DRAFT Meeting Notes Constituent Associations Presidents Group Meeting Thursday May 21 st, 2015 Hotel Arts, Calgary, Alberta 1:40 p.m. 3:21 p.m.

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1 DRAFT Meeting Notes Thursday May 21 st, 2015 Hotel Arts, Calgary, Alberta 1:40 p.m. 3:21 p.m. 1. CALL TO ORDER AND INTRODUCTIONS Connie Parenteau, President, APEGA, Chair of the Meeting Ann Mellema, President, Engineers NS Dennis Peters, Chair, PEGNL Digvir Jayas, FEC, P.Eng., President-Elect, Engineers Canada Howard Procyshyn, President, APEGM W. James Beckett, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.), Past-President, Engineers Canada Jamie Rogers, President, ABET (guest) Jeff Card, Chair-Elect, PEGNL John Clague, President, APEGBC Justin Dunn, President, Engineers PEI Marcia Friesen, Past-President, APEGM Margaret Hodges, President, APEGS Paul Amyotte, FEC, P.Eng., President, Engineers Canada Paul Campbell, President, APEGNB Rod Savoie, President, APEY Ron Kent, President NAPEG Thomas Chong, President, PEO Zaki Gavitian, delegate of President, OIQ Guy Legault, Vice-President, Business Development and Services, Engineers Canada (Meeting Secretary) 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved. 3. REVIEW OF DRAFT NOTES FROM FEBRUARY 24th, 2015 MEETING The notes from the February 24 th, 2015 meeting were received.

2 4. ITEMS FROM AN OWNER PERSPECTIVE FOR DISCUSSION (Documents in the Board Agenda Book) 4.1 Linkages Task Force Report (Digvir S. Jayas, FEC, P.Eng, Chair of the Linkages Task Force) Digvir S. Jayas presented highlights from the Report. Discussion focused on the proposed Assembly of Delegates, the size of the Board and the authority over financial matters. Different views were expressed including the need to keep observers with a smaller board; no need for a large board to conduct the business/govern Engineers Canada; a smaller board could work in close collaboration with the Chief Executive Officer Group; a smaller board would not work; benchmark with other associations; who exercises financial control over the association when the board does not approve the budget? The board has ultimate financial control; chooses to do it through the Ends; the board delegated to the Chief Executive Officer the development and management of the budget through the Ends and Executive Limitations; policy governance allows the board to exercise huge powers; councils/boards sometimes prefer to deal with operational issues. Jamie Rogers, President of ABET shared her organization s experience going through a similar transformation: 5 years to reduce the size of the Board from 53 to 12; 34 member societies; nothing really broken but needed to be smaller to make decisions; 53 will be on the Board of Delegates who will elect 12 directors of the board; 2,100 volunteers; thousands of institutions; societies care about the accreditation criteria (not finance, strategic plan); my Society should not be in the vocabulary on a board; bylaws overwhelmingly supported by societies; board of delegates responsible for accreditation criteria; created a Transition Task Force; happy to share more information (Michael Chief, ABET Executive Officer attending the Chief Executive Officer Group). The Board will decide if it wants to move the proposal to the Annual Meeting of Members for further exploration of a new model. 1 1 Secretary s note: The proposal was defeated at the Board on May 22 nd, 2015 and not referred to the Annual Meeting of Members. 2

3 4.2 Synergy Review Report (Jim Beckett, FEC, FGC (Hon), P. Eng.) The Group discussed the Synergy Review Report. Some of the elements discussed included: find innovative ways to get people involved; erred on the side of being provocative; how should AB and QB be managed; if the board continues to manage AB and QB, it should have a relationship similar to the relationship between the board and the Chief Executive Officer; may need Ends policies to apply to AB and QB; board has to be more aware of the challenges for the board itself; accreditation is not only AB but a system and processes; what has changed? Renewed interest from constituent associations; cannot be handled by AB and QB themselves; QB: more work for constituent associations. 5. OTHER BUSINESS 6. SELECTION OF CHAIR FOR THE NEXT MEETING Connie Parenteau will be the Chair for the next meeting. 7. NEXT MEETING DATE (September 29 th, 2015, Ottawa) Meeting Evaluation: Need to discuss things that are important for constituent associations such as how to communicate better; do professional development better; need to take things back from Engineers Canada; standards, guidelines, etc.; how to go about it; learn from others mistakes; last meeting was great; this meeting was disappointing; need solid information exchange; need to bring issues to the table and get ideas. Good follow-up from last meeting; good to have moved the meeting before the board; maybe identify a topic of the day/questions for each meeting. Presidents Group meeting is an opportunity to help us get a higher level of understanding. Continuous improvement; meeting getting more productive; meeting served its purpose; should rely on each other to help other presidents who need more. 3

4 12 leaders around the table; should not be talking about governance or process should be talking about big issues e.g. reputation of the profession, 30 by 30 goal. Good opportunity to consider the issues; receive more information; share best practices; need background, context, expectation; identify hot button issues of the day. Consider a session for first timers. Identify the topics one month before the next meeting. Excellent forum; should take more active role dealing with real issues; should form network group through (Presidents Group Members list attached). Value in networking; discussion around topics of national interests; dealing with problems the association is facing; deal with important issues; re-invent ourselves more quickly; Geo-Scientists Canada is facing similar issues. Suggestions made to receive copy of presentations from the Open Forum 2. Use a screen and monitor in the future. The Chair, Connie Parenteau thanked everyone for their openness and the candid conversations. She expressed a concern that Presidents are here for only four meetings. Some associations provide a mentor for incoming councillors; should at Engineers Canada do something similar? Need to be more engaging and create a true network (vs. written communication by ). She encouraged members of the group to get back to her, pointing out that she did not get any suggestions for other business for this meeting. 8. ADJOURNMENT 3:21 p.m. 2 Copies of the Open Forum presentations may be found on the Board microsite in the Meeting Material Archive section: May pdf 4

5 Attachment 2015 Presidents Group Members (As of August 14, 2015) Ann Mellema, FEC, P.Eng. (Engineers Nova Scotia) Bob MacDonald, P.Eng. Vice-President, Engineers Nova Scotia Connie Parenteau, FEC, P.Eng. (APEGA), Chair of the Presidents Group Dr. John Clague, P.Geo., FGC (APEGBC) Gary Strong, FEC, P.Eng. (NAPEG) Howard Procyshyn, FEC, P.Eng. (APEGM) Jeffrey J. Card, P. Eng. (PEGNL) Justin Dunn, P.Eng. (Engineers PEI) Margaret Anne Hodges, FEC, P.Eng. (APEGS) Paul Campbelll, P.Eng. (APEGNB) vacant (OIQ) Rod Savoie, P.Eng. (APEY) Thomas Chong, FEC, P.Eng. (PEO) cc. Digvir Jayas, FEC, P.Eng. (MB) (President) Chris Roney, FEC, P.Eng. (ON) (President-elect) Paul Amyotte, FEC, P.Eng., PhD (NS) (Past President) Gerard McDonald, P.Eng. Sarah Wray (APEGBC) Colin Brown, Interim VP, Business Development and Services, Committee Secretary Daphne Smith, Executive Assistant, Business Development and Services 5