Section 1304
Minutes of 1-13-09 ASQ Leadership Committee Meeting
At The Gas House Grill, 12643 Olive Blvd. (1 mile west of I-270 on north side)
Prepared 1-25-09 by John O’Reilly
Participants: Steve Hyland, Shailesh Panth, Kim Rochetti, Tony Indihar, Randy Thompson, Denise Arthur, Kunita Gear, Rob Herhold, Sally Young, Jim Ebone, Eric Schellenberg, Steve Mundwiller, and John O’Reilly
1) Meeting called to order at 6:06 PM by Steve Mundwiller.
1A) Opening remarks by Rob Herhold - Steve M welcomed Rob Herhold, our Regional Director and former section chair. Rob thanked us for welcoming him and thanked the LC for our volunteerism. Our St. Louis Section is stable, doing well. Other sections in the region have some issues. There are currently 14 active sections in Region 13, which covers MO, KS, CO, IA, and part of IL and AR. His job is to help them meet the minimum requirements and set policy. Steve introduced the new LC members to Rob.
2) Dec 08 Minutes approved as Amended - In section 13a last month, Eric will provide the list of 2008 certifications to Kunita. We are trying to get members of the Alt Section who live in or near St. Louis to join our section, 1304. Then they would get our section emails and we would get a rebate check for dues paid by them. Add Kunita to “Around the Table” at end of minutes.
3) Treasurer’s Report by John (for Resa) - We have a checking balance of $7160.22. The investment account balance is $82, 174.11. Petty Cash is $150, for a grand total of $89,484.33. Resa will be meeting with Kathy Knecht for the semi annual financial audit. The Treasurer’s report was accepted as presented.
4) Additional Financial Information by Steve Mundwiller - A) We did not receive a rebate check transfer from National ASQ in December. They will “double up” on the Dec/Jan payment in January. B) Steve and Resa now each have a debit card for our ASQ account. C) Buying CDs from the investment account as approved last year is “in the works”. It is proving to be more complicated than first thought. D) The new check request form has been completed and issued to people who need it. E) We’ve decided to drop the rental on the credit card machine. We really only use it for book sales at the Spring Conference and we’ll just promote and accept only cash or checks for books. Sally pointed out that the Crowne Plaza has an ATM machine, so this should eliminate the problem of people who don’t bring a check for books at the conference.
5) General Feedback by Steve Mundwiller - A) IIE Conference coming to St. Louis this fall. We’re looking at a ASQ section fall conference in 2010, not in the spring since the ASQ World Conference will be here in May 2010. B) Steve read an article that showed the value of ASQ membership to be $400K over a career. This included networking, conferences, certifications and credibility. C) He has been striving to reduce the cost of LC meeting and this year it’s averaging about $272 per LC meeting.
6) Education Update by Kim and Denise - Only 1 person signed up and unfortunately they showed up at the Engineer’s Club for the ISO mini-workshop. Kim cancelled it, but did not have contact info for this one person who showed up, so he drove in from St. Peters. Workshop is moved to Saturday, Feb. 21st, again at the Engineer’s Club. Not enough interest to hold winter refresher classes for ASQ exams. Only two sign ups for the CQE class and one for the CCT. She had instructors for all classes lined up. Not enough interest for the spring classes, but there is still time to sign up. Sally told the group that Boeing’s Huntsville, AL facility sponsors WebEx refresher classes, so they can be taken by anyone, anywhere. The Kansas City section has developed a Six Sigma Green Belt for Healthcare certification. Rob is getting licensed to teach it.
7) Website and Communication Update by Shailesh - Website updates not going as well or quickly as hoped. He hopes to finish by the end of January. Need to get Kim access to registration data. We need an external email server (still in progress). Spring Conference registration can work with 123 Sign-Up. He will work with them to improve this process.
8) SMP Updates by Randy and Eric - Latest update was distributed. Section meeting attendance is way off, as are certifications. Average attendance is 50 for the year, with a goal of 60. 37 people took an exam in December. We had 7 people pass the exam out of 13 in October. If we assume the same pass rate in Dec. (18), we have a total of 25 certificates earned so far. There are 4 more exam opportunities coming, but we’re 55 new certificates earned short of our goal.
9) Newsletter needs (Shailesh for Patty) - 80 to 90% ready. It will be out in a week or 2.
10) Scholarships (Herbert V. McMahon Award by Tony - 3 scholarship applications received. Steve Mundwiller signed off on official rules.
