NCIFT MEETING MINUTES

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Meeting Minutes January 2013

NCIFT Executive Meeting Minutes

Scott’s Seafood Restaurant

January 22, 2013

Attendees:

Carol Cooper-Past Chair

Scott MacAdams-Executive Secretary

Earl Weak-Chair for 2013

Susan Howe-Editor Hornblower

Pam Vaillancourt-Member at large

Russ Nishikawa-Membership Secretary

Elizabeth Cuff-Social Media Director

Darrin Cohune-Treasurer
Lisa Rosenberg-Member at large

Brad Olson-Nominating Committee
John Ashby-Chair Elect

Meeting was brought to order by Chair – Earl Weak.



Agenda includes:

Approval of Minutes from August 29, 2012- Earl/Scott

Treasurer’s Report & Taxes- D. Cohune

Unified Membership Update- R. Nishikawa

Nominating Committee- B. Olson
Social Media Programs- E. Cuff

Hornblower- S. Howe

Science Fairs- E. Weak

Travel Money for UC Davis College Bowl Team- E. Weak

New Web Site

February 5th follow up meeting at CLFP

Supplier’s Night & Programs

New Business



Unified Membership topic took center stage once meeting started. Russ gave us his report even though he was scheduled later on the agenda.



Unified Membership



NCIFT is one of the pilot sections working with National for implementing their new membership structure. They are in the process of eliminating local section dues and making national membership mandatory for future involvement. The goal is to become more relevant and be the leader in the food industry. (RCA viewed as main competition to IFT.)



NCIFT membership will increase by 200 members in 2013 with the inclusion of National Members that did not pay for local membership in the past. Locally we are concerned how many local members we will refuse to pay National membership fee of $190 plus $15 for local membership. We need to support the National IFT effort to unify our group. Russ suggested possibly recommending a multi-stage process of increasing fees over a 3 year period to ease the pain. Hopefully, membership benefits will expand and make the additional cost worth the investment in each member’s career.



The Food Industry and colleges are not working together these days. IFT needs to get more involved at the college level so that when these students graduate, they want to continue their involvement with the organization.



*John Ashby wanted it noted that the RCA appears to be more engaged with their membership and doing an excellent job of catering to the needs of their active members.



NCIFT Executive Meeting minutes



Minutes from August 29, 2012 were unanimously approved by the board.



Treasurer’s Report



Darrin reported that our taxes were recently filed with the help of Elizabeth Cuff and her local accountant in Reno. We need to keep budgeting $1000 annually for taxes preparation. If we make the change to a Bay Area accountant, we would probably have to budget $1500. Darrin feels good about staying with our current set up which will allow us to maintain the lower cost.



Current balances were not available at the time of the meeting, but we are financially in great shape.



Membership



Russ informed us that Sharon Kneebone will be attending our meeting on February 5th at the CLFP. Unified membership will be a key topic at our meeting. He also made a push for more volunteers for to work our booth at the CLFP February 5th and 6th.



Nominating Committee



Brad Olson has completed the task of filling every spot for our upcoming NCIFT election. Our current bylaws need to be amended to allow fewer nominees for each position. The group felt that as long as we have a nominee for each position, we should be allowed to move forward with our elections.



John Ashby moved to have the ballot nominees approved. Carol seconded the motion and the group unanimously approved.



Social Media



Elizabeth Cuff has agreed to manage our social media including Facebook and Linkedin. Elizabeth is the one to approve all content on the site. If anyone is interested in posting jobs on our site, please contact Elizabeth to make this happen for you.



Our Linkedin page needs to be accessible for people outside of California for several reasons including allowing National members to access our group. Our group agreed that this could be a nice benefit for our members currently living outside California.



We all need to be more active on our social network. Go on Facebook and like our page. That will send out notices and keep NCIFT on people’s mind. The suggestion was made to add links to Facebook and Linkedin on our web site and included in the Hornblower.



Hornblower



Susan Howe has made drastic improvements in the quality and size our newsletter. We have added color and additional pages that allow for more articles and more advertisers. The newer larger Hornblower has generated more money and actually been profitable for the past year. The next step is to start changing the look to more of a magazine look similar to RCA’s content.



Once again the subject of whether or not we should mail the Hornblower or simply put a pdf on our web site was brought to the table. The thought is we could save a lot of money on postage and printing if we only placed on the web site. We want to conduct a survey with our members to see which option works best for them. We actually print extra copies each quarter to use for giveaways at meetings and shows like the CLFP.



Science Fairs



Volunteers are always needed for the multiple locations conducting fairs. March 9th, 11th, and 13th all have scheduled fairs. If you are available any of these days to come judge the projects, contact Earl Weak for your location assignment.



UC Davis Food Tech Club/College Bowl



NCIFT received a request for money from the UC Davis Food Tech Club to compete in this year’s College Bowl. The group unanimously approved $500 to be given to the students with the stipulation that they submit a follow up article for the Hornblower in exchange for the funds. Carol Cooper to follow up with UC Davis student rep Keren Kles regarding College Bowl funds.



Programs



UC Davis Student Recognition Night will be February 21, 2013. Announcements have been sent out to members via e-mail



CLFP is February 5th and 6th. Need volunteers to cover our booth at show.



Supplier’s Night and Golf Tournament is scheduled for May 7th and 6th respectively. We will be playing golf at the Bridges Golf Club in San Ramon and our Supplier’s Night will once again be held at fairgrounds in Pleasanton.



New Business



Meeting was running late and no one wanted to bring up any new business.



Respectfully submitted by:

Scott MacAdams

Executive Secretary