National Guard Association of the United States November 20, 2010

Transcription

1 National Guard Association of the United States November 20, 2010 "The following is a re-cap of key discussion points and motions passed by the Board of Directors. Officially transcribed minutes are available for review by any member of the Association at One Massachusetts Ave, Washington DC." Voting Members: MG Frank Vavala MG Tod Bunting BG John Walsh Brig Gen William Burks Brig Gen (Ret) Ken Ross COL Al Faber Maj Gen William Reddel COL Frank McGinn Maj Nicole Ivers MG Errol Schwartz COL Debbie Ashenhurst Maj Gen Hugh Broomall MG A. C. Blalock COL Jimmie Cole Col Murray Hansen MG Stephen Danner Lt Col Tony DeJesus LTC Martin Fries Brig Gen Donald Dunbar COL (Ret) Raymond Jardine Maj Gen (Ret) Daniel O Hollaren COL (Ret) Don Deering Lt Col (Ret) Ron Wagner CPT Sharel Paradis Capt John Brownell CW5 Howard Touchstone Non-Voting Members: Brett Wilson, CAP, Co-Chairman COL (Ret) Larry McKnight Mr. Mike Cline (for CMSgt Roger Hagan, EANGUS President) Members Absent: LTC Altebaumer MAJ Leckel Maj Gen Dubie (AGAUS President elect) 1

2 Others Present: MG (Ret) Ronald Harrison BG (Ret) Robert Taylor Maj Gen (Ret) David Poythress Maj Gen (Ret) E. Stump Maj Gen Doug (Ret) Burnett COL (Ret) Butch Dowse NGAUS staff Company Grade Officers Gen Vavala called the November 2010 meeting of the National Guard Association of the United States to order at Gen Walsh led the invocation and Gen Burks led the Pledge of Allegence. Gen Vavala welcome the members to the meeting. He asked new members to stand and they are as follows. Area I: (elected at Conference) Maj Gen William Reddel, TAG Rep COL Frank McGinn, Army Rep Area II: MG Errol Schwartz, TAG Rep (fill unexpired term for General Vavala) Gen Vavala entertained a motion to ratify the appointment for Gen Schwartz. Col Hansen so moved. Gen Broomall seconded. Motion carried. Gen Vavala asked the members to identify themselves when the make a motion as the Board is very new and the voices are not familiar yet. Area IV: (elected at Conference) MG Stephen Danner, TAG Rep LTC Martin Fries, Army Rep Area V: (Filling unexpired terms) (Special appointments, General Shellito and Col Neumann resigned) BG Donald Dunbar, TAG Rep Col Patrick Volk, Air Rep Gen Vavala entertained a motion to accept. Col Hansen so moved. Col Faber seconded. Motion carried. Area VI: MG Fred Rees, TAG Rep (fill unexpired term for General Walsh, new Vice Chair Army) Gen Vavala entertained a motion to accept. Gen Walsh so moved. COL Ashenhurst seconded. Motion carried. 2

3 Gen Vavala administered the Oath of office to the members who was not sworn in at the Austin Conference as well as those newly ratified. COL Faber called the roll and reported a quorum was present except for Major Eric Leckel who is deployed. Gen Vavala entertained a motion to accept the Minutes from the July meeting. Col Hansen made the motion to accept the minutes. COL Jardine seconded. Motion carried. Appointments/Reappointments: Conference Committee: MG John Walsh, Chairman (appoint) Maj Nicole Ivers, Area I (appoint) LTC Martin Fries, Area IV (appoint) Maj Eric Leckel, Area V (appoint) deployed COL Don Deering, (appoint to fill Retired member of the Committee) LTC Jimmie Cole, Area III (appoint) Officer Professional Development Committee: Replace MG Jessica Wright, Chairman (General William Burks) appoint COL Cathy Corkery (reappoint) Remaining members: Lt Col Tony DeJesus Company Grade Rep (Capt John Brownell) Finance Committee: Colonel Debbie Ashenhurst, Area II (term expires 12/31/10) (reappoint) Lt Col (Ret) Ron Wagner, Area V, (term expires 12/31/10) (reappoint) Audit Committee: Maj Gen Dan O Hollaren, (term expires 12/31/10) (reappoint) LTC Martin Fries, New Appointment Committee on Awards: Maj Gen Hugh Broomall, (term expires 12/31/10) (reappoint) LTC Joe Jacobson, (term expires 12/31/10) (does not want to be reappointed) Colonel Debbie Ashenhurst, New appointment Committee on By-Laws: Lt Col Darrin Anderson, (term expires 12/31/10), Area V (reappoint) BG Fisk Outwater, (term expires 12/31/10), Area II (reappoint) Col (Ret) Ray Magill will remain to the end of his term (12/31/12) Committee on Membership: Lt Col Kimberly Sencindiver, (Term expires 12/31/10) (reappoint) MAJ Kent Porter, term expires 12/31/10) (reappoint) 3

