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The NGAUS board of directors gathered at the National Guard Memorial, the association headquarters in Washington, D.C., for its last meeting of 2023. Maj. Gen. Janson “Durr” Boyles, the board chairman, called the meeting to order.
MG Janson “Durr” Boyles
Maj Gen (Ret) Michael McGuire
MG Jimmie Cole
Maj Gen Ondra Berry
MG (Ret) Joanne Sheridan
Brig Gen (Ret) Ken Ross
Maj Gen Gary Keefe
MG (Ret) Frank McGinn
Col (Ret) Steve Greco
MG James Ring
COL Brian Borakove
Lt Col Jody Schweickart
MG Sheryl Gordon
MG (Ret) Randall Simmons
Lt Col (Ret) John Fesler
MG Keith Waddell
BG Joe Hargett
Lt Col Keith Marshall
MG Paul Rogers
LTC Quenten Johnson
Col Jeannie Jeanetta
MG Miguel Aguilar
CPT Rasheedah Bilal
Lt Col (Ret) Andrew Sanchez
BG (Ret) Mike Oster
Brig Gen (Ret) Bobbi Doorenbos
CPT Ryan Peterson
Capt Tom Flores
CW5 Bob Nicholson (absent)
Non-Voting Members:
BG (Ret) Roy Robinson
Mr. Bruce VanSkiver, CAP Chair
MG John Harris, AGAUS President
CSM (Ret) Bob Sweeney, NGEDA President
MSgt (Ret) Dan Reilly, EANGUS President
NGAUS Presenters:
Col (Ret) Mike Hadley
Mr. John Goheen
Mr. Luke Guthrie
LTC (Ret) Jake Jakubek
Ms. Tracy Campfield
Mr. Blaise Lemke
Additional NGAUS staff:
Col (Ret) Paul Drake
Ms. Cheryl Young
Mr. Laurence Temple
Ms. Lakeshia Williams
Gen Boyles called the meeting to order and thanked everyone for their dedication and for taking the time to attend today’s meeting.
Gen Boyles led the pledge of allegiance and Gen Berry offered the invocation.
Gen Sheridan called the roll and reported a quorum is present.
Gen Boyles then proceeded to swear in the newly appointed member of the Board noted below:
Area II- TAG Rep
MG James Ring, VA - Term Expires 2026
Gen Boyles welcomed Gen Ring to the Board.
(Applause by the Board)
Gen Boyles then announced the remaining new Board members that were elected and sworn at the General Conference in Reno, NV.
Gen Boyles advised the Board to complete the conflict of interest forms by the close of meeting business today.
Gen Boyles entertained a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Gen Hargett so moved. Gen Berry seconded. Motion carried by unanimous consent.
Gen Boyles discussed with the Board the proposed meeting dates for 2024 as presented on the PowerPoint slide.
Further discussions were held by the Board with respect to the proposed July Board meeting dates of 13 and 20 July.
Gen Boyles proposed 13 July for the meeting and asked whether anyone was opposed to conducting the meeting on that date.
Lt Col Johnson noted to the Chairman that in his case, the 13 July date falls on a drill weekend.
Gen McGuire asked whether the Board was proposing to conduct the July Board meeting in Detroit similar to the July 2023 Board meeting which was held in Reno.
Gen Robinson responded that the matter would be up to the Board to decide.
Gen Robinson also stated that the Board meeting this past July which was held in Reno was a test run to hold the meeting in the location whether the conference was going to be held.
Gen Robinson stated that he thought that everything went well as it gave the Board an opportunity to see the facility before the conference.
Gen McGuire noted that he asked because the Board has conducted the July meetings in the past both at NGAUS and at the hosting city of the conference.
Gen McGinn asked whether there was a cost difference for the Board’s travel to Detroit for the July Meeting.
Gen Robinson responded that if there was a cost difference, it would be very minimumal because most people have to fly from somewhere anyway.
Gen Robinson stated that he would really like for Gen Rogers to step in because the hosting state would help host the meeting and help with hotels and all that kind of stuff.
Gen Boyles asked whether Gen Rogers was good with it.
Gen Rogers responded “Absolutely”.
