Executive committee and general membership closing meeting minutes
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Called to order by President Gerry Ahern at 12:35 p.m. Motion to open meeting by Jerry Micco, seconded by Glen Crevier.
Executive committee roll call:
President Gerry Ahern
First Vice President Tim Stephens
Second Vice President Mike Sherman
Third Vice President Tommy Deas
Outgoing President Michael Anastasi
Past Presidents: Immediate past president Michael Anastasi
Jerry Micco
Glen Crevier
Phil Kaplan.
Executive Director
Jack Berninger
Regions (Chairs, or Vice Chair or other recognized representative in their absence)
Joe Sullivan, Northeast
Paul Vigna, Mid-Atlantic
Jeff Kuehn,
John Bednarowski, Southeast
Jeff Rosen,
Jon Styf, Soutwest
Jason Wolf,
Don Shelton, Northwest
Mark Faller, West
General Membership
Robert
Todd M. Adams,
Larry Graham, ESPN
Ron Fritz, Baltimore Sun
John Affleck, Associated Press
Malcolm Moran,
Mike James,
Lauren Gustus,
Jim Luttrell, New York Times
Erik Hall,
Gene Myers,
Dave Morgan,
Matt Vita,
Ben Brigandi,
Josh Barnett,
Greg Brownell,
Gene Warnick,
Jerry Micco,
Wayne Staats, Augusta (
Joe Sullivan,
Paul Skirbina,
Gary Leavell,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT — Jack Berninger
Convention wrap-up
The convention closed with 96 paid attendees, our highest total since 2008. The convention finished in the black by filling hotel rooms at a good rate. Thanks and appreciate to the Daily Herald for handling the convention printing and for the sponsorhip and spport of the Times of Northwest Indiana, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times,
Winter meetings
We have an offer on the table from Disney for $139 per night at the Cornado Springs Resort http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/coronado-springs-resort/. But the dates (end of February/first week of March) could be a problem. We have requested that we move it forward two weeks to our traditional dates in the middle of February. Tim Stephens is talking with them about this.
Conference 2013
The 2013 Confererence will be held June 26-29 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dtwdt-detroit-marriott-at-the-renaissance-center/. Room rate is $139 per night. Gene Myers has a promotional video that can/will be posted on the APSE web site.
Conference 2014
USA Today has volunteered to be the keynote sponsor and host the 2014 conference in
Greg Brownell raised concerns about the impact of room rates in the D.C. area, particularly on small newspapers and others paying their own way to the conference.
Gerry Ahern said we could get room rates under $200 per night and leadership would be very cognizant of those concerns while exploring hotels. Mike Harris expressed confidence that $139 per night room rates can be found near the
Gerry made a motion was passed to take a vote on
COMMISSIONERS — Gerry Ahern for Jeff Rosen, who was absent
Gerry Ahern said Jeff Rosen did a fabulous job arranging the commissioners meetings. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wants more of a give and take with APSE members in attendance. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could not attend due to the stadium issue in
CONTEST — Tim Stephens
There were no updates at this time. Tim will continue to solicit feedback on issues like the new beat reporting category and the amount of time spent judging that, expanding multimedia categories and looking into making entries more efficient in writing categories.
Gerry Ahern raised the question of how to deal with APSE members in
Tim Stephens suggested tweaking the bylaws to keep such long-standing good members in the organization but said he didn’t see a way they could currently compete fairly in the Daily section category.
Greg Brownell said they aren’t currently eligible for membership because bylaws require newspaper members to publish five days a week. An e-vote would be required to change the bylaws and the executive committee has the soul right to determine who is eligible for the contest.
Gerry Ahern said the issue would be put to an e-vote of the membership.
Bill Speros judged the Multimedia category and requested a streamlined form of submission such as sustaining the web link. The variety of formats for entries this year created some challenges for judges.
Jason Wolfe asked membership to consider returning to certificates for top 10 finishers in Writing categories because of the thrill and sense of achievement it gives to recipients and to provide web links to the work recognized in Writing categories. Todd Adams volunteered to round up those links after the contest.
DIVERSITY — Michael Anastasi for Jorge Rojas
USA Today has committed to a sponsorship of the APSE diversity fellowship program. Garry D. Howard was in
FUTURES — Joe Sullivan
Joe Sullivan thanked the new volunteers for his committee and said he looked forward to the ideas they would bring. New future committee members are: Jeff Kuehn, Oakland Press; Scott Monserud, Denver Post; John Quinn, Philadelphia Inquirer. They join current members: Greg Brownell, Glen Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star; Jorge Rojas, Miami Herald; Patrick Stiegman, ESPN; Colleen McDaniel, Virginian-Pilot and John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times.
LEGAL AFFAIRS — Gerry Ahern for John Cherwa
Gerry Ahern cited the ongoing issues with the NCAA over credentials and referenced a call with John, Tim Franklin and some lawyers aimed at resolving differences with the NCAA over who controls photo rights and blogging from NCAA venues.
OLYMPICS — Jerry Micco
Jerry Micco said new USOC communications director Mark Jones guaranteed everyone who wants a credential for Sochi 2014 will get one. There will be a meeting in September or early October so look for an email after that meeting.
OUTREACH — Phil Kaplan
Phil Kaplan said it was important to stay aggressive in membership and seek out new sports editors.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT — Gerry Ahern
Gerry Ahern reminded everyone that Toby Carrig has stepped down from this committee. Gerry has appointed Ron Fritz and cited Ron’s idea of APSE members paying membership fee for college students from their area or alma mater. That new initiative has produced 16 members so far. Gerry expressed the desire that the new intiative go from membership to mentorship with the students.
RED SMITH AWARD — Michael Anastasi
Michael Anastasi cited the recent changes that have broadened voting to current officers, members of at least 10 years and alumni members with at least 15 years of membership. He suggested we look at an “oldtimers component,” where we could induct a great writer from yesteryear along with a contemporary member.
REGIONS — Josh Barnett
Josh Barnett asked region chairs to keep notes coming on moves so we can keep the website populated with new content. He said we need a new vice chair in the
SCHOLARSHIPS — Joe Sullivan
Winners will be announced by July. New scholarship committee members are: Gary Leavell, Dallas Morning News; Paul Vigna, Harrisburg Patriot-News; Mike Harris, Washington Times. They join current members: Judy Connelly, Middletown (N.Y.) Times-Record; John Bednarowski,
WEBSITE — Gerry Ahern/Mike Sherman
Mike Sherman will be taking over will be taking over the responsibility of posting stories on the web site as part of his role as second vice president. Tim Stephens posted a lot of stories from the convention already. AWSM helped a lot and posted stories along with members. Mike said he would be doing Q&As with sports editors.
NEW BUSINESS — Gerry Ahern
Kent Baab of the Kansas City Star and Dan Wiederer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune have proposed APSE membership for writers that would follow the same dues structure for secondary members ($75 for big papers, $50 for smaller). Greg Brownell pointed out that such a change would be a bylaws change and require notification of membership and an e-vote.
Phil Kaplan commended outgoing president Michael Anastasi and third vice president Ben Brigandi for his service to APSE.
BUDGET — Jack Berninger
Michael Anastasi made a motion to approve the budget. Jerry Micco seconded the motion. A vote to approve the budget passed unanimously.
Meeting is adjourned.