4 Appoint Capt Donna Crews to fill the unexpired term for MAJ Lyndy Doyle (term expires 21/31/11) Special Building Committee: Major General (Ret) Butch Kirven MG Frank Vavala, Chairman Brig Gen (Ret) Ken Ross, Treasurer Lt Col (Ret) Pete Renaghan, Finance Committee Chairman MG Tod Bunting, Past Chairman Gen Vavala entertained a motion to accept appointments/reappointments. Col Hansen had an adjustment to the Awards Committee. COL Ashenhurst name has been removed due to the Army Air split. He would like to add a Company Grade representative, Capt Seana Warner. Gen Danner so moved. Col Wagner seconded. Motion carried. Gen Vavala thanked the members for their confidence in him and appreciate the opportunity to serve on the Board as Chairman. He said he had served on previously on the Board for six years as the Area II TAG representative. He said this is one of the high points of his career and is his priviledge to serve. He said it is all about what we say on our logo We Serve. Gen Vavala asked the members to join in recognizing the tremendous job done by MG Tod Bunting during his term as Chairman of the Board as well as the TAG of Kansas. Gen Bunting has announced his retirement as TAG in the next few months. Gen Vavala announced that individual Board pictures will be taken after the morning break and through out the morning up until the break for lunch. Also, after lunch a picture will be taken of the entire Board in the Montgomery Room. Gen Vavala also announced that religious services will be held tomorrow morning here in the building for those interested at Gen Vavala announcedto the proposed Board meetings dates for The lodging will be at the Washington Court Hotel. March 10-12, 2011 July 14-16, 2011 November 17-19, 2011 Vice Chair Army Report: BG John Walsh Gen Walsh reported he attended the Air Senior Leader Conference this week. He said the SecDef is asking all services and components reduce expenditures and increase operating efficiencies and be responsible with the funds they have. He said they will start to hear the terms seeking efficiencies and affordability and start to see in the Army National Guard. The Army National Guard must seek ways the seek efficiencies and reduce overhead expenditures as good stewards of the nations valuable resources. He said when making decisions as a Board we must take that into account as well. 4

5 He said in discussions with the Senior Leaders the Army National Guard has proposed an end strength ceiling which is both financially responsible and feasible to continue to perform the missions set forth by the DOD. The proposed end strength ceiling requires all states and territories to focus on the quality of the forces and remain deligent in the effort to improve readiness. Improving readiness is the bottom line and making sure that the soldiers and airmen in the ranks are ready. The end strength ceiling has been established of 367,100. He said this takes into account a negative 1% end strength. He said they will not be able to recruit over 358,000 as that is what they will be paid on. Gen Carpenter has asked the TAGs to reenforce the end strength ceiling within their states and they have agreed to do so. Gen Walsh said another big issue is the army fixed wing strategy. He said the Department of the Army had a plan floating around to divest 61 fixed wing aircraft from the ARNG structure. He said that would have reduced 11 C-26s, 8 C-12s, and 42 C-23s. Several TAGS on October 26 met with the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army to attempt to reverse that decision. The TAGs asked that they determine how to array the Force as well as to have input from NORTHCOM. He said they asked to allow of hubbing of maintenance of the aircraft versus the actual hubbing of the aircraft that they believe would save the dollars they needed. There were no cuts to Active Component or USAR; all cuts were from the ARNG. 42 states would have been affected by the change; 54 states currently have fixed wing aircraft. No major savings would have been seen until At the conclusion of the meeting the Vice Chief decided to recommend to the Secretary of the Army that the fixed wing aviation strategy, as far as the C-12s, would stay in the states that have them. There still might be reduction in the C-12s as well as the C-23s, but there was money in the budget for the C-26s for the remainder of this year. There is no money in the budget for the C-23s which will come out of the force structure. Vice Chair Air: Brig Gen William Burks Gen Burks reported one of the pending issues remains the C-130 loan process. That is still being addressed at the national level. The Air Force was supposed to send a letter to impacted states and he has not received a letter. That is still an ongoing issue and is still supposed to happen in 2011 that the airplanes leave. They are looking at sending those planes to Little Rock for an associate type of program to bridge the gap for when the Air Force bring on all J s to have the H model still have training. The number one issue facing the Air Guard right now is the man power authorization mandays. He said each TAG has been impacted in some negative way with the announcement by the Air Force that man days would not be available as last year. He said the number cited by Gen Wyatt went from 16,000 down to 14,000, with a delta of about He said the Air Force was supposed to give 60 to 90 days notice they gave about 6 to 9 days that those orders would not be coming. That continues to be a key issue. Gen Burks said another issue that is impacting the Air Guard in a negative way is the AEF requirements keep changing without Guard imput. He said the changes by the Air Force are meeting their needs and not those of the Guard. Gen Burks said Gen Walsh summed up the issue of fiscal restraints. He said in the next year the active duty will keep trying to save their personell benefits at the expense of our personell benefits. He said they need to keep a very watchful eye on how exactly that program comes out. He said the budget will be out in the February timeframe. 5

