The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2021 - 4

FROM THE PRESIDENT
Tough Decisions
As my term as president nears an end, I'm pleased to report that ATA's
Board of Directors held its first in-person meeting since February 2020,
with an informal Strategy Day on Friday, August 6, and a formal Board
meeting on August 7-8 in Nashville, Tennessee.
TED R. WOZNIAK
president@atanet.org
E
veryone-but especially
the new directors
elected last October who
had yet to have an in-person
meeting-was delighted to
experience the extremely
positive difference between a
virtual and in-person meeting
in terms of productivity,
the exchange of ideas, team
building, and camaraderie.
The intangible benefits of
talking face-to-face, not
only during the meeting
but at meals and informal
get-togethers in the evening
over three days, are simply
missing from the greatly
abbreviated four- to sixhour
online meetings with no
additional interaction. In my
perfect world, there would
never be another virtual
Board meeting except in the
case of an urgent need for
rapid decision-making on a
limited agenda. The benefits
far outweigh the costs.
Strategy Day is an informal
brainstorming meeting that
gives the Board a chance
to take a longer-term look
at ATA, discuss what's
working and what needs
improvement, or what new
directions or activities the
Association should review.
This year's topics were:
y Reports to the Board:
Does the current reporting
system for divisions and
4 The ATA Chronicle | September/October 2021
committees meet the
Board's needs? Could
something be changed
to make reporting more
efficient for both the report
writers and the Board?
y Board of Directors
Meetings: How often
and when should we hold
Board meetings? Are there
any changes needed?
y Succession Planning:
When the time comes,
what should the process
be for selecting the next
executive director?
y Future of the Annual
Conference: This is almost
a perennial topic that
included new aspects this
year due to streaming
options that are now
available.
y Professional Special
Interest Groups (PSIGS):
Could PSIGs provide a way
for groups of members
to have a " home " or
community within ATA
without having to become
a division? How would a
PSIG be formed? For what
purpose? What resources
should they receive?
There was a lively and
fruitful discussion on each
of these topics, and some of
them will receive additional
attention in the near future.
Of more immediate
interest to you are the
decisions made during
the Board meeting, which
included decisions on
membership dues, Bylaws
amendments, the final
budget for fiscal year (FY)
2021-22 and the draft
budgets for FY22-24.
Finances: Our financial
projections in the final
and draft budgets are not
positive. A combination of
declining membership, losses
on the Annual Conference,
and increasing costs result in
projected losses for the next
three fiscal years of about
$649,000. A major driver
of these projected losses is
the relationship between
dues revenue and general
and administrative (G&A)
expenses. Dues revenues are
expected to be fairly constant
over the next three years at
about $1.75 million each year.
G&A expenses are forecast to
average about $2.0 million
each year, leaving a shortfall
of about $259,000 each year
just from G&A expenses.
But dues revenue pays
for far more than just our
administrative expenses. The
only major program intended
to be fully self-supporting
(and hopefully contribute
a profit) is the Annual
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The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2021

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