Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Asian American 80-20 Initiative

Minutes of the Annual Board Meeting
Saturday, April 10, 11, 2010
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Foster City, CA

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Meeting convened at 8:45 A.M.

Present:
Board members: Fel Amistad, Ved Chaudhary, Beverly Hong-Fincher, Hilary Hsu, Chenming Hu, Alice Huang, Yueh-Ting Lee, Edward Lin, Linden Nishinaga, Roy Saigo, William Uy, Joel Wong, S. B. Woo, David Yang (in the afternoon), Jing-Li Yu.
Staff: Suzanna Lin
Guests: (11am-2pm only): Niraj Baxi (NFIA), Bob Chen (CAPA), Timothy Chen (CAPA), Jose Estevez (Former Mayor of Milpitas)
ACTION ITEMS ONLY:

1) The 2010 budget, proposed by S. B. Woo, the Acting Exec. Director, was approved
  unanimously without change.
 
2) The motion to have Hillary Hsu be the 80-20 Parliamentarian was approved unanimously.

3) The motion for 80-20 to strongly support Goodwin Liu’s Senate confirmation for appointment to the Court of Appeals, because he is a highly qualified candidate, was approved unanimously.

4) The motion for 80-20, without taking a position on the pending Immigration Reform Act, to pay keen attention to the legislation with special attention to the issues of “Family Re-union” and “adequate number of visas for skilled workers” was approved unanimously.

5) The motion for 80-20 to support Democratic candidates in the 2010 Congressional races, except in those election districts where Republican candidates have strongly supported Asian American concerns, was approved unanimously.

6) The motion to add $10,000 more (totaling $20,000) to the 2010 budget to enhance our efforts to get these candidates elected was approved unanimously.

7) The motion to appoint Linden Nishinaga as Chair of an Ad Hoc Committee to roughly look into how to help Federal, State, and Local government workers win equal opportunity in workplaces was approved unanimously.

8) The motion to appoint Yueh-Ting Lee as Chair of an Ad Hoc Committee to work on Chapter development was approved unanimously.

9) The motion to appoint Ved Chaudhary as Chair of an Ad Hoc Committee to approach other Asian American Organizations to work with 80-20 was approved unanimously.

10) A straw poll was taken with respect to “Fish or Cut Bait”.  Eleven (11) votes for “Fish” and two (2) for “Cut Bait”.

ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN:

1. SB is to identify what other Asian American organizations we would like to work with 80-20 in order to build partnerships.
2. SB is to identify AsAm media to work with 80-20 and have EF ask for free or discounted Ad space from ethnic media.
3. SB asks everyone to please forward Asian-American email addresses to 80-20.
4. Jing is to look into setting up an 80-20 Facebook page.
5. SB is to include in the 80-20 newsletter to announce that he is a member of the LinkedIn.
6. In order to “Fish”, Board members would need to commit to sharing the burden to help 80-20, to head Ad Hoc Committees and involve members in the tasks.

Meeting recessed at 6:10 p.m.

Sunday, April 11, 2010
Meeting convened at 8:45 a.m.

Present:
Board members: Fel Amistad, Ved Chaudhary, Beverly Hong-Fincher, Hilary Hsu, Chenming Hu, Alice Huang, Yueh-Ting Lee, Edward Lin, Roy Saigo, Lena Tam, William Uy, Joel Wong, S. B. Woo, David Yang, Jing-Li Yu
Staff: Suzanna Lin

ACTION ITEMS ONLY:

1) The motion for each member of the Board of Directors,  making a commitment to raise by his or her own efforts, a self-identified amount of funds for 80-20 by the end of 2010 was approved. Votes: 11 ayes, 2 nays (Beverly Hong-Fincher, Roy Saigo)

2) The motion to authorize the Acting Executive Director to hire within 12 months an Executive Director for the maximum compensation of up to $100,000 per annum was approved unanimously.

3) Yueh-Ting Lee proposed the establishment of 10 or more Ad Hoc Committees: each involving 10 to 15 dues paying members so that the total number of members to be engaged through these committee structures will be about 100 to 150.  Each committee will be headed by a Board Member.  The purpose is to enhance leadership and engagement.

                         Ad-Hoc Committees                         Chair/Co-chairs                                            

• Equal Justice/Opportunity Committee         Joel Wong, Ved Chaudhary
• Chapters development Committee              Yueh-Ting Lee
• Membership RR Committee
• Fund raising Committee                             Roy Saigo
  (Roy – who has just resigned – was already elected chair of the Fundraising Committee, a Bylaw specified Standing Committee, making the chair a member of the Executive Committee.  Hence, an Ad Hoc committee is not necessary or appropriate).
• Students and Youth Committee                  Fel Amistad
• Program organization Committee
• Legal Assistance/Consulting Committee     Jing Li Yu, Beverly Hong-Fincher
• Non-partisan Committee                            Chenming Hu
• Public Relations                                        SB Woo
  (including e-newsletter three times a year only for members) 
• APA Heritage Committee                            Fel Amistad
• APA Research and Education Committee    Yueh-Ting Lee
• Leadership Training Committee                    Hilary Hsu, SB Woo
• IT Support Committee                                 Edward Lin, David Yang

[Note added by S. B. Woo:  The exact names of the above committees may change.  The charges to the committees will follow.  That was S. B's understanding with Yueh-ting Lee. ]

   There will be monthly conference calls scheduled where Board members can report on the progress of the Ad Hoc Committee they are heading.

   Although the Board did not explicitly approve it, Chenming and S.B. talked about getting 5 persons to each commit giving $5K per year for 5 yrs.  It is expected that the Board will have no objection to such a Voluntary effort.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon on April 11, 2010.

Respectfully submitted by:

Ved Chaudhary, Acting Secretary

S. B. Woo, Acting Executive Director