11) Program review by Steve Mundwiller - Next weeks meeting will be at Villa Farotto in the Chesterfield Valley. Mark Andy was recently acquired by another firm, so the tour just won’t work at this time. We have Chris Anderson talking about “Setting Goals with Lean Thinking, and Donna Forgy talking about “Five Drivers to Success”. Randy can bring a projection screen if we need one.
- February will be at Favazza’s on the Hill. Speaking will be Bob Freeze and Karla Armbruster.
- March will be Awards and Elections at Dave & Busters.
- April is our ASQ Spring Conference Banquet at the Crowne Plaza on April 2nd.
- May is Steak and Beer at the Engineer’s Club with an HR topic.
- June will be the joint meeting with APICS at Westport Chalet Hilton.
Steve again reviewed the budgeted plan for all four officers to attend the 2009 World Conference in Minneapolis, MN. We plan to rent a van and drive up. The conference is May 18th thru 20th. It looks like we could drive up Saturday, May 16 and drive back on the 20th. We would have room for a couple of other people if they want to ride up with us.
12) Feedback on 2008 certification exams by Eric - We appear to be way behind on our certificates earned goal. Somehow we ended up with 97 new certificates last year. Eric will confirm the accuracy of this data.
13) Membership Activity by Kunita - a) Asked about total membership, is it just paid or is unpaid included? (It is the total of both. ASQ doesn’t drop your membership until you haven’t paid for a year.)
b) 42 new members invited to Jan, Feb, or March meeting for free. (We had 4 new member guests at the January meeting.)
c) Those who earned certificates in 2008 will be invited to the March meeting.
d) Looking at ways to get Alt. section members to join our section and corporate members to join our section.
e) From Steve - ASQ will continue your membership for a year if you are unemployed, but you have to ask for this waiver. All but one person in Anhueser Busch quality group got laid off. We have 38 members at AB.
14) Section Audit will occur on a weekend in January. Kathy and Resa have been in contact to set up the time/date.
15) Awards for March meeting - Kaufman Award for outstanding service by eligible people. Ed Lanser, has he gotten it before? No one has heard anything from Doctor Bob in 4 months. Vezzeau Award - For teaching, writing, and technical knowledge. Brenda Bishop and Beth Cudney were discussed.
16) Elections and LC by Steve Mundwiller - Elections will be held at the March meeting. The LC presents a slate of candidates. Someone else can be nominated, but they must be a member and their nomination must be confirmed by 10 other section members who sign and provide their member numbers to our secretary, John O’Reilly. This is in the ASQ National bylaws for sections. Our LC slate is:
- Chair - Steve Mundwiller
- Treasurer - Resa Manson
- Vice Chair - John O’Reilly (this is a new position, not to be confused with chair-elect)
- Secretary - Kim Rochetti
- Chair Elect - Open at this time.
Open positions at this time on the LC are Program Chair, Education Chair, and Chair Elect. We could elect another chair elect in March or fill it later.
- Jim - Has this been mentioned in the Newsletter?
- Sally - We should include an article on what each officer does.
17) Spring Conference Update by Steve Hyland - We’re still looking for a few breakouts, but we need them quickly. A couple of workshops could fit in as well. We have 4 confirmed vendors and one sponsor. We could use a few more of these. Need a head proctor for the April 2nd exams (a Thursday). [Note: Eric checked his schedule and will be head proctor.] Resa will work registration, Kim and Kunita to assist. Randy was asked to be the audio-visual person. Steve asked Sally to talk to Bruce DeRuntz from SIU. She also provided him with Bruce’s contact information. John O’Reilly heading up book sales again.
18) Around the Table -
- Jim - Pass
- Eric - We had 23 certifications in Oct. 07 and 40 in Dec. 07, compared to 7 in Oct. 08 and an estimated 18 in Dec. 08. This is a total of 63 in 2007 and maybe 25 in 2008.Who won awards in the past? He will look into it, but email him if you find out. We don’t have to give out both awards.
- Kim - Pass
- Denise - I may have information about past award winners.
- Shailesh - Pass
- Tony - Pass
- Kunita - Pass
- Sally - Will Meyer is also willing to meet Boeing - St. Louis people at lunch to review and approve their recertification paperwork.
- Randy - Pass
- Steve Hyland - Thanks for your help and ideas on the Spring Conference.
- John - Pass
- Steve Mundwiller - Let’s adjourn, it’s 8:25.