Gen Cole stated that he thought from his perspective that it was very beneficial to be on site to recon the area in conjunction with the Rehearsal of Concept meeting aka “ROC Drill” before the conference.
Gen Berry concurred and stated that it makes more sense to be able to see and walk through the venue to become familiar with it before the actual conference, which in his opinion was a “win-win”.
Gen Boyles asked Gen Rogers whether he had any input on whether he preferred 13 July or 20 July.
Gen Rogers stated that he believed that he could accommodate both dates.
Following discussions, Gen Boyles entertained a motion to approve the 2024 Board Meeting dates. Lt Col Johnson so moved. Gen Cole seconded. Motion carried by unanimous consent.
The 2024 Board of Director meeting dates were approved as follows:
March 2024: @ NGAUS
15-17 Mar (Fri-Sun)
Fri-GCC, NGEF, NGIT, WOC, CGOC
Sat-BOD, Sr. Ldr NGB, LDL Reception
July 2024:
13 Jul (Sat - BOD only) @ Detroit, MI
(Hotel & Meeting room location - TBD)
Anticipated date of ROC Drill: Fri. 12 July 2023 (to precede the Saturday Board Meeting)
Conf 2024 (23-26 Aug 2024 Detroit, MI): The Board will determine at the end of the July meeting whether a meeting is needed during the conference. If needed, the meeting date would be Thursday, 22 Aug
Nov 2024: @ NGAUS
15-17 Nov (Fri-Sun)
Fri-GCC, NGEF, NGIT, CGOC
Sat-BOD, Sr Ldr NGB, LDL Reception
Following no questions or comments for the Chairman, Gen Boyles then turned the meeting over to Gen Cole for the Vice Chair Army Report.
Vice Chair Army Report- Gen Cole
Gen Cole asked to defer his time to the end of the business session prior to lunch to go over the procedures and processes for this afternoon, and that he would submit a written information to the secretary to add into the minutes.
Gen Boyles responded to Gen Cole, “We could do that”.
Gen Boyles then turned the meeting over to Gen Berry for the Vice Chair Air Report.
Vice Chair Air Report – Gen Berry
Gen Berry stated that he would also defer his report and submit two documents to the secretary.
Gen Berry mentioned that these are critical times right now and that NGAUS plays a very important role in terms of what is going on around the country and that when you think about the National Guard having the fifth largest Air Force in the world and what is going on with modernization and recapitalization and 25 for 25, ask Maryland or ask Michigan how important that is and what we are talking about with the National Guard Space Forces and the chaotic world that we are in right now.
Gen Berry asked the Board to please pay attention to the report that he submits because the National Guard has been phenomenal and stated that the National Guard is “Always ready, always there, always on mission”.
Gen Boyles stated to the Board that if they will notice the time for today’s business session is being yielded due to the hard stop at 1115 for lunch and then to get after the business of selecting the next NGAUS President later in the day.
Following no further questions or comments, Gen Boyles turned the meeting over to Gen Ross for the Treasurer’s Report.
Treasurer’s Report - Gen Ross
Gen Ross stated that the budgets that would need to be approved today were the 2024 Insurance Trust Budget, the 2024 Building Budget, and the 2024 NGAUS Budget.
With respect to the Building Budget, Gen Ross discussed the page where all the writings show the increases or decreases of more than $5,000 in previous budgets just to channel the things that are different, followed by the actual numbers listed on the summary budget which is only one page.
Gen Ross stated that this shows a revenue increase of almost about $600,000 with $583,178 over the previous budget which, according to Gen Ross, is primarily due to timing on our building activities.
Gen Ross stated that if the Board looked at the revenue side, we have a favorable variance because one of our building rental tenants CCSSO and because we got a little bit more in parking and some money from an increase in operating estimates.
With respect to expenses, Gen Ross noted that there is a proposal to change $305,558 in Management Expenses, Property Taxes of $114,501, Capital Expenses of almost $2.0M which gives us a net cash of an increase of about $1.2M.
Gen Ross explained that each year, our companies will estimate what type of expenses we are going to have as if we leased the building, and they will build certain expenses in and sometimes they will take these expenses out for the next year when they say that we don’t have to do it.
