Jim Weaver and Jay Bellows raised some good questions about Board/management interactions, about the upcoming 2013 budget, and about the role of IT in our plans, all excellent questions! I've attached an editorial and an article from the current issue of CFO magazine that talks about IT and corporate boards and has some interesting observations. Of course, we're much smaller than all of the companies that are quoted but you'll see similar themes in the discussions. Just remember that we have a small IT department, though it has grown in recent years, and we do not have a CIO. We're going to be depending on IT more and more in the coming years, so that may need be in our future. I'm still trying to figure out which of our Board members was the model for the picture on the third page... As for the 2013 budget, we (A&F) did talk about IT staffing and left it at the same level as this year, as recommended by management. The current team of 8 full time and one part-time staff members are working well as a group and getting a good deal of positive comments from the departments they support. We still suffer from "irrational exuberance" when it comes to timetables for projects that involve IT, but that is sometimes caused by delays from the customers (departments) not knowing well enough what they need. When it has to be programmed, a lot of easy things get very complex. A&F spent a fair bit of time talking about a dues increase. For various reasons an increase was not recommended until after the middle of 2014, more likely for 2015. You'll see some explanation in the 2013 Budget/Plan. In the mean time, the more we can do to identify programs and activities we are doing that can be eliminated, the better off we will be. It's extremely easy for us to think of new things to do, and extremely hard for us to stop doing something because one or two members will (or do) complain. I think we're (collectively) too nice... -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444