Current Board of Directors Meeting Minutes


	Pacific Northwest Chapter

Introduction

Membership

CFE Referrals

Chapter Stars

Fraud Manual

Newsletters

Board Minutes

Training

Jobs

Prior Board Meeting Minutes are available for download as PDF files by clicking here.

Minutes of Semi-Annual CFE Chapter Board of Officers Meeting Pacific Northwest Chapter/ACFE – Feburary 10, 2010

Call to Order. President Joe Dervaes called the semi-annual meeting for February 10, 2010, to order at 12:45 p.m. in the downtown Seattle training facility of the Washington State Housing Commission’s offices (Board Room). Present were Board of Officer Members: Joe Dervaes, Norm Gierlasinski; Bernadette McBride; and, Robert Goehring. Roger Gulliver was absent for personal work reasons. Those in attendance represented a quorum of officers, and those absent previously indicated their approval of the action items proposed for the meeting by prior e-mail message.

Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes. The Board of Officers unanimously voted to approve the minutes for the following meetings: (a) semi-annual Board of Officers meeting; and, (b) Chapter annual business meeting, both held in Tukwila on June 24, 2009.

Old Business. There was no outstanding business from prior Board meetings.

New Business.

(a) The Chapter needs to hold elections for the positions on the Board of Officers this year (i.e.; term from July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011). The terms of office for all current members of the Board end on June 30, 2010. All current members of the Board indicated that they would like to continue in office for another term, except for Vice-President Norm Gierlasinski who will soon be retiring. While stepping down from the Board, Norm Gierlasinski will continue serving as Chapter Training Director and as Chair of the Chapter Scholarship and Community Outreach Committee. President Joe Dervaes indicated that this new term will be his final term in office prior to officially retiring from all ACFE and Chapter duties, and that the Chapter needs to expand its Committees to begin taking over the duties he currently performs.

The Chapter has made announcements in the past two bi-monthly newsletters asking for volunteers to serve in future leadership positions. In summary, one individual asked to serve on the Board, and a number of others asked to serve on our various Committees. After much discussion, the Board agreed that Julie Bollerud, recipient of the Chapter’s 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award and reorganizer of the Chapter’s web-site and newsletter, was the best member candidate to recommend for service in a future position on the Board.

President Joe Dervaes will appoint three Chapter members as the Nominating Committee to develop a slate of individuals and positions for the upcoming elections in June 2010 (i.e.; Kent Hansen, Jake Jacobson, and Cliff Whipple). The agreed-upon slate of officers will then be published in the newsletter, and ballots will be sent out to all eligible voting members electronically prior to the Annual Business Meeting.

President Joe Dervaes will then appoint two Chapter members as the Elections Committee from those eligible members attending the Annual Business Meeting to count the votes and make a final report to the membership at the meeting.

(b) The Board of Officers unanimously voted to approve Peter Tobin as the Chapter Representative for the annual meeting held in conjunction with the 21st ACFE Annual Fraud Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. (Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center), on July 25, 2010, and to authorize Treasurer Roger Gulliver to pay not more than $500 towards his expenses while traveling to and attending the Conference. Peter Tobin will prepare a report of the meeting after the Conference that will be published in the Chapter newsletter.

(c) Vice-President and Chair of the Scholarship and Community Outreach Committee Norm Gierlasinski sent scholarship notification letters to Colleges and Universities in our geographic area in late Fall 2009. The scholarship program due dates were changed for the ACFE and Chapter programs in 2010, with applications being due to the Chapter by December 31, 2009, and to the ACFE by January 15, 2010. We received only one student scholarship application for the Chapter and ACFE programs, and provided a CFE reference letter for this individual (Lori Gileno). She will be introduced to the membership in the next Chapter newsletter. There are sufficient funds in the Chapter treasury for all of our activities and the scholarship program.

The Board of Officers unanimously voted to authorize Treasurer Roger Gulliver to pay for the award of up to two student scholarships of $500 each in the Chapter’s 2010 student scholarship program.

(d) The Board of Officers unanimously voted to authorize President Joe Dervaes to register the Chapter as a supporter of the ACFE’s annual National Fraud Awareness Week program ( www.FraudWeek.com). The kick-off for this event is anticipated to be sometime in mid-November 2010, similar to last year.

(e) The Board of Officers unanimously voted to authorize Treasurer Roger Gulliver to send $200 to the ACFE Foundation’s student scholarship program for 2010 scholarships. The Chapter sent this same amount to the Foundation in prior years as well.

(f) The annual joint Chapter/ACFE fraud training class will be held in mid-October 2010 at the SeaTac DoubleTree Hotel at an as yet unspecified date. The Board previously sent our topic requests to ACFE; however, the final selection of the topic and speaker has not yet been announced. The ACFE will handle all registrations for this class and will reserve the training dates with the hotel at a later date. The estimated registration fee for this class is $595 for Members and $695 for Non-Members. The Board of Officers will assist with registration duties. The Chapter will receive three free registrations to the class, two for assistance with registration duties, and one complimentary from the ACFE as in prior years. President Joe Dervaes will also attend at no cost because of his duties on the ACFE Foundation Board of Directors.

The Board of Officers unanimously voted to discontinue funding the registration of all Board members over and above the free registrations provided by ACFE because of the costs involved. The free class registrations will be equitably distributed among those Board members who plan to attend the class. If other Board members desire to attend this class, they will be responsible for paying their own way.

The Association will provide breakfast pastries and mid-morning and mid-afternoon refreshments on both days of this training class. The Association will provide lunch only on the first day of the class. Attendees will be on their own for lunch for the second day of the two-day training class.

