Notes From Executive Council Meeting

237th ACS National Meeting

American Chemical Society

Salt Lake City, Utah

March 25, 2009

 

The Committee on Nominations and Elections presented the following names to the Council for selection as candidates for President-Elect in 2010.  Berkeley W. Cue, Jr., Nancy B. Jackson, Cheryl A. Martin, and Dorothy J. Phillips.  Nancy B. Jackson and Cheryl A. Martin were chosen to stand for election in the fall.  Electronic voting was used in the voting.

 

Hand-held electronic voting devices were used for the first time in voting. A vote was taken to keep using them and it was overwhelmingly approved (394-28).  The cost for this trial usage was between $5000-$6000 dollars although if kept the charge would likely drop. The process has not been fully vetted.

 

The Society’s operating performance did well especially considering the state of the economy.  The total revenue was approximately $450 million.  This represented an increase of just over 3% from 2007.  This was the fifth consecutive year that the Society had positive operating results.

 

The ACS was impacted by the problems in the capital markets.  This resulted in a decline in the Society’s unrestricted net assets from $212 million at December 31, 2007, to $60 million at December 31, 2008.  There were two factors driving this decrease, both related to the poor performance in the capital markets.  These are substantial investment losses and a sizable increase in pension liability from the Society’s Defined Benefit Pension Plan.  For this and other reasons, action was taken in 2007 to close the Defined Benefit Pension Plan, and, in 2008, to freeze benefit accruals for all Defined Benefit Pension Plan participants in 2009.

 

There was a long discussion concerning the issue of membership dues.  Two amendments that were offered were voted down.  The Council approved the new rate of $145 for member dues in 2010 by a vote of 348 – 70.  This rate is established with respect to an inflation-adjustment formula in the ACS Constitution and Bylaws. 

 

Society membership totaled 154,024 at the end of 2008, compared to 160,052 for year-end 2007. This numbers reflect a drop in membership of approximately 2% due to the economy and a correction to the counts of 2,589 Emeritus members whom ACS has not been able to reach for many years.   

 

The president challenged the local sections to set a goal of a 5% increase by the end of 2009.

 

Compared to its sister societies, The ACS has experienced a smaller loss than its sister societies in 2008. 

 

A special discussion item dealt with what can ACS do to attract new members while better serving our membership considering the economic challenges.  The discussion centered around exploring