Attendees
The meeting was opened by Bruce Mackay, M.D., Ph.D., President
and Liaison, Ultrastructural Pathology Journal at 6:30 p.m. Others
in attendance were: Robert Erlandson, Ph.D., President-Elect;
Guillermo Herrera, M.D., Treasurer; Joseph Harb, Ph.D., Secretary
and Registrar; J. Allan Tucker, M.D., Chairperson, Program Committee;
John Hicks, M.D., Councilor-at-Large; Jerry Simmons, Chairperson,
Nominating Committee; John Shelburne, M.D., Ph.D., Chairperson,
Future Meetings Committee; Irv Dardick, Newsletter Editor; Marco
Santucci, M.D., Chairperson for UltraPath X in Florence, Italy,
in the year 2000; and Elba Turbat-Herrera, M.D.
Old Business
A motion was made and seconded to approve the Minutes of the Executive
Committee Meeting held in Ashville, NC in August, 1998. The Minutes
were published in Volume 11, Issue 2, November, 1998 of the SUP
Newsletter, and available for review on the SUP internet website
at http://sup.ultrakohl.com.
New Business
Guillermo Herrera presented the Treasurer's report, including
the final accounting for the UltraPath X in Ashville submitted
by John Shelburne. A final deposit was made after the report date,
so it is not included in the report as submitted. Guillermo pointed
out that financially the Society continues to be healthy, with
a net increase in the balance for the year. The membership currently
stands at 266, although about 70 of those have not paid dues in
the past three years. It was decided that Guillermo will send
a final dues notice to those individuals, with a note that unless
they pay the arrears, they will be dropped from membership.
The question about methods of payment for dues and the possibility of instituting credit card payments and accepting foreign bank drafts was discussed. At this time, the fees for credit card transactions are prohibitive. The costs for bank exchange fees would have to be added up front for foreign bank drafts because these fees are too great to be passed on to the Society. With the next UltraPath being in Italy, there will be a need to receive payments in foreign currency as well as in US funds. Marco Santucci will look into setting this up for the Conference in 2000 so that participants can register with Marco in Europe or through Joe Harb in the US. These details will be included in the registration packet being prepared for the UltraPath X Conference.
The next item of business related to the officers and committees of the Executive. Jerry Simmons reported that the Nominating Committee had recommended Marco Santucci as the nominee for President-Elect. Because Marco is currently the Councilor for Europe, the Executive decided that should Marco be elected at the Business Meeting, Josep Lloretta would be recommended as Councilor for Europe to replace Marco. Guillermo Herrera indicated he would prefer not to undertake another term as Secretary-Treasurer because he will be assuming this position for another society with which he is involved. The Executive decided that the office of Secretary be recombined with that of the Treasurer, and recommended that Joe Harb be the nominee to replace Guillermo as Secretary-Treasurer. Karlene Hewan-Lowe asked to be relieved as Chair of the Pathologist-in-Training-Award Committee to have more time to devote to the web site. Elba Turbat-Herrera was appointed Chair of this committee to replace Karlene, effective immediately. All other officers and committee chairs agreed to reappointment for another term.
The Bylaws revisions are progressing. President Mackay asked each EC member to review the latest revisions and return them to Bob Erlandson, who will prepare a single draft of the Bylaw revisions to be sent to the membership.
The final item of business dealt with an inquiry from a vendor who asked if they could place a link to their website on the SUP web pages in exchange for a cross-link on their pages. The Executive reiterated its firm policy of not allowing commercialization of the Society.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted
Joe Harb, Secretary