6 He said what affects the Army Guard also affects the Air Guard. He said they will have to watch the fixed wing strategy because imcumbent upon that is what happens to the Joint Cargo Aircraft or the C- 27. Gen Burks said the continual slippages of right of the aircraft that are in production will hurt the Air Guard, both the F-35 and the C-27. He said the F-35 slipped 16 months to the right. He said that will have to be watched very closely. Gen Ross said due to the large number of new people he would like to explain the budget structure and policy. He said the National family consist of the Insurance Trust with its own Board; the Educational Foundation which is a 501c 3 with its own Board; NGAUS is the core organization and has its own budget; the fourth entity is the Building that belongs to NGAUS with its own budget. Gen Ross explained the structure which consists of the Finance Committee chaired by Col Pete Renaghan. The Finance Committee works with the NGAUS staff to present the annual budget. There is also a midyear review done in July. Finance/Budget Report: Pam Buckler/ Pete Renaghan Col Renaghan reported: Revenue: Membership: Annual dues remains the same Life dues increase by $500 State dues remains the same Associate corporate dues increase by $10,000 Associate -Annual dues increase by $100 Associate- Life dues by $50 Insurance Royalties: Insurance Trust Decreased $1,500 They look at a rolling ten year average income received and the management budgets up to 70% of the number for the operating budget. Magazine: Subscriptions increased by $100 Advertising increased by $75,000 Marketing: General Conference decreased $10,000 Affinity programs decreased $2,000 Industry Day remains the same General Operations: Interest decreased $600 Balance remains the same Overall revenue budget for 2011 over 2010 increased by $71,650 COL Deering asked why the general conference marketing budget is decreased. Pam said they will have to wait to get the results of some space issues. 6

7 Expenses: Operating: Employee salary and related expenses reduced by $23,300 Communications increased by $1,900 Furniture and fixtures decreased by $14,700 Business decreased by $18,000 Professional fees increased $1,600 Invested /capital reserves increased $2,000 Association Headquarters> General and administrative decreased $14,000 Travel increasing $21,850 Staff expense decreased $1,050 Departments: Membership state support decreased $4,000 Legislation decreased $31,750 Magazine increased $13,000 Public relations increased $3,500 General Conference reduced $21,000 Board of Directors reduced by $15,000 Committees reduced by $8,000 Total expenses are decreased by $106,950 for 2011 compared to 2010 which gives us a surplus of $178,600. Col Hansen asked about the reduction in the Legislative staff. Col Renaghan said the bottom line for this category decreased due to re-evaluation of all accounts. Gen Hargett said there was no reduction in staff but in the way we do business and the way we do some things. Col Renaghan said the budget requires approval of the Board. Gen Ross moved the approval of the budget as presented for 2011 as recommended by the Finance Committee. COL Jardine seconded. Motion carried. Finance Committee Recommendations: 1. Salary increase recommendation: The committee recommends the policy for annual salary increases be based upon the annual cost of living index, plus 2% of the projected current year actual year end salaries. This dollar amount would be available to the NGAUS President to use for annual employee raises taking into consideration the annual cost of living and employee performance. Recommend that a separate account be created for the employee bonus category. Both of these items are reflected in the budgets being presented to the Board. Gen Ross said they should defer approval of the salaries until the Executive Session K- requires Board approval annually: Currently we match 5% and 2% profit sharing. 7

8 Gen Ross moved the approval of the recommended 401K contribution at 2% profit sharing and 5% dollar for dollar match. Col Wagner seconded. Motion carried. Gen Walsh asked if the 5% dollar for dollar matching is up to 100%. Pam said it is up to 100% of the employee s contribution up to the amount allowable by law. Gen Ross said we do not match anymore that 5%. 3. The Finance Committee supports the continuation of negotiation efforts with USAA to establish an affinity program that benefits our members and the Association. 4. Investment RFP Process: Currently the NGAUS entities have about $26M worth of investible assets spread out among a number of different money managers. They revised the investment policy guidelines recently. They are trying to set up a method whereby the look at a new manager every year for a RFP process for approximately $5M. Currently, looking at our portfolio, in order to cover a broad spectrum of investment vehicles or styles we are very lean on small and mid cap companies. They are putting out a RFP for up to $5M offer. They are sending the RFP to 16 different mid cap and small cap independent money managers to be delivered to us before February 1. The will analyze those and bring that back to the Board for the March meeting for a vote. They are trying to get a system in effect where they are closely looking at a particular manager after a five year period. They will look at them every year and analyze them against their peers every two and a half years and throughly vet them against their peers on the fifth year. They want to make sure that one part of the portfolio is working the hardest because on an annual basis different asset classes perform differently. 5. Committee SOP recommendation: The Finance Committee ask the Board to ask all committee Chairman to have a Standard Operating Procedure as to how their members come to a meeting. He said they want to make sure our money is spent wisely. Gen Vavala said he attended the Finance Committee meeting and the members take their fuduciary responsibility to our membership very seriously. He thanked the Finance Committee for their work. Treasurers Report: Brig Gen (Ret) Ken Ross Gen Ross complimented the Finance Committee on the great work they do and treat every dollar as if it were their own. He also complimented Gen Hargett and the staff. He said the staff scrubs the budget and then Gen Hargett looks at them. He said in the past the proposed budget has been presented over budget and they have to look at everything and bring it within budget. He said Gen Hargett brought in a balance budget with a surplus. Gen Ross said the Insurance Trust is projected to be right on line as other years. It is one of the three areas of income and operates as a flow through as some of the proceeds are shared with EANGUS. He said the Insurance Trust is healthy. He said they budget 75% of the last ten year rolling average of the Insurance program, so they have a fairly reliable number to budget with, which has worked well. Gen Ross said the Educational Foundation which has got to be the best news story of the family of organizations in the last 20 years. He said in the last 15 years the Foundation has cost more operationally. It runs the Library, the Museum and is the arm for educating the public about what the National Guard is all about. It is a 501 c3 organization that had kind of lost its way. It was spending more money than it was taking in and they had spent all of its reserves. NGAUS has been funding that 8