The Board of Officers also unanimously voted to authorize Treasurer Roger Gulliver to pay for luncheon expenses for Chapter Members who attend this training class on the day when ACFE does not provide this service, as we have done in past years (i.e.; the luncheon on day two of the class).

(g) The annual Chapter luncheon business meeting will be held on June 9, 2010, at the Bahama Breeze Restaurant at the SouthCenter Mall. Vice-President Norm Gierlasinski has already made the restaurant reservations for this meeting.

Because of the increasing costs associated with the luncheon at the annual business meeting, the Board unanimously voted to charge an attendance fee of $10 for Chapter members and $15 for Chapter non-members. This change in policy will be appropriately announced in our newsletter prior to the event.

The Board of Officers unanimously voted to authorize President Joe Dervaes to purchase five gift certificates for $25 each at a local book store to be used as door prizes for the annual business meeting on June 9, 2010, and to authorize him to be reimbursed for these expenses by Treasurer Roger Gulliver. The Board of Officers also unanimously voted to authorize Treasurer Roger Gulliver to pay for the restaurant luncheon costs for the annual business meeting.

(h) After much discussion, the Board of Officers unanimously voted to award the 2010 ACFE Distinguished Achievement Award to Chapter Member Peter Tobin, Audit Manager at Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle. Peter has been a long-term supporter of our Chapter’s fraud training mission through his regular attendance at Chapter fraud seminars, classes, and conferences, as well as at the ACFE’s Annual Fraud Conferences. He will also be our Chapter Representative at the ACFE’s 21st Annual Fraud Conference in Washington, D.C. in Summer 2010.

President Joe Dervaes will notify the recipient of this award and will prepare the award nomination package in Fall 2010 based upon input from the recipient. The award will be presented at our fraud seminar meeting in Seattle on February 9, 2011.

The ACFE approved the Chapter’s 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award nomination for Julie Bollerud, and the award will be presented at our fraud seminar meeting in Seattle today (February 10, 2010). Norm Gierlasinski will take pictures of the presentation ceremony. The pictures will then be published in the next Chapter newsletter.

(i) The joint Chapter/WSCPA Annual Fraud Conference is scheduled for Friday, December 3, 2010, at the Meydenbauer Center in downtown Bellevue. The WSCPA will handle registrations and all administrative duties in support of this Conference. The Chapter will provide the speakers and topics for the Conference. The estimated registration fee for this Conference is $220 for members and $295 for non-members. The Chapter receives $10 from each registration for our overhead costs associated with the Conference, and then participates in a net revenue profit-sharing agreement with the WSCPA. The Chapter received over $1,600 in revenue from the 2009 Annual Fraud Conference. President Joe Dervaes and Vice-President Norm Gierlasinski will be the Co-Chairs and will attend the Conference at no cost.

The Board of Officers voted unanimously to authorize Treasurer Roger Gulliver to pay for the registration fees of any other members of the Board of Officers who wish to attend the Conference (maximum of three). This is a personal benefit to these individuals for their service on the Chapter Board of Officers during the year.

(j) The Board of Officers must identify and select speakers and topics for the remainder of its calendar year 2010 training schedule. After much discussion, all members of the Board agreed to begin making suggested contacts with prospective speakers for the remainder of the calendar year 2010 training calendar. The Board already has a great start on this project to support our Chapter’s fraud training mission, will be working in the background all year to complete their assignments, and will be filling our training calendar with qualified speakers.

(k) Treasurer Roger Gulliver was not able to attend this semi-annual Board of Officers meeting, but reported that the Chapter is financially healthy and able to support all of our planned activities for calendar year 2010.

(l) President Joe Dervaes made a presentation to the Board on the status of the Chapter’s Committee assignments. Volunteers were solicited via announcements in recent Chapter newsletters, and there was a good response from the membership. President Joe Dervaes will work with these volunteers and make committee assignments based on the expressed interest of the members. The primary focus of committee work will be to share the workload of Chapter administration and to increase our outreach to students attending colleges and universities in our geographic area. Committees will include at least the following: (1) Scholarship and University Outreach Committee, chaired by Norm Gierlasinski; (2) Web-site and Newsletter Committee, chaired by Julie Bollerud (Webmaster); (3) Training and Education Committee, co-chaired by Joe Deraves and Norm Gierlasinski; (4) Membership Committee, co-chaired by Joe Dervaes and Roger Gulliver; and, (5) Nomination and Election Committees (appointed by Chapter President). The Chapter Board of Officers will provide overall guidance and direction to all committees throughout the year and establish additional committees in the future as deemed necessary to fulfill our Chapter’s annual goals and objectives.

(m) President Joe Dervaes also made a presentation to the Board on the status of the efforts underway to improve communications between the eight Chapters in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. (Oregon, Pacific Northwest, Spokane, Boise, and Montana) and Western Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton). The Boise Chapter representative has established a web-site for joint use by these regional Chapters in an effort to improve communications between the Chapters, to improve support of each Chapter’s annual fraud conferences and fraud seminars, and to share fraud speaker information. For example, Marie Rice, President of the Spokane Chapter has agreed to be a speaker at the Chapter’s 2010 Annual Fraud Conference. These coordination efforts started when four of the Chapters met in SeaTac on December 11, 2008, to kick-off this important project. Marie Rice, President of the Spokane Chapter, has taken the lead on this project by communicating by e-mail with Chapter presidents. Future meetings will be held by telephone conference call.

Adjournment. The semi-annual Board of Officers meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m. by President Joe Dervaes, and the Members then attended the bi-monthly fraud training seminar at 2:30 p.m. at the downtown Seattle training facility.