President Hoolihan called the August 1, 1999 meeting of the EMC Society Board of Directors to order at 9:00 am. A round of introductions was made. Board members present included H. Benitez, D. Bush, J. Butler, L. Carlson, T. Chesworth, A. Drozd, W. Duff, R. Ford, W. Gjertson, D. Heirman, D. Hoolihan, T. Hubing, E. Joffe, W. Kesselman, F. Mayer, W. McGinnis, D. Millard, M. Montrose, J. O’Neil, H. Ott, G. Pettit, D. Smith, D. Sweeney, D. Traver, N. Violette, K. Williams and T. Yoshino. No Board members were absent. Several guests were also present.
The agenda was presented. Marie Leonardis and Barry Wallen were added to the agenda to report on the Seattle and Denver symposia, respectively. The agenda was approved with this one addition.
Dan Hoolihan advised each Board Vice-President is required to prepare a five-year report on their respective activities for the formal EMC Society review by the IEEE. With respect to IEEE TAB activities, at the June TAB meeting two hot items were discussed. One was the Branding Proposal (change the IEEE logo, etc.) and the second was the New Financial Model (more money from the Societies to support IEEE administrative costs.)
Treasurer Warren Kesselman presented his report. He advised that 1998 income for the EMC Society shows 12% from membership fees. There are a large number members in arrears (934) who have not renewed their EMC Society membership. Regarding the EMC Society 2000 budget, this shows a surplus of $38K, which is in accordance with IEEE financial guidelines. The IEEE’s deficit resulted from increased expenses from IEEE initiatives in recent years. These initiatives include the trend towards electronic dissemination of material, globalization efforts, etc. and the associated costs for these efforts. TAB recommended that the subscription costs for periodicals be increased. Treasurer Kesselman advised that the EMC Society implemented the recommended TAB price increases.
Secretary Janet O’Neil presented the minutes from the Board meeting held May 21 in Tokyo, Japan. A few changes were required. The minutes were approved as amended.
Todd Hubing, Vice-President for Membership Services, distributed his report. He discussed the cash value of the various EMC Society awards. It was moved and approved that the EMC Transactions Best Paper Award be increased from $50 to $1000 for 2000 and beyond. Bill Duff reports that there were eight fellow nominations submitted in 1998. Andy Drozd attended an IEEE membership workshop recently and will prepare an article for the EMC Society Newsletter to promote membership outreach. Bill McGinnis will attend the annual PACE workshop over the Labor Day weekend. After the workshop, he will prepare an article for the EMC Society Newsletter. Ferdy Mayer distributed his report concerning Region 8 membership. He discussed efforts to promote membership in Europe. Bill Gjertson advised that the IEEE is significantly supporting international membership through various initiatives. There will be an IEEE Sections Congress which Mr. Gjertson and Mr. Mayer will attend to promote international membership. President Hoolihan noted that the Board is actively seeking representation from the non-US regions on the Board and in voting procedures. This is being coordinated through Todd Hubing in the restructuring of the Membership Services subcommittees and Bill Gjertson (to change the by-laws to reflect the new policies). Since the regions outside the US are growing more quickly than the US regions, attention is needed for these growing areas. President Hoolihan indicated that Todd Hubing is tasked to prepare a report for the November Board meeting regarding voting by region. Dick Ford is attempting to steer the survey to be exclusively about the annual symposia. He has budgeted for an IEEE scientific survey of the entire EMC Society membership for the year 2000. This should be distributed after the first of this year. Bill Gjertson reported that the elections for Board members are under way. There were 12 names on the ballot. Mr. Gjertson is working with Board members to implement changes to the by-laws necessitated by Board approved motions during 1999.
Barry Wallen (L) presents EMC Society President
Dan Hoolihan with a check at the August Board meeting.
The check represents the financial surplus from the 1998
IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Denver.
Barry chaired this successful symposium.