9 organization from other entities. He said that Board has restructured and together with the staff, led primarily by the President, has taken seriously the task of raising money. He said the budget rather than been a few $100,000 in the negative it is in the few 10 of thousands in the negative. He said instead of bringing in a few hundred thousand dollars it will bring in about $400,000 in He said if they stay on track they will probably beat that for He said they are looking at an organization that will break even in the forseeable future. He said this is the first time he has been able to say that and this will make a major change in the distribution of the NGAUS assets by not having to spend money to support the Educational Foundation. He said it is a big swing in our financial base. The building continues to be a good picture. He said the negative numbers for 2010 accounts for the timing of lease expirations in the time period. He said they have anticipated those expenses and that money will come out of the reserves. He said the building is back to 98% plus occupancy. He said we are good until He said the building continues to be our greatest asset. He said in his view, the building would appraise fair market value in the mid $70 to $75 million. He said the projected mortgage pay off is about nine more years. The NGAUS budget means that we are pretty good shape with no major shifts. He said the dues were flat as a lot of effort has been put into trying to raise membership without much success. He said the rebate program also fell flat. He said we have not solved how to get our state partners to increase our membership. He said the rest of the NGAUS budget is in surplus. Overall the organization is in great health. COL Jardine asked if the Finance Committee looked at refinancing the building. Gen Ross said the problem is if we get into a loan there is a large prepayment penalty if you get out. He said we are currently paying and interest rate of 5.34%. He said commercial refinancing is not quite as cheap as housing. He said they have looked at refinancing and it just not feasible. Gen Vavala said we should feel very blessed that the news around NGAUS is great news. He said the President has done a tremendous job in advancing the Educational Foundation. He thanked Gen Hargett, Gen Ross and Col Renaghan and the Finance Committee for their great work. COL Jardine offered a correction for the 2011 Board meetings. March 11-13,2011 July 15-17, 2011 November 18-20, 2011 Gen Vavala called the members to Executive Session. COL Faber read into the record from the Executive Session that the Board approved a salary increase/bonus for the President of the Association at an amount and percentage to be determined by the Chairman and later conveyed to the Finance Committee. Communications Update: John Goheen John reported: The Communications Team: Rich Arnold, Awards Program; Ron Jensen, Senior writer; Melissa Swanson and Andrew Waldman; best staff he has had to date 9

10 Projects: added Industry Day registration to the website; focusing on upcoming bold changes to the website; IT audit; mobile outreach on the website; more phone apps; Products: new advertising sales planner; press releases to increase our presence; NGEF donation envelop in the last magazine; new ads in the Washington Report; working on digital magazine and the first one will be on the website in February; Combined Legit and NGAUS Notes into the Washington Report; goes out every Tuesday; 17 to 18 percent of the people open it; dramatic improvement; Social Media: have following in Facebook, tweeter 13,000 veiws of the Flickr album; a repository of pictures of NGAUS members Magazine: interview with Gen Mckinley in the Dec; Ron wrote an article on PTSD programs around the states; 20 th anniversary of Desert Storm is coming up; will interview Sen Graham; will have an article on TRICARE Select in February. Advertising: right now in the midst of the best year ever; at $949,000 for the year, will probably get to $975,000; fiscal year runs February through January for advetising and the magazine Have a new advertising firm and hope they will take us over the million dollar range Don t know the impact the reduced Defense Budget will have on the defense industry; magazine sales have been down in all sectors except the defense industry. Gen Ross said he wanted the Board to know that we are leveraging John on free advertising and he does not get to show that and it is not his fault. Gen Ross commented that in reference to the advertising totals, the magazine is taxable income for us; but while magazine space is given as a membership benefit is not. So while it might show less advertising revenue for Communications it is still better for NGAUS overall. He said there is more credit due to John than is shown on his slides. Legislative Update: Richard Green Rich reported: NGAUS is the voice in Washington The primary thing we do in legistlative action. Resolutions Process: New process implimented last year for standing and draft resolutions Went to the electronic process, which worked great Made the process with NGB easier Staff: Kevin McColaugh, Army Programs Pete Duffy, Deputy Director, Joint programs Emily Breitbach, Air Programs Dixie Ross, Leg Analyst Adding two more staff members soon Working for you: Kevin and Pete added to the old briefing driving the conversation and pounding the pavement That decribes what they are doing; congress is listening to them on different issues EANGUS, AGAUS, and NGAUS will continue to work together on issues The staff is identifying the best contacts on the Hill and working with them on specific issues A lot of legislation is stalled due to the election year; a lot of issues concern the Guard that they will continue to work Key Legislative issues: 10