Gen Ross stated that the single biggest mover this year in the building was a deferral that was going to be budgeted on the roof that has been postponed until 2025.
Gen Ross added that we keep getting the roof assessed and every year that we can get out of it we defer using some of our money to rebuild it, we get a longer use life.
Gen Ross stated that overall, the building is doing just fine, and it is in the positive cash flow production part of the cycle where we have our tenants, we have already paid the leasing commission, we’ve already done the buildout, we get a little cost of living increase in every year and we are getting $2.0M to $3.0M worth of positive cash flow out of the building.
Gen Ross stated that overall, the Building Budget and its operations are just fine.
Q&A
Gen McGinn asked whether the building revenue was offsetting the operating deficit.
Gen Ross responded, “Yes.” and added that he likes to keep the Board aware of both sides, but that the auditors like to consolidate and give you a consolidated budget.
Gen Ross stated that he likes to split it out because he wants the Board to see what the building is doing and what the other operations are doing (i.e., insurance money, dues, legislative spending, etc.).
Gen Ross stated that if we had to depend on what he calls “Normal operation” money to fund NGAUS, our program costs more money than that, with a real rough number of about $1.0M of budget money from the building profit is used to fund NGAUS operational money that is not covered by the big three, our conference, our dues, and our insurance program.
Gen Ross stated that we do use some of the insurance money and much of the rest of it goes into our reserves, and the building reserves is the single biggest place we need them, and if we get those fully funded, we can talk about making more available.
Gen Ross added that we have an operation that consumes about a million of that and the rest of it is building our reserves for our next building cycle.
Gen Ross stated that we need the building revenue to cover our normal operational budget.
Gen McGinn asked if Gen Ross could let us know where we are with the building reserves and whether we are on track.
Gen Ross responded that we are on track and that we are not fully reserved on anything, we are about 2/3 reserved which is on track.
Gen Ross stated that we need to put about $1.5M in the building reserves and that the big player is Amtrak, adding that their lease comes up in about 4 years.
Gen Ross added that if we keep putting about $1.5M in reserves which is what we are on track to do, we will be fully reserved by the time Amtrak comes in.
Gen Ross stated that our total reserve picture right now cash is about $25.0M, and that we are right on track and do not expect any huge expenses but will have the $30.0M before we anticipate having any huge expenses which is all a part of that long business plan.
Gen Ross stated that we have gotten down to as low as about $13.0M in reserves and have built that back up and added that the market in 2022 did not help us at all.
Gen Ross stated that we are covered and are expected to be fully reserved before we have another building cycle.
Gen Robinson added that in reference to the building, if you think about the short, 50-meter target, if we do lease the 7th floor, then we have adequate reserves to pay the real estate commissions and to pay for the buildout in cash.
Gen Robinson stated that the four-year deal is what Gen Ross is talking about based on what Amtrak does down the road.
Gen Ross stated that when we lease to someone it is about $3.0M per floor, which is big money in anybody’s book but if Amtrak comes along, that is $15.0M because of the space that they have in the building.
Gen Ross added that if someone came in tomorrow and gave us a good lease deal and we have the $3.0M to build it out, that would change our leasing cycle but it all would be good because we would be getting more rent.
Gen Ross stated that we are very comfortable and that there are a lot of buildings that are in trouble, yet our building is not in trouble, but the biggest single reason is that we have no debt on the building.
Gen Ross stated that if we stay out of debt, we will be right on track and that there is no scenario he sees in which our cash flow would go negative.
Gen McGinn asked how much of the building budget was going into reserves and to offsetting the operating deficit budget.
Gen Ross stated that about $1.0M is going to offset or help NGAUS operations and about $1.5M is going into reserves.
Further discussions were held.
Gen McGinn stated that if we have a $2.7M deficit in the operating budget, and $1.0M is coming from the building revenue, then the other $1.7M is coming from reserves.
Gen Ross responded, “Yes”, and added that it could be coming from NGAUS reserves.
Gen Ross asked Gen McGinn to hold that question because he has a buildout that he wants to show the Board that shows actual audit to reserves, eliminating depreciation, and eliminating the gains and losses in our investment reserves.
Further discussions were held.
