EVENTS
The Georgia Foundation for Independent Colleges
54th Annual Meeting
February 14-15, 2010
Summary of the Results from February 15th GFIC Annual Meeting
At
Legacy Lodge at Lake Lanier
As you know the focus of the meeting was on the Strategic Plan. There was a short segment on what needed to be done in the coming weeks to save the TEG but the major part of the day was spent on the Strategic Plan. Chair Bonnie Wurzbacher and President Tom Isherwood introduced the plan and gave an overview of the goals, objectives and strategies in the Strategic Plan. Presidents Ed Schrader and Steven Briggs offered a response and made suggestions for modifying some of the emphasis of the Strategic Plan. After a morning break all Trustees and Board of Advisors divided themselves into a number of committees and began work on making suggestions on how to improve the plan. The rest of this report is a summary of those changes and what steps will be taken next under each group.
Three breakout groups and one committee were established with each Trustee and Board of Advisors member deciding which breakout group or committee he or she wished to attend. They were the: Search committee, Governance group, Public Policy and Public Awareness group, and the Budget and Assessments Group.
- The Search Committee: The members of the Search Committee to determine who should be the next President of GFIC are Dan McAlexander, Chair, Ed Schrader, Harold Newman, Bill Underwood, Jimmy Fleming, Ruth Marston, Charlie Glassick, Rob Glass and Bonnie Wurzbacher. The committee met and discussed the criteria for the position and asked Dan McAlexander to contact Emily Myers of Myers McRae if the Executive Committee approved the contract with the firm.
- Public Policy and Public Awareness Breakout Group: The members of this group were Larry Schall, Paul Marston, Otis Blake, Marty Taffel, Bob Newsome, Jet Toney, Lilly Berrios, Ruth Knox and Bonnie Wurzbacher. They decided that the goal of Public Awareness should be eliminated from the plan and that the second strategy in public awareness be incorporated in the Public Policy goal.
They also suggested that the Public Policy goal be modified so that it read, “To create policies and practices that benefit private higher education in Georgia.” They also suggested that the first objective should read, “Develop an effective system to educate Georgia legislators, government policy makers and influential corporate and civic leaders to advocate for the values and policies of Georgia non-profit private colleges.”
They dropped the fourth strategy which dealt with creating a spokesperson for GFIC.
This strategy would be replaced with the second strategy under the Public Awareness goal which stated, “Build a compelling value proposition for our colleges to use to develop communications materials, media kits and presentations to enhance public relations in support of our public policy goals. Finally they suggested that under the Fund Raising and Collaboration Goal that GFIC include key trustees and stakeholders in fund raising events. These events should also be used to increase public awareness of private higher education in Georgia. They felt that the Fund Raising and Collaboration committee should also have a standing committee made up of the Board of Advisors, Presidents and Business Trustees. The members of the Board of Advisors thought it would be useful to their group to have more direction from the trustees.
- Governance Breakout Group: The members of the Governance group were Steve Briggs, John Floyd, David Seyle, Ted Seaman and Hank Hector. This committee suggested a new way to organize GFIC so that it would be more responsive to the colleges’ needs. The suggestion was to organize a Council of Presidents that would meet during the morning hours at the two one-day full Board Meetings each year. At the same time a Council of Business and Civic Trustees of GFIC would also meet. Each council would have a similar agenda and then meet together during the afternoon. The group felt that it might be very useful to invite speakers to the afternoon meeting to help GFIC better formulate the public policy agenda each year.
The group also felt that the Council of Presidents should select five Presidents to sit on the Executive Committee and one of the Presidents would be the Chair of the Executive Committee and of the full board of GFIC. The Business and Civic trustee’s council would select three members to the Executive Committee. One of business leaders would be the Treasurer of GFIC. Also on the committee would be the President (or Executive Director) of GFIC and the Secretary both of whom would be ex officio. The Chair of the Board of Advisors would also continue to be an ex officio member of the Executive Committee. This committee would continue to meet three times a year and conduct business for GFIC between the two full Board Meetings. These changes will require that GFIC’s bylaws be modified.
- Budget and Assessment Breakout Group: The members of this group were Presidents Niel Nielson, George Bradley, Michael Stewart and Gary Bonvillian. The Chair was Gene Hartleb who was joined by Jim Dykhouse, Gary Lee, Deedee Williams, George Flowers, Billy Minch, Clayton Knox and Carol Lynch. Their first order of business was to recommend a budget that had no increases for GFIC but included an additional 25 thousand to hire a search firm to replace the GFIC President.
A smaller group made up of Gene Hartleb, Jim Dykhouse, Niel Nielson, Gary Bonvillian, Ruth Knox and Carol Lynch was set up to study the Assessment method. During the discussions the full group suggested that for the public policy assessment that only the Georgia FTE count be used. They also suggested that the weighting should be altered to reflect the greater emphasis on public policy. Finally the group felt that the staff should review how other states assess their colleges. We would do a survey of NAICU and FIHE to determine if one of these states has a better assessment method.
Each breakout group then reported these results to the entire meeting. After a brief discussion of each report it was suggested that each group continue to work on the issues raised by their group.
The full Board approved the GFIC budget that had a flat budget for the operation of GFIC but added an additional 25 thousand to hire a Search Firm to replace the GFIC president. At a later meeting of the Executive Committee the members approved the hiring of Myers McRae to conduct the search.
The Executive Committee meeting adjourned at 4:30 PM.
19th GFIC College Scholarship Golf Classic
April 22, 2010
Please join us for the 18th GFIC College Scholarship Golf Classic on Thursday, April 22, 2010.
We will have a great day of golf at the beautiful Bear's Best Atlanta in Suwanee, GA (www.bearsbest.com). Bear's Best Atlanta is ranked in the "Top Ten Courses You Can Play in America" by Golf Magazine.
The event will include a box lunch, a silent auction, prizes, and an awards reception following golf. Featured contests will include a Putting Contest, Hole-in-One Contests, a Closest-to-the-Pin Contest, and a Longest Drive Contest.
Proceeds from the tournament will fund scholarships for students at GFIC's member institutions. The tournament is GFIC's largest single fundraising event. Over the years, the annual tournament has raised more than $1 million dollars for student financial aid.
You may register for the tournament by mailing in a printed form. Fees are $550 per player or $2,000 per foursome. To learn more click here or contact Chanda Swinney at (404) 760-7375 or email Cswinney@georgiacolleges.org.