Kimball Williams, Vice-President for Technical Services, called on his subcommittee chairs to present their respective reports. Maqsood Mohd reported for the Education Committee. The only major problem they are having involves the student hardware contest, as they cannot obtain support to promote this. The student paper contest this year was very successful. The quality and quantity of the papers surpassed expectations. Mr. Williams advised that the committee would approach TAB to formalize the student paper award. Kimball Williams presented the RAC report in Chair Dave Case’s absence. Open RAC positions include the ACIL and Energy Committee representatives. Outreach efforts are underway to include more committee representation. Andy Drozd advised that there are some upcoming ITS conferences, one is in Japan which is completely funded by Japanese organizations. President Hoolihan noted that Norm Violette has retired from his position as the Board alternate representative to this committee. Mark Montrose has agreed to replace Mr. Violette. In the absence of the Technical Activities Committee Chair Andrew Podgorski, Kimball Williams distributed a flow chart which summarizes the proposed electronic paper review process. David Southworth is creating this system as a volunteer. Mr. Southworth also created the TAC website.
Don Heirman, Vice-President for Standards Services, next presented his report. This included an organizational chart of the three committees reporting to Standards. Some standards have been eliminated, such as standard 213, which are adequately covered in other global standards (i.e. CISPR, ISO, etc.). There is a new Standards Association that requires a separate membership charge in order to vote on the standards. Mr. Heirman discussed the IEEE Standards On-Line Program. This includes standards in pdf files. If a standard is revised, those who purchase this program will automatically be notified immediately via e-mail that the standard has been updated. They can then download the latest version of the standard. Standards Education and Training Committee (SETCom) Chair Hugh Denny reported that this committee desires to enhance the awareness of the EMC standards process by conducting training seminars for Working Groups. They also want to educate the broader community to show how standards can be implemented. Standards Advisory and Coordination Committee (SACCom) Chair Bob Hofmann reported that there are several vacancies on the committee that they need to fill.
Len Carlson, Vice-President for Communication Services, called upon his subcommittee chairmen to present their respective reports. Moto Kanda, EMC Transactions Editor, advised that the IEEE is encouraging the electronic review of papers for publication. He is working with the IEEE and his staff to implement this process. Hugh Denny, IEEE Press Chair, presented his report. There have been nine books issued by the EMC Society. Gross sales are some $600K in EMC books sold by the IEEE Press. Mark Montrose’s two books have been the biggest selling books. In 1998, the EMC Society earned $4,048 from these book sales. Mr. Denny expects this figure to greatly increase for 1999. He encouraged Board members to utilize the IEEE Press to write books. Janet O’Neil, Newsletter Editor, reported that there will be continued use of color in the newsletter, both in photos and graphs that accompany the practical papers. The page count for each issue continues to increase as more material is being submitted to the associate editors. A special issue in 1999 was devoted to “EMC in Academia.” Andy Drozd, Website Chair, reported on the activities of the EMC Society web pages. The first website the committee developed was created by David Southworth for TAC to promote the exchange of information between the various technical committees. Basic templates for web sites have been designed. He is preparing a report on some IEEE “do’s and don’ts” for web sites. David Southworth summarized his work with the IEEE to jointly create a template for web sites. IEEE offers free web space so all work is being coordinated through them.
EMC Society President Dan Hoolihan (L) presents an
IEEE pin and photo of past Society Presidents to
Don Heirman at the August Board meeting. Don was
President of the EMC Society during 1980-81. Better
late than never to receive the past President’s pin!
Next followed the reports of various EMC Symposia chairmen. Bill Duff, Chairman of the 2000 Symposium in Washington DC, advised that the call for papers is included in the Seattle Symposium record and it was published in the regional IEEE Section newsletter that has a distribution of 14,000 local engineers. The Washington Hilton will handle the entire room block required, the space for the technical sessions and the exhibit hall space. A special “Government” session is under consideration for the symposium with a corresponding special, discounted registration fee. Barry Wallen, Chairman of the 1998 Symposium in Denver, reported on the financial status of the symposium. On-site registrations and exhibitor booth rental fees were over-estimated which resulted in over-estimating revenue. The net expenses are $691,661 and the net revenue is $793,100, resulting in a net surplus of $101,439. Mr. Wallen presented a check to President Hoolihan for $95K which represents the surplus from the Denver Symposium. (He retained some money to cover auditing costs and incidentals.) Bill Gjertson, Chairman of the 1999 IEEE International Symposium on EMC, discussed this year’s symposium. He introduced Marie Leonardis and Michael Ellis of ITCMS, the “show managers”, and Diane Heidlebaugh, Arrangements Chair. He presented a report which addressed registration, exhibit sales, publications, and the technical program. The predicted surplus is estimated at 10%. The total advance registration number is 1,113 people.