11 Dual status technicians; increased in the President s budget; hope the Senate will pass it NGREA got bad press that some funds were not getting executed; has been addressed Pete working GI benefits for Title 32 Counter-drug: last year $15M over budget; this year up to $35M MILCON funding: last year was 30/30; this year $60M and$50m Early retirement; toughest one; top priority for Senator Graham; still working the two for one and retroactivity. Gen Bunting asked if any of the plus-ups technically considered earmarks. Rich said he does not consider them earmarks. Gen Hargett said that came up during his visit with Senator Graham. He was asked a question about plus-ups and earmarks and he said he did not view them as earmarks, but others may. Senator Graham said if it is in the best interest of national defense, then he will vote not to consider them earmarks. Gen Bunting said a significant part of our funding comes from earmarks and if those are tossed out that would be a tremendous hit for the Guard. Rich said we need to change the definition of what we call an earmark and call it a defense enhancement. Kevin McColaugh: Election results Election will have an impact on what they do, but a positive impact Lost a lot of key allies; 10 members of the House Armed Services Committee lost re-election; 4 members retired; Ike Skelton lost his re-election; was the Chair of the HASC Gene Taylor lost his re-election; was Co-Chair of the Guard Caucus Will be over 100 new members in Congress starting January Will be different on the House side; Republican controlled Two of the past conference speakers lost the re-election: Congressman Chet Edwards, TX and Congressman Patrick Murphy, PA Congressman Buck McKeon will be new Chair of the HASC; from CA, 25 th District; he has publicly said he does not think defense spending should be cut. Potential new friends: 6 Guardsmen elected; 3 current, Capt Kinzinger, WI ANG, LTC Stivers, OH, ARNG, and Steven Palazzo, MS,ARNG; Three former Guardsmen elected; Jeff Landry, LA, Steve Womack, AR, and Richard Nugent, IL There will be 25 Guardsmen in the 112 th congress No replacement for Gene Taylor yet: Congressman Buyer retired; Duncan Hunter will replace him; former Marine Senator Lindsey Graham, former SC Guardsman; currently Colonel in the Air Reserve;will chair the Guard Caucus Rich Green: Gen Hargett instrumental in driving the relationships on the Hill State Visits: 20 state visits this year Memos to Congress: Will exceed 100,000 letters to congress this year 11

12 Washington Report: Combined effort of the Communications Department and the Legislative Department Goes out each Tuesday Working to see if thebureau will sauntion it so everyone can send it to everyone in the states Col Hansen asked Rich emphasize how important Datagard to NGAUS and how the states can help us raise these numbers. Rich said Datagard has the capability to collect addresses to enable us to send messages to our membership. He said he encourage NGEDA to help them promote that effort. Gen Walsh asked about the follow up status on the Legislative Alerts to Write to Congress on issues and the impact that has on the bills. Rich Green said that would be in the Washington Update possibly. Gen Reddell said to make sure the information is pushed back to the membership to let them know the impact they had on a certain issue. Gen Burnett said writing a letter to the member is good, but the key is to get the senior member to write a letter to the chairman of the committees. Task Forces: Are working and doing a great job Very pleased with their activities Integrated Communications Strategy: Combined effort of the Communications Department and the Legislative Department Way Ahead: Working issues aggressively Need to take an offensive approach on Guard issues and work closely with the Congress to get work with the Pentagon Gen Reddel asked Gen Burnett to talk about the leverage of what it talks about in Article I. Gen Burnett said as the new party takes over they are starting strong with no earmarks. He said although the speaker said he supports earmarks, he has relented in the last week and said he will support no earmarks. He said that any member that writes a letter their name is put on the list and with the new party in control they will not see the light of day. He said the question is how do we get beyond that and still do congressional directed spending. He said some opportunity might be in Article I, Section 8, that talks about the Congress shall equip the militia which is the Guard. He said that strategy might work. He said anything he can do for the National Guard he is willing to do. Rich said we will have to leverage all the power we have through the TAGs and their associates on the Hill. Had logo made up for the National Guard Coalition to be included on some letters they send. Gen Vavala said the people who populate our Task Forces are our unsung hero who represents different branches in the Guard. The put the meat into our resolutions and work very hard in our behalf as well. 12

13 He said we need to be more in sync with AGAUS and NGB-LL as well as the National Governors Association who also enhance our Guard message. Membership Update: LTC Joe Jacobson Col Jacobson reported: Membership the number one priority of Gen Hargett Membership Committee positions approved by the Board Report passed out to members listed by state/and alphabetically by total Strength percentage to date at 63%: compared to 2009 at this time was 64% % states; last year ended year with 19; lost 4 100% states, but gained Delaware Of the remaining 38 states, 19 decreased percentages; one stayed the same; 18 increased Membership Workshop: last two years hosted at Memorial Building, focused on best practices and learning opportunities Workshop participants came from all 54 states and territories and district; over 150 members attended those 2010 focus was on a regional based workshop format; partnered states with a mentor state to discuss how to increase membership October workshops: Cheyenne, Wyoming, and one in Nashville, Tennessee; final to be held in St Louis, in November Four states attended the West Region, CA, ID, WA, WY; two mentor states were South Dakota and Hawaii Presented a variety of learning formats to the participants Focused on relative issues to the states; used SWAT analysis to identify strength,weaknesses, opportunities and threats for their states gaining membership Had great participation and energy at both workshops Way ahead is to continue the initiatives being worked and developed at these regional workshops; want to bring the states back together next year to measure the success Will attend the NGEDA conference; continue communication with the States; and conduct the membership meeting at the conference Hope they have turned the corner and with the guidance of the new President and Chairman they hope to see some increases in membership in Handed out quetionaires for the any suggested changes to the membership video. Col Dejesus asked about the affinity programs and if the Board could help with that process. COL Jacobson said the workshop attendees are giving them ideas on affinity programs they would be useful to them. He said he will pass those ideas on the NGAUS staff and the Board. Gen Vavala commented that membership is very important to us and unlike other Military organizations; our revenue comes from our membership. He asked Gen Hargett to expand on that. Gen Hargett said he has talked to other organizations like, ROA and AUSA. He said he spoke with, Gen Bockel, ROA President, and he said they would kill for 64% or 64%; he said they do not know how many members they really have or who are alive and they are not getting any new ones. He also talked to Gen Stroup and he said the army ethics guys have just about killed AUSA; they make all their money off the trade show. Gen Hargett said our 63 or 64% is the best percentage for membership in the city. He 13

