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MINUTES
MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
SEPTEMBER 21, 2009
CONFERENCE CALL

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER
With President Kevin Smith presiding, the meeting of the board of directors of the Society of Professional Journalists was called to order at 1:06 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, via conference call.

ROLL CALL
In addition to Smith, the following were present for all or part of the meeting: President-elect Hagit Limor; Secretary-Treasurer Darcie Lunsford; Immediate Past President Dave Aeikens; Vice President Campus Chapter Affairs Neil Ralston; Directors At-large Bill McCloskey and Michael Koretzky; Campus Advisers At-large Sue Kopen Katcef and George Daniels; Student Representatives Tara Puckey and Andrew Seaman; Regional Directors Luther Turmelle, Jeremy Steele, Liz Hansen, Holly Edgell, Scott Cooper, John Ensslin, Dana Neuts, Jodi Cleesattle, Sonny Albarado, Brian Eckert; Search Committee Members Renee Petrina and Ian Marquand; Sigma Delta Chi Foundation President Steve Geimann; and Co-interim Executive Director Joe Skeel.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SEARCH
President Smith opened a discussion on the executive director search committee’s recommendation that Joe Skeel be appointed as executive director of SPJ.

A discussion ensued on Skeel¹s philosophy, immediate plans for the Society and the handling of staffing issues.

Upon proper motion and second by Ensslin and Ralston, respectively, the board voted to enter executive session for the purposes of a more in-depth personnel discussion.

Motion carried unanimously. Skeel exited the call

A detailed discussion about how the search committee arrived at its recommendation of Skeel was held.

Upon proper motion and second by McCloskey and Seaman, respectively, the board voted to exit executive session.

Upon proper motion and second by Aeikens and Limor, respectively, the board voted to accept the committee’s recommendation to appoint Skeel as executive director and enter into contract negotiations.

OUR TOWN MEMBERSHIP IN SPJ
President Smith moved onto the second agenda item: OurTown membership in SPJ.
The proposal was vetted through the Membership and Freelance committees for their analysis. The committees’ recommendations were to allow OurTown affiliates to enter SPJ as associates, which is open to anyone who supports SPJ and journalism.

The board took no formal action, but generally agreed that the associate category was appropriate and would give the OurTown affiliates access to SPJ’s ethics code and professional development training programs.

SHIELD LAW UPDATE
President Smith gave a brief update about movement of S448, the Free Flow of Information through the Senate Judiciary Committee and called on board members to reach out to the committee and their own senators to support passage.

Upon proper motion and second by Albarado and Hansen, the meeting was adjourned at 2:10 p.m.