MINUTES: Chicago Headline Club Board meeting
May 13, 2011, at Bloomberg News, Chicago
In attendance: Jon Seidel, Anna Tarkov, Sue Stevens, Howard Dubin, Kristen Schorsch, Randi Belisomo, Ken Davis, Odette Yousef, Kathy Catrambone, Beth Konrad, Adrienne Samuels Gibbs, Suzanne McBride, Flynn McRoberts
By phone: Rummana Hussain, Tony Noce, Aimee DeBat
President’s message:
Sue Stevens reported that the club received 48 new members, thanks to an anonymous donor, at the Peter Lisagor awards banquet last week.
John McClelland is digitizing Headline Club newsletters.
The bylaws committee is slated to meet next week.
April board meeting minutes:
Approved unanimously
Treasurer’s report:
Howard Dubin did not have a report since payments from the Lisagor dinner still are being processed. Howard and a few other board members discussed wanting to raise the dinner price next year to help cover extra costs.
Programs:
Ken Davis said 26 people have signed up to attend a social media workshop on May 14 hosted by Barbara Iverson, a journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago.
Steve Franklin and Flynn McRoberts might have another Scribe Aid event. Last year, more than 100 people attended. The event raises money to help unemployed and underemployed journalists.
The annual summer picnic at the home of Priscilla Ruth MacDougall, wife of the late journalist Les Brownlee, is scheduled for Aug. 21.
Executive director’s report:
Kathy Catrambone said she’s still processing payments from the Lisagor dinner, but so far it looks like the banquet made 12 percent more money than last year. There were 574 contest entries compared to 494 last year, and 281 dinners compared to 257 last year. The event took in $45,165. That includes contest entries and dinners, as well as ads and extra plaque sales, etc. We spent about $30,020, so the club made a profit of $15,145. The total is not final as payments are still coming in.
Access survey:
Beth Konrad reported that the survey regarding journalists’ access to public information received a 20.9 percent return, with about 140 journalists responding. The results are being analyzed and so far show a striking call for transparency, among other things. The analysis could be done by early next week.
New business:
The board will explore some free services to make eblasts look nicer.
The board discussed executive director Kathy Catrambone’s resignation. Her last day would be June 30. Several board members, including Beth Konrad, Ken Davis, Kristen Schorsch, Randi Belisomo and Jon Seidel, among others, said they wanted to keep Kathy on for at least another year and called for another meeting to discuss Kathy’s employment.
Suzanne McBride also suggested the board have a separate meeting about the budget and what kind of programming and other items the board should be funding.
The board decided to get a proposal from Kathy and meet about her future employment.
The next board meeting, which will include planning for next year, is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 25 at Manny’s Deli, 1141 S. Jefferson St., Chicago.
Adjourned: 10:47 a.m.
— Secretary Kristen Schorsch