ESA Winter 2024 Governing Board Meeting Minutes Ecological Society of America March 6, 2024 at 10:00 AM EST

President Naeem presiding; meeting called to order at 10:00 AM EST

A. Adopt Agenda

Motion: Motion to adopt meeting agenda. Motion moved by Sharon Collinge and motion seconded by Stephanie Hampton. All aye.

B. Acknowledge approval of November 2023 Governing Board Meeting Minutes

The Governing Board voted by email (all aye) on January 25, 2024, to approve the minutes from the November 2023 meeting.

A. Report of the President (Naeem)

Naeem reported on the letter sent to the NSF on the sunsetting of the Macrosystems Grant Program and the (formerly) CNH program. There have also been conversations about the closing of the Duke Herbarium, and with the ESA Council.

B. Report of the Executive Director and Staff (O'Riordan)

C. Report of February Council Meeting (Graves)

The most recent meeting of the Council was an effort to provide feedback on the strategic plan, with the council dividing into discussion groups to address individual parts. The major feedback was that there was support for webinars and other types of activities and early career scholars, stimulating connection and collaboration (including meetings with other societies), and discussion of revenue including the types of activities in which ESA can engage, including certifications. Finally, two new sections were approved: “Climate Adaptation” and “Coastal and Marine Ecology” and guidelines are being finalized for formalizing and standardizing section governance (e.g., term limits, officers, standards for continuity of governance, mandatory review of section purpose, and goals to allow for changes), and minimum activity guidelines to ensure a positive member experience, and procedures and standard for classifying sections as dormant or dissolved.

There are now 34 sections and 6 chapters.

A. Review and Adopt 2024–2027 Strategic Plan (Hampton)

The Working Group has been supported by consultant Elisa Pratt on the Strategic Planning process and has summarized the feedback from different groups and stakeholders to prepare a new strategic plan with three major priority areas. The proposal here is to develop and approve the strategic plan with high-level goals, then develop a plan for implementation that includes both methods and metrics to evaluation.

Motion: Motion to adopt 2024–2027 Strategic Plan. Motion moved by Carmen Cid and motion seconded by Sharon Collinge. All aye.

B. Consider Audit Committee Report (Bruna, Lennon, and Ramirez)

Bruna summarized the Auditor's Report and the Committee's recommendation to approve it. The GB expressed their gratitude to CFO Biggs and discussed the report and its recommendation.

Motion: Motion to approve the 2023 audit as recommended by the Audit Committee. Motion moved by Jeannine Cavender-Bares and motion seconded by Diane Pataki. All aye.

C. Approve Awards and Fellows Nominations (Sanders and Nam)

The GB discussed a number of issues, especially ways to increase the number and range of nominations. Among the suggestions were committee composition that better reflects the awards, asking former award recipients to be engaged in the process (including providing nominations or sitting on the committees), having committees solicit names of nominees and then select subset of people from whom to select nomination packets or indicate colleagues that can write supporting letters.

Motion: Motion to approve 2024 ESA Awards and Fellows Nominations. Motion moved by Jeannine Cavender-Bares and motion seconded by Sharon Collinge. All aye.

Motion: Motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion moved by Stephanie Hampton and motion seconded by Emilio Bruna. All aye.