14 said finding out from the workshops, there are a lot of people out here who want to make our membership better. He said in every stat the JAG is the biggest threat out there. He said there is a lot of confusion about what you can and can not do out there. Gen Bunting said the free fall in Wyoming came from the JAGs abosolutely shutting down the Wyoming Guard in entirety. He said in less than a year they went from a high percentage to where they are now. Gen Hargett said they left Wyoming with a lot of people who understand and they want to do better. Membership Video: Gen Hargett said the Video was produced and paid for by Ron Tipa and MPSC. He asked the members to turn in the comment paper passed out to them with their suggestions. He said they can only change it once more due to NGAUS does not pay for it. COL Jacobson said they hope to have the final version finished and out to the states soon. Comments on the video: Not enough Air Guard in it Gen Hargett said they had addressed that issue. He said the states were asked for footage and the public affairs representative from only four states sent anything. Gen Reddel asked if we could ask the Bureau for footage. Gen Hargett said yes but would probably meet opposition from the lawyers. COL Randy Williams: Conference Update BG John Walsh: General Conference Committee Chairman Gen Walsh reported: Received presentation on the 2015 conference from Tennessee 2011 Conference, Milwaukee, WI 2012 Conference, Reno, NV 2013 Conference, Hawaii 2014 Conference, Chicago, IL Tennessee Presentation: COL (Ret) Don Deering Conference in Nashville, 2015, 11-13,September; Friday, Saturday, Sunday; Opryland Hotel Showed pictures of the flood damage at the Opryland complex in May 3, 2010 Showed pictures of the newly renovated Opryland complex For 2015 they have contracted for 2800 rooms if approved Golf tournament will be at Opryland Hotel Golf Course; newly renovated also Sept 9, Sponsor Tournament, Sept 10, large tournament; early morning t-time; late afternoon t- time to accommodate people who have other obligations and meetings Will have Governor s Reception in the Exhibit Hall Have improvements at the Airport Gave facts of the materials used to repair the flood damage 14

15 COL Deering recommended that the Board approve the conference in Gen Vavala entertained a motion to that we go to Nashville in Gen Dunbar seconded. Motion carried. Gen Ross moved that the Board authorize the staff to enter into a contract with the Nashville Convention Center. COL Ashenhurst seconded. Motion carried. Gen Walsh continued: Received presentations from three Vendors (conference planners) Russ Kraus, Enterprise Helms Briscoe, largest conference planner in the US Conference Direct Reviewed the Conference SOP Conference Committee agreed to bring to the Board a recommedation to amend Section E, Housing Currently reads: NGAUS cautions that Host States to avoid the use of outside vendors or convention visitors bureaus for management of housing. NGAUS makes the recommendation based on many years of experience. If a state chooses to hire an outside vendor, then the state should avoid inflating housing cost and thereby overcharging association members. This could have an adverse affect on the intergrity of the host state and NGAUS. Proposed Change: If a state chooses to hire an outside vendor, then the state should avoid inflating housing cost and thereby overcharging association members. This could have an adverse affect on the intergrity on the host state and NGAUS. COL Williams said Chicago, IL, 2014 conference site will be using one of the planners. Gen Walsh restated the motion to change the SOP from as it reads currently to if a state chooses to hire an outside vendor then the state should avoid inflating housing cost and thereby overcharging associaiton members. This could have an adverse affect on the intergrity of the host state and NGAUS. COL Cole seconded. Motion carried. COL McGinn asked if any other sections were addressed for changing. Gen Walsh said they only focused on housing. COL Cole said there is the only place in the SOP that discourages the use of the planners that is why they focused on housing. Gen Dunbar asked if a state uses a conference planner if they have to get Board approval. He asked how we build intergrity for our members to make sure this is not the trend that could have and effect on membership down the road. He said the increase in housing might desaude folks from attending the conference. COL Cole said the current contract on hotels whether a planner is used or they do it themselves, once that contract is written, it must be reviewed and approved by the NGAUS Board prior to the signing of the contract which includes the pricing. 15

16 COL Deering said when a state bids on a conference, they have already met the critieror for meeting rooms, hotel room, etc, and at that time they will present to the Board. He said there are several checks and balances. Gen called for question on the motion, hearing none. Motion carried. Confernce Update: COL Williams Made more money than ever on a conference Will do better advance planning Need to promote exhibit participation Milwaukee venue unique; exhibit halls are upstairs and business sessions downstairs Need to better contract planning: food planning Total revenue for 2010 conference; $2,141,681 Expenses: $1,073,397 Bottom Line: $1,068,284 Theme for Wisconsin: Right for America Gen Hamm; AFRICOM, will be a speaker Frontier Airline Convention Center is host, formerly known as the Mid-West Airline Convention Center 13 hotels will be used Great places to eat Governor s Reception will be held in the Harley Davidson Museum Will have motorcycle ride Will have all contracts done by the time they attend NGEDA conference Sent layout to Wisconsin Contracting procedure updating; have 35 current; those valued over $5000 will get an RFP and be evaluated for best value Current RPF out in October; 4 in evaluation now; will bring that to the Board in March Gen Blalock asked about holding the conference in low percentage states. He said holding the conference in Austin had no effect on the membership percentage. He said he hopes they get better. Industry Update Glenn Ross Glenn reported: Responsible for working with our Industry partners and making them happy as best as possible Membership at 223 ; 20% new members 2009 had 922 booths sold; equate to 405 exhibitors 2010 Austin; 873 booths sold; equate to 410 exhibitors To date positive feed back for Milwaukee Industry Day; December 8 th ; 150 attendees signed up to date Industry Workshop: December 7 th ; topic is on doing business with the National Guard CAP will run the workshop: Ron Houle current Chairman; Brett Wilson Co-Chair attending meeting Work closely with the CAP members Working the AGAUS Mid-winter Conference; working with sponsors 16

