FASS Leadership

From the inception of FASS in 1998, FASS business operations were under the leadership of an Executive Vice President of Administration (EVP–A) located in the FASS Headquarters, Savoy, Illinois.  Scientific operations were under the leadership of an Executive Vice President of Scientific Liaison (EVP–SL) located in the FASEB complex in the Washington, DC area.  As shared in the last FEDERATIONnews, the FASS Board of Directors carefully considered consolidating these efforts and responsibilities under the leadership of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This became a reality during the regularly scheduled FASS Board meeting held September 30–October 1, 2004. In response to the new CEO model, Chuck Sapp, the FASS EVP–A, resigned his position effective March 18, 2005 during the regularly scheduled FASS Board meeting in Savoy. Chuck served as the FASS EVP–A for the seven years since inception of FASS. The FASS Board of Directors thanks Chuck for his dedicated service to FASS. Chuck’s contributions to FASS were instrumental in our success, and the FASS Board of Directors wishes him the best in his future pursuits.

Central to the new CEO model will be a person with advanced professional degrees in some facet of animal agriculture, extensive leadership experience and strategic vision, and managerial experience to oversee the entire FASS organization. The job was posted in mid October 2004. The application closing date was the end of November 2004.   Applicant screening and applicant interviews were completed in January 2005. The FASS Board interviewed, during the March 17–19 FASS Board meeting in Savoy, the candidate believed by the FASS Search and Screening Committee to be the best applicant for the job.  A job offer was extended during the March 2005 FASS Board meeting.

During the interim between now and the hiring of a FASS CEO, Jerry Baker, current Executive Director for ASAS, will be the interim FASS Business Manager. Jerry has over 20 years of experience as a scientist at Texas A&M and USMARC and as both a scientist and administrator at the University of Georgia. Jerry will work with Ruth Ann Fleenor (Accounting and Human Resources Department Director), Keely Roy (Information and Technologies Department Director), Debi Seymour (Membership Services Department Director), Susan Pollock (Interim Editorial and Production Department Director), and Amy Kemp (FASS Publication Projects Coordinator) to assure that all FASS activities continue unabated and functioning smoothly. The FASS Board of Directors and the FASS staff leadership team are most appreciative of both Jerry’s acceptance of this assignment and the ASAS Board’s decision to allow Jerry to assume these additional responsibilities.

With the hiring of the CEO, the CEO and FASS Board will address the most effective way forward to reopen the FASS Scientific Liaison office in Washington, DC. We have been exploring co-location with other like-minded scientific societies to decrease cost of the office and to increase synergism of information delivery to the targeted audiences. Of course, the decisions to reopen the FASS Scientific Liaison office and the staffing of that office will be predicated on fiscal responsibility.

Financial Position

I emphasize that, since the inception of FASS, Member Societies have not been paying the true costs of services provided by FASS. One result of this discounted rate is that Member Society balance sheets have shown positive increases. For the first time since inception, FASS experienced a negative change in net assets for the years ending 2003 and 2004. Actions predicted to minimize the magnitude of the negative change were implemented by the FASS Board during both 2003 and 2004. Those actions included 1) delay in filling the position of and staffing of the EVP-SL until the decision is made with the new CEO on how best to address the scientific liaison functions, 2) reduction in staff, 3) an increase of each Member Society’s service fees to achieve full-cost recovery, 4) implementation of an annual cost-of-business (cost-of-living) adjustment to Member Societies to recapture increasing costs caused by expected salary and benefits increases and inflation, and 5) holding FASS Board meetings in Savoy only as opposed to meetings alternating between Savoy and Washington, DC.  In addition to these FASS Board decisions, the FASS Treasurer, Normand St-Pierre (The Ohio State University; member of PSA, ADSA, ASAS, and ARPAS), and the FASS Finance Committee, working with Chuck Sapp and the FASS staff leadership team, developed a rational plan for achieving financial stability. That plan will achieve full-cost recovery of operating costs, elimination of debt, and accumulation of sufficient fund resources over the next four years. So far in 2005, this plan, as designed and implemented, is working for FASS to keep a balanced budget and is not negatively impacting the Member Societies or the Client Societies.

Perspective

Although this FASS President’s message is not as “comfortable” as messages sent previously by FASS Presidents, I encourage you to recognize that the FASS Board, working with effective and dedicated FASS staff, addressed the budget shortfall in a manner that is achieving a balanced budget without damaging Member or Client Societies.  Please be assured that FASS is dedicated to providing the utmost level of customer service both to our Client Members and to our Member Societies. All FASS operations will continue as they have, via the abilities of the professional, excellently cross-trained, and dedicated FASS staff. The FASS Department Directors will continue to lead the day-to-day operations. The FASS Board and FASS staff commit to you that we will continue to provide the excellent services you expect.

Please feel free to direct questions and concerns to me (telephone: 269/731-5962; fax: 269/731-5963; E-mail: lauderents@aol.com). I promise such questions and concerns will be addressed to the best of my ability and will be addressed in a timely manner.

James Lauderdale, President
lauderents@aol.com