Janet O’Neil agreed to chair a task force to address commercialism and the Society’s web page. Don Bush, Andy Drozd, Ghery Pettit, Tom Chesworth, Dave Millard, and Doug Smith volunteered to be on the committee. The committee will present the policy for voting at the November Board meeting.
It was moved and approved that the EMC Board of Directors approve the creation of a Vice-President of Conferences.
Joe Butler, President-Elect and Vice-President for Planning, distributed a report that summarized the Board’s efforts on Long-Range Planning over the past several years. He would like to model the EMCS planning after the newly established IEEE strategic planning efforts. At the November Board meeting, he would like the Board to confirm and target goals and eventually establish a budget for the goals. This planning is necessary in light of the upcoming Society Review in November 1999. Mr. Butler would like to focus on Globalization, Member Benefits, Communications and EMCS Organization and divide into four groups in November to address these issues.
Warren Kesselman, chairman of the IEEE Third Millennium Awards Task Force, presented the slate of 27 nominations received from the call for nominations prepared by the task force. Additional nominations were requested from the floor. More were offered. The sample ballot was presented with the 27 names. The EMC Society can only issue 17 awards. It was moved and approved that the nominations be closed.
The meeting adjourned for the day at 5:00 pm.
Continuation of the Board Meeting on Thursday Night,
August 5, 6:00 PM
Report of Membership – Andy Drozd reported that booth activity went well. Several new members joined the IEEE and EMC Society during the symposium. Henry Benitez reported that the awards luncheon went well and ran on time. Ghery Pettit advised that the Chapter Chairman’s luncheon went well and some 45 people attended. Scott Roleson presented his final report as Chairman of the Distinguished Lecturer Program. The number of attendees at all the DL presentations last year was 467. The terms of Donald Bush and Bob Dockey will end this year.
Report of Technical Services – Andrew Podgorski was not able to give a report. With the exception of one TC, all TCs are doing well. The Matrix report system is working well as one can view at a glance how well a TC is doing. Maqsood Mohd reported that the tutorials were well received, as were the experiments/demonstrations. He advised that Johan Catrysse is seeking funding to hold his EMC class in Region 8 countries. Kimball Williams advised that the RAC/SACCom luncheon went well (attended by some 30 people) and that the special session on wireless EMC went well.
Report of Standards – Don Heirman advised that the first audit report has been completed. Three new PARs have been approved, including 299 and 475. New officers were elected including Steve Berger as Chairman, Dave Traver as Vice-Chairman, and Hugh Denny as Secretary. During the SACCom luncheon, Bob Hofmann advised that he collected several new names for volunteers on this committee. He also received several leads from the call for volunteers article he wrote for the last EMC Society Newsletter.
Report of Communication Services – Len Carlson advised that 145 people pre-purchased the “40 years for 40 bucks” CD-ROM as part of the Seattle Symposium registration, and 38 additional CD-ROMs were sold on site. It was moved and approved that the Washington DC 2000 symposium preliminary budget be approved subject to modifying the registration price differential to be 25% between members and nonmembers. Warren Kesselman advised that the ballots were closed for the Third Millennium Awards. The call for nominations was submitted to the Board electronically before the August Board meetings and made verbally during the August Board meeting. The Board voted on the ballot submitted. The IEEE will announce results. It was moved and approved that Henry Ott be appointed as the new VP of Symposia and Conferences for an 18-month tenure. Mr. Ott identified Barry Wallen as being appointed International Conference Committee chairman. The Exhibitors Committee chairman is Glen Watkins. The Regional Symposia Committee Chairman is Janet O’Neil. It was moved and approved that the top five candidates for the EMC symposia best paper award and the top three student paper award be posted to the EMC Society web page.
Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.
Janet O’Neil
Secretary, EMC Society Board of Directors