Minutes of the Informs College on Simulation
Fall 1997 Business Meeting

Dallas, Texas
28 October 1997

Attendees: Churry Jimmy, Kevin Stamber, Sheldon Jacobson, Mike Taaffe, Dave Goldsman, Andy Seila, Lee Schruben, Michael Fu, James Swisher, Brian Jun, Kelly Sullivan, Jan-Peter Lechmer, Mohamed A. El-Wakeel, Mary Crissey, Sigrun Andradottir, Jeff Tew.

Meeting was called to order at 6:30PM by President Jeff Tew. The minutes of the business meeting in San Diego on 7 May 1997 were summarized by John Charnes. The main items brought up in San Diego were: (1) the motion to pay Peter Welch up to $1,000 during the next year to enhance the current Web page, (2) the motion to raise the annual dues to $7.50 for non-members of INFORMS, $6.00 for INFORMS members, and $2.00 for student and retired members, and (3) Dave Goldsman's Proposed Bylaws of the College, which appeared in the Spring 1997 Newsletter. These three items will be on the agenda for discussion at WSC in Atlanta, but Jeff Tew indicated that he had set the current dues to $5.00 for Informs members.

John Charnes reported the total equity of the college as $21,612.75. Mike Taaffe reported on sponsored sessions at Montreal. Five or six sessions will be sponsored by the college. Mike asked for volunteers to organize sessions for the Fall 1998 conference to be held in Seattle. The Fall newsletter is in process and will be distributed soon.

Old Business
Jeff Tew discussed the prospect of having the associate newsletter editor be in charge of the college web page. There was no vocal opposition to this idea. It will be put on the agenda for the business meeting held at WSC'97 in Atlanta.

New Business
Jeff Tew asked for volunteers to form a committee to investigate the possibility of obtaining corporate sponsors for the college. Would such an arrangement lead to a conflict of interest? How about having corporate memberships in the college that includes mention of corporate names in each newsletter? Corporate sponsorship of sessions at WSC or INFORMS conferences? Sheldon Jacobson volunteered to be a member of the committee. The meeting was adjourned at 7:08PM.

Respectfully submitted by John Charnes, Secretary/Treasurer.