April 25, 2007
I. Call to order
Erik Melis called to order the scheduled conference call meeting of the Virginia Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (VASFAA) Board of Directors at 1:03 pm on April 25, 2007.
II. Quorum
A quorum was established. The
following persons were present on the call: Erik Melis, Pat Kelly, Brad
Barnett, Kerrie Roth,
III. Presentation of Agenda
The agenda included: 1) Sponsorships at conference; 2) proposed press release in response to negative press in the industry; 3) 2008 conference contract; and 4) charitable organization for 2007 conference.
IV. Discussion Items
a) Sponsorships at Conference: With the conference program going to
print very soon, there was a discussion as to whether or not there should be
sponsorship recognition by event.
Several sponsors had already indicated they did not want to have their
company name attached to any specific event.
Keith moved that all sponsor
information be removed from the conference agenda. Pat seconded.
The motion was approved by unanimous consent. It was also decided that Biz Daniel would
contact all sponsors to see if they still wanted recognition at the conference
for their specific sponsored events.
b) Proposed Press Release: Erik updated the Board on actions that were being discussed by SASFAA and NASFAA as it relates to the negative press in the industry concerning preferred lender lists. The Board talked about the proposed press release that Erik had sent out for comment recently. There was general consensus that it would be a good idea for VASFAA to set up a meeting with the Virginia Attorney General’s office as soon as possible to serve as an educational visit. The Board agreed that Erik would determine who should attend this meeting. Since the SASFAA President would be sending out a letter to all SASFAA members in the near future, it was decided to defer on sending out our own press release until after NASFAA published its own rules of conduct or until after the meeting with the VA Attorney General’s office.
c)
2008 Conference
Contract: Pat informed us that she will continue to defer on signing the
contract with the Marriott in
d) Charitable Organization for 2007 Conference: In light of the events at Virginia Tech on April 16, Erik had e-mailed the Board with several different scenarios as to how we might be able to do something as an association for Virginia Tech. Prior to the conference call meeting, Erik called Jeff Northrup of Project Discovery who was in total support of the charitable organization for the 2007 conference be switched to Virginia Tech from Project Discovery. The Board discussed how we could still support Project Discovery. Pat moved that Erik be authorized to work with Kerrie Roth on coming up with a separate appropriate contribution to be made to Project Discovery. Kerrie seconded. The motion carried by unanimous consent.
V. Adjournment
The meeting
was adjourned at 2:12 pm.
Respectfully
submitted: Zita Barree for Jeanne Holmes – VASFAA Secretary