17 RFP is out for Exhibit contractor; current contract with EPP ends 2011; 4 responses to date. Retired/Separated Report: COL Don Deering, Ret/Lt Col Ron Wagner, Ret COL Deering reported: Had successful luncheon in Austin; over 200 attendees Pete Duffy was the speaker at luncheon New Air retired represented elected at the Conference, Ron Wagner, Wisconsin Col Deering reported: He is looking forward to working with COL Deering on retired issues Warrant Officer report: CW5 Howard Touchstone Chief Touchstone reported: Areas 2, 4, and 6 re-elected at the Austin Conference Will return after correct briefing loaded Company Grade report; Capt John Brownell/CAPT Sharel Paradis Capt Brownell reported: Most productive meeting this weekend All twelve members present Welcomed CAPT Paradis as new Army Rep, from Oregon Discussed the Strategic Plan; reviewed long and short term goals Had a military fellow from the Hill speak to them who talked to the about how a Company Grade would talk to a member of congress Emily Brietbach talked to them about the Resolutions process Had officer from NGB talk to them about how to get join qualified Did afteraction on the OPD sessions at the conference; lot of new ideas Submitted their SOP to the Chairman Identified future training opportunities; working with taking the committee to the Hill next meeting: working with Pete Duffy Have future action plan: include article in magazine; communication has improved; identifying states without a CGO committee. Working on CGO election process Will attend NGEDA Attending the AMS/OCS Graduations Continues their support for the Educational Foundation Presented strategic plan on how to bolster the Muster and is ready to execute when given permission Corporate Advisory Report: Brett Wilson Brett reported: Cap provides a conduit of information and relationship between the corporate partners and NGAUS Have established 4 tiger teams to support their goals Intake task: reach out to industry to get information and bring information up to NGAUS to 17

18 Understand what NGAUS can do to better support industry as well as what industry do to support NGAUS: did recent intake survey via the NGAUS distribution list; starting to gather data Working with the NGAUS Communications team and working on the website Focusing on one on one interviews at conferences and other opportunities Education piece: working on how to do business with the National Guard; overview on the financial well being of the Guard and what they are doing with their funds. Will focus one educating new members and as well as the long term corporate partners CAP structure and Election: wanted to open the architecture and let more industry partners in on the election process; want to adjust the timeline the elections take place so they take place at the annual conference; Making changes to their charter; will work on a better process on how they build the panel Communications Initiative: already in place but want to update and take a more proactive role; Sent out communications to corporate partners through the NGAUS distribution list: posting information on the website: working on tips and tricks that will highlight points of interest valuable to new firms that come into industry; working of AAR for previous conferences have widen communications pipe between industry and NGAUS COL Williams: IT Support The internal IT Audit is ongoing at NGAUS. It started about a month ago and have received recommendations from Booz Allen Hamilton. They are doing the audit pro bono. Brett said they sent in a team of three people to do the audit. The goal was to look at efficiency in short and long term mapping to the goals and objectives of NGAUS. They went through three phases, data collection, analysis phase and a recommendation phase. Recognizes some challenges and made recommendations around those challenges and moving forward. Warrant Officers report continued: 150 attended the mixer at the conference COL Mark Jones spoke at their caucus at the conference Attended Warrant Officer Conference in October in Texas; gave NGAUS 101 brief Attended Warrant Officer Association in November; elected as Assistant Vice President for Army National Affairs Warrant Officer strength is at 8%; 7958 at end of year 46% of Warrant Officers are eligible for retirement; Short about 2000 Warrant Officers at this time Will be a symposium in Nashville in January; will have about 500 potential candidates Fixed wing strategy is still an concern for Warrant Officers; most pilots are Warrant Officer aviators Warrant Officers Committee will meet in March 18

