INSIDE THE IPA
V
isiting San Antonio is always a pleasure, great food and great hospitality - and this year was no exception. Hosted by the San Antonio
Orchid Society, the venue was excellent and the hosts most accommodating. Our IPA Board met on Thursday, October 27, 2011 from
4–7 PM. I wanted to share these highlights with you since I feel we accomplished so much and are continuing to work to improve the IPA.
1. The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) has completed its work with specific recommendations to the Board. All Board members will
receive copies of this document, and I have asked for their comments and input. A summary of the committee’s work and the Board’s suggestions will
appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal. If you wish to view the original document in its entirety, please visit the IPA website.
2. At our 2012 spring members’ meeting in
Wichita, we will conduct our election of IPA
officers for the following positions: President,
1st Vice President and Membership Secretary. I
have appointed a Nominating Committee con-
sisting of Frank Smith, Meir Moses, Norman
Fang, Bill Nelson and Mike Mims. They are to
select a chair and report back to me by January
1, 2012 with their recommendations. Note:
because Lynn Fuller has served two consecu-
tive terms, she is not eligible to serve again. The
Board however, has agreed to place her name in
nomination again due to her “exceptional talent
or experience” as provided by the IPA By-Laws,
Article III, Number 8. The Board has directed
Lynn to work to improve the handling of the
membership records in order to assist the new
membership secretary elected at a future date.
3. An Audit Committee was also selected to
examine the financial records of the IPA. While
usually chosen at the spring meeting, I have
waited until now in order for our Treasurer
to complete the changeover of our financial
records to new software. Working with our Treasurer, Olie Garrison, will be James Rider, Greg Truex and Karen Armstrong. Their report is due
April 1, 2012.
4. The By Laws Revision Committee has completed a preliminary revision of the IPA By-Laws and continues to receive input from its committee
members Carri Raven-Riemann, Marilyn Shapiro, and others. Committee member Sarah Waddoups’ professional legal knowledge of nonprofit orga-
nizations is proving invaluable to the committee’s work. Soon the final copy of the proposed revisions will be posted on the IPA website for everyone
to view and copies will be distributed to all alliance members via an upcoming Journal mailing. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed and
encouraged. Voting to accept the new document may occur at the spring members meeting in Wichita or certainly at the fall meeting in Portland,
Oregon.
5. Second Vice President Barbara Noe and I have been working to realign the IPA regions in order to accommodate new regional directors. The re-
cent success of two recent meetings plus the valuable input from several regional reps is helping to bring about these changes. The Board is supportive
of these changes and realignments. The revised map of the IPA regions is to be published in a future Journal and will be available at the IPA website.
6. I have appointed Lester Poole to work with Dick Wells, our advertising manager, and Wes Higgins, our Journal editor, to implement an advertising
campaign to increase IPA revenues. With Dr. Higgins adhering to a set Journal publication schedule and planned article listing per issue, we can begin
to target advertising in the Journal to match those articles. While this is not a new concept, it is certainly a more workable one given the regularity of
the Journal’s publication. I am sure our potential vendors will welcome this as will our members.
7. At our Board meeting, Carlos Fighetti suggested that we help our editors by establishing a Publication Committee. Its purpose would be to assist
our editors identify contributors to the Journal by either directly (writing articles) or indirectly (by identifying an individual or topic for an article). I
am currently seeking members to serve on this committee. Contact me ([email protected]) if you are interested in helping.
8. Most of you are aware that our next symposium is scheduled for the Orlando, Florida area on August 24-26, 2012. Our 1st VP Carlos Fighetti is
working with local chair, Frank Smith, on the ar rangement details of the meeting. The hotel is selected and the presenters are being reviewed. Look for
Phalaenopsis - Fourth Quarter, Vol. 21(2) 2011
. . . continued on page 30
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