at district conferences because they lack the means to staff a booth and may not want to have an exhibitor presence at a conference.

Mr. Weiss asked whether there were other issues that IAC members wanted to bring to the task force. Mr. Jasper said the registration list is important to his firm so that it can make appointments with attendees in advance.  He asked for a more consistent approach to making attendees lists available in advance of a conference. Mr. Mattocks asked whether a secure download webpage solution would work, and several members responded in the affirmative.

Mr. Weiss thanked the task force participants.

IV. Educational Partner Benefits – Ms. Woehrle summarized a discussion document of draft ideas for improving the value proposition for Educational Partners. The document outlined four steps:

1. Create a Platinum level of “super” benefits that could be earned by Gold-level members who reach a threshold level of spending with CASE
2. Eliminate outdated fees
3. Create new content opportunities
4. Strengthen the usability of the Yellow Pages (Buyer’s Guide)

Mr. Weiss commented on the suggestions for the Platinum benefits, endorsing the senior-level event participation and the unlimited number of “Educational Partner Participants,” and also suggesting a non-conference value-add benefit, as well as perhaps a tie to access to non-US-based events and/or benefits.

V. Recognition of Outgoing Members – Mr. Weiss recognized outgoing members Mr. Brock, Mr. Flessner, and Mr. Jasper.  Mr. Weiss was recognized as the outgoing liaison to the CASE Board of Trustees.

VI. Housekeeping – Over the summer Mr. Lippincott will appoint new members and the chair (Mr. Weiss) will solicit current members for nominations to the position of Liaison to the Board of Trustees. Those nominations will be forwarded to Mr. Sheff for consideration and an appointment.

VII. Adjournment – Mr. Weiss adjourned the meeting at 11:30 a.m.