19 Gen Vavala emphasized that while other organizations are important to belong to, but NGAUS is really the one that is most important Col Hansen said at the last Board meeting a Warrant Officer Award was approved to be put into the SOP for this award season. The Warrant Officer Committee recommendation is to name the Award The Rising Eagle. Col Hansen made a motion that the Warrant Officer Award be called The Rising Eagle. Capt Paradis seconded. Motion carried. AGAUS report: MG William Reddel Gen Reddel reported: Gen Wayt retired 16 November; Gen Dubie new President of AGAUS Prior to election 11 TAG s stated intention to retire or move on 26 Governor elections that turned over; may be as many as 20 new TAG s after the first of the year Council of Governors has been historic; had third meeting on 5 November; Admiral Winnefeld, NORTHCOM commander, is fully behind the Guard now which is refreshing change Will be a lot of TAG changes, will not miss a beat: committees are fully working toward solutions Latest problem they are working on is the Army Fixed wing Gen Rees will lead a GOAC looking for possible solutions Gen Vavala said we have our work cut out for us with the tremendous amount of changes in Governors, TAG s and members of Congress. NGEDA report: COL (Ret) Larry McKnight COL McKnight reported: NGEDA Conference is January 27-29, 2011; held at Hyatt Regency, Milwaukee, WI NGEDA 101 will be held on Wednesday; due to large number of Executive Directors 2011 is election year Jim Lubey will become President; Michelle Henry will be President elect Vacancy elected at Conference for 2 nd President elect Also have vacancy for Officer position Ray Lindner is the Secretary/Treasurer Payroll Deduction Controll Board is very vital to the insurance; coordinates and communicates with DFAS for state sponsored life insurance programs; have vacancy on this board Registration letters have gone out Will provide professional development in social networking dos and don ts; Roles and Responsibilities of Associations and board basics EANGUS report: Mike Cline Mike reported: New Board elected new Board CMSgt Roger Hagan (Ret) is the newly elected President 19

20 CSM Halbert, MS, elected Vice President CMSgt Doug Simpson, WA, elected Secretary CMSgt Dan Sicklewich, AL, Treasurer Conducted their Board meeting yesterday Had training session with MG (Ret) Gruber Conducted mortgage burning yesterday; paid off their building Gave history of relationship with NGAUS Purchased first office building in 1990: 2003 NGAUS loaned money to buy new building Membership is growing; sustaining around 45,000 members We Care for America Foundation: have given out about $70,000 to date to needy National Families, both Officer and Enlisted; easy process is on their website EANGUS Conference in August, Charleston, WV Will have booth at NGAUS Conference Have pushed Associate Membership with the Officer population : signed up over 70 officers at the NGAUS Conference Gen Vavala presented Mike Cline a picture of the NGAUS building in appreciation for his body of work with EANGUS and NGAUS. Gen Ross commented the Finance Committee took as a tasker to start projecting when the cash flow is better when we will have the ability to fund other enhancements to NGAUS programs. He said they have not forgotten the We Care for America Foundation that EANGUS supports and they will help fund that program that benefits all Guardsmen. Insurance Trust: Luke Guthrie Luke reported: briefed yesterday by ING representative with good news Technician program shaping up to be a strong year 2009 plan year finished at $1,648, ten month estimate to date at $1,109,311; compared to 2009 nearly $200, 000 Paying strong attention to developing relationships with the state and territories HRO s Have attended NGEDA, EANGUS, numerous state associations, and the NGAUS Conference Busy year for open enrollments; good feedback Will roll out in 2011 a state pilot program to partner with select state associations to have state associations offer the technicians our product. Will work on a per application fee; first state will be Tennessee. The per application fee will be $50 per person signed to the association In talks with USAA to develop a comprehensive affinity relationship that will cover credit cards as well as endorsing their property and insurance products: about 75% of our members have credit cards currently USAA would like us to offer their credit card to the remaining members with an up front offer of $35,000 fee plus a percentage of sales per year The other part of the plan is that NGAUS would endorse USAA through our marketing assets only USAA products; their initial offer was $75,000; will renegoitiate a better offer Looking at a revenue stream into the hundreds of thousands of dollars should the partnership move forward 20

21 Gen Hargett asked if we need the approval of the Board to re-negotiate a new contract with USAA. He said we would do very well with their affinity offers. He said we are trying to negotiate the funds upward. He said 22,000 of our members are USAA members. Gen Ross said the initial proposal was already better than the current one that we don t want to delay this by a Board meeting. Gen Ross moved that they authorize the President to negotiate with USAA and enter into an affinity agreement as long as it is as good as or better than the initial proposal presented to the Finance Committee. COL Cole seconded. Discussion: Gen Hargett said we would not get revenue from them for magazine advertising which will make that look worse. He said we would not pay taxes on the money we get from them and we do the magazine advertising. Gen Dunbar asked the length of the agreement. Luke said it is for five years. Gen Dunbar asked what USAA would get for their part. Gen Hargett said they will continue to get advertisement in the magazine and we will endorse their credit card and their property and casualty insurance and we would not sell magazine articles to compete with their interests. Gen Ross said the initial proposal is they we will get $50 for every NGAUS member who buys something from USAA. Col Jardine asked if the agreement is exclusive. Gen Ross said the initial proposal is we do not endorse anyone else, but they want some kind of continuation payment for that. Gen Danner said Missouri has a credit card and don t want that to interfer with that. Gen Hargett said NGAUS has had their own credit card for years. Gen Ross said this will not affect the state associations and their affiliate programs. Gen Bunting asked if it would affect the trade show. Gen Hargett said they asked about that and they will continue to negotiate with USAA to get clarification. Gen Danner said they have a Missouri card and does not want to compete with the national level card. He said he would like to make sure everyone in held harmless. Gen Reddel commented about a portion of the proceeds going to the states. Pam said 10% of all affinity programs go to the states anyway. Gen Danner suggested combining the efforts of the states with the NGAUS efforts. Gen Ross said possibly both can be profitable at the same time. Gen Hargett said Missouri has a combined association and we would not compete with the enlisted members. He said EANGUS already has a USAA card. 21