Board of Advisors Meeting Minutes: Sept. 27, 2019

April 21, 2021
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Attendance

Advisors Present

  • Helena Keirstead, chair
  • Jennifer Komar, vice-chair
  • Michael Lisetto-Smith
  • David Wheatley
  • Madhu Kalimipalli
  • Martin Chi
  • Donna Braund
  • Melanie More-Duckworth
  • Kara McDowell
  • Lisa Levitan
  • Matthew Rohweder

Prism Resources Employees Present

  • Seth Armas, president
  • Julio Mendoza, VP member relations
  • Alex Ojo, VP training services
  • Sam Chai, VP human resources
  • Mimi Ngo, VP marketing
  • Katya Kisselev, marketing coordinator
  • Harry Wang, marketing coordinator
  • Amir Ghaemian, data analyst
  • Jessica Duncan, desk manager
  • Abirna Senthilkaruniyan, MSR

Agenda

Approval of July 26 Meeting Minutes

The meeting began at 12:05pm, with the approval of the July 26th meeting minutes. No one raised any questions or concerns regarding the previous minutes sent out.

Introduction to Prism & Role of the Board

Seth began the meeting with an introduction to Prism that covered the different areas within Prism. This included the Prism Protocol, Employment Structure, Relationship to Lazaridis, Prism’s Service lines, Prism’s Spring 2019 Strategy Report, and the role of the Board. Seth also began the discussion on whether the Board meetings should be made public, or if Prism should begin releasing the minutes from these meetings to promote transparency within the Program. With involvement from the Board, it was decided Prism would publish a truncated version of meeting minutes on their website. This will ensure transparency without potentially running into issues that could stem from making the meetings public.

Chair and Vice Chair Nomination

Following the Prism Protocol, the Board voted Helena Keirstead as Chair, and Jennifer Komar as Vice Chair for the 2019-2020 year.

Prism Protocol Update

Seth shared with the Board the updated Prism Protocol, that had been finalized over the Spring semester. Changes included documenting that financials would be managed by the Dean’s Office, but still reviewed with the Board, and restructuring the make-up of the Board to include Student representation.

Student Choice Initiative

Prism revealed and discussed the changes that had occurred as a result of the Student Choice Initiative. This included the significantly increased opt-out rate and changing process for administration and data collection.

ERP Update

Seth reminded the Board of the ERP’s long history of not being reliable and leading to lots of problems, including and not limited to lost inventory, unusable student accounts and manual rentals. He informed the Board that based off of the previous meeting, Prism had begun working with ICT to submit an RFP for a new system. Prism was hopeful that due to already having detailed flowcharts and requirements list that it could be done quicker than most ERP projects. It was decided by the Board that due to his vast experience that David Wheatley would assist Prism in its search for a solution.

Inventory Variance Report

Julio Mendoza, Vice President of Member Relations presented the inventory variance report. He reviewed that in Spring 2019, two items were lost: A Dell laptop and a charger, for a total value of $1628.69. The Board had questions about the process of how equipment can become unaccounted for, and potential sources for these discrepancies, which were explained and answered by Julio.

President Hiring

Seth disclosed that this term would be his last semester as serving President for Prism Resources and that position is now open to anyone for the Winter 2020 and Spring 2020 terms. Interviews are to take place in October and will be finalized after both Jennifer and Helena discuss. Board members were told to email Seth if they were interested in participating in the interview process.