[amsat-bb] Board Candidate Responds

[Bill Ress]

Hi Timothy,

Being a current AMSAT Board candidate, I'll respond to your last paragraph.

My candidate statement sent, out with the ballot, and the statements 
I've posted on this .bb before and since, clearly state my 
disappointment with AMSAT management "communication" and my desire, if 
elected, to help identify and participate in solutions.

Let me tell you now that our AMSAT management recognizes their 
deficiencies in this area of communication (and not just in 
communications).

How do I know? Being a Board candidate, was invited to and did attend 
the recently concluded weekend AMSAT Senior Officer and BOD meeting in 
Baltimore. It was what I would call, a "soul searching - gut wrenching" 
assessment of current AMSAT conditions and to seek improvements and 
solutions. Just on the subject of "communications" there was a clear 
recognition that communications has been a problem and specific action 
items were suggested to make serious improvements.

One of those actions items was to report the meeting details as soon as 
the usual process of summarizing the meeting notes, and review by 
attendees is completed. I expect the first place it will show up is on 
the AMSAT web site, followed by the AMSAT Journal and discussions at the 
October Atlanta AMSAT Symposium.

It was a very full two day session and many serious topics were 
discussed. Putting it all into a cohesive statement without forgetting 
any details will take a little time. Please give everyone the time to 
get it accurate.

Regards...Bill - N6GHz






Timothy J. Salo wrote:
> Ken Ernandes wrote:
>   
>> ... BTW even if somebody has "insider" information on something, 
>> it's highly inappropriate to disclose that in advance of an
>> official announcement.  ...
>>     
>
> This is, in my opinion, an area in which AMSAT has serious
> problems.
>
> As I recall, the chair of the AMSAT Board meeting
> traditionally admonishes participants and observers that
> they should not talk about what transpires at the meeting
> until the  official minutes are available.  (Does this still
> happen? I haven't observed an AMSAT Board meeting for a few
> years.) These minutes are then typically not published (in
> a fairly restricted venue, namely in the [paper] AMSAT
> Journal, not online) until _over a year later_!   In my view,
> this reflects a board that wants to operate without the
> knowledge, much less advise and feedback, of the membership.
> Never mind that this is  very poor governance -- it is a
> recipe for mischief on the part of the Board.
>
> Yes, even not-for-profit organizations like AMSAT need to
> restrict the flow of certain types of information.  And,
> this is what the closed portion of the Board meetings are
> for.  But, I believe that the current approach of restricting
> the flow of information to which the members ought to have
> [nearly immediate] access is inappropriate and facilitates
> abuse.
>
> I had been meaning sent e-mail to the list asking the
> current Board candidates whether this issue concerns them.
> Thanks for reminding me...
>
> -tjs
>
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