Gen Ross stated that our net value has gone up more than $1.0M every year over the last 20 or 30 years and the net value over $1.2M per year over a ten-year view.
Gen Ross stated that our net worth is going up every year.
Gen Robinson added that about the building itself, the numbers that Gen Ross is talking about is actually what the district uses to access our property taxes and because they are very conservative.
Gen Robinson stated that we stay very conservative, so they say that the building is worth $70.0M to $80.0M, the truth is prior to the downturn in the commercial market, he believed that it was easily worth $100.0M to as much as $120.0M and that it may have pulled back a little bit now because of the market but it is still well above what DC uses as our tax basis.
Gen Ross concurred.
Q&A
Gen Keefe asked whether we needed a new roof.
Gen Ross stated that we are going to need a new roof eventually and that we are past the projected depreciated life of the roof.
Gen Ross added that we are good, that we do not have a roof problem at all, and if there is a roof problem, it is fixed.
Gen Ross moved to the NGAUS Budget and stated that this budget talks about our normal operations, our normal income, and our normal expenditures.
Gen Ross stated that the NGAUS Budget is going to show an increase in revenue over previous budgets of about $325,686, which projects more General Conference revenue and Magazine revenue.
Gen Ross stated that we have an increase in expenses of $572,541 and that 2/3 of it is in salary and related expenses.
Gen Ross stated that we are beginning to get the inflation effect with a lot of little numbers all over the budget, but this is a big one as we have filled our dance card with all our employees and current salaries.
Gen Ross stated that the rest of the budget is inflation costs across just about every category listed.
Gen Ross added that the travel for conferences and those types of activities is anticipated to be higher.
Gen Ross stated that the Membership Benefits number is expected to increase by $105,820 which has to do with increases in our membership and the cost we pay out for that.
Gen Ross stated that if you net all of that out, we will be a little higher in expenses but almost all of it is in salary and membership benefits.
Gen Ross opened the floor for Q&A regarding NGAUS operations and stated that this budget includes typical sources of revenue as well as the big three (the insurance program, the dues program, and the general conference program) and then all of our expenses that we cover.
Q&A
Gen Doorenbos asked where we were with personnel and hiring, as well as how many open positions we had left that remain to be hired, noting that during COVID we kind of contracted.
Gen Ross responded, “None, that I believe.”
Gen Robinson stated that all the ones that have been historically filled that we intend to fill are currently filled.
Gen Doorenbos asked whether that is what this budget reflects, that there are no openings that we are planning for that aren’t filled right now.
Gen Robinson responded, “No.” with respect to there being any openings that we are planning for that aren’t currently filled.
Gen Ross stated that if you comb through it, that is why salary and related expenses is a reoccurring theme in all our budgets that are off and that it is a combination of cost of living raises and the new people.
Gen Ross mentioned that also budgeted in this budget is an overlap in the president’s job because we anticipate having a couple of months of two president’s salary built into the plan, where the current president will be on board and a new president will be on board, but the expenses of the transition are built into this budget.
Gen Ross stated that as he looked at the $2.0M deficit, real roughly we get about $1.0M of that from the building and about $1.0M of it is in depreciation and that on average, our depreciation is more than $1.0M a year.
Gen Robinson reminded the Board that we have a history of being very, very conservative in our revenue estimates and very, very conservative in forecasting high our expenses, which he stated was the prudent way to do it.
Gen Robinson stated that you have to think in those terms when you are looking at the budget itself and if you ever want to dig in deeper to it, to figure out what the actuals look like at the end of the year versus the budget that you approve.
Gen Robinson encouraged the Board to take a look because it can be a dramatic swing when we actually do the accounting at the end of the year, and we actually post what the actual budget turned out to be relative to what our estimates were.
Gen Ross directed the Board’s attention to the PowerPoint slide that he was referring to earlier and mentioned to Gen McGinn that the budget that was just briefed has about $2.0M worth of paper deficit and about half of that will be in depreciation and the other half we will have to fund from the building which, according to Gen Ross, has sort of been built in.
Gen Ross stated that he has been telling the Board for quite some that that it will take some of our building revenue to “float the boat” that we are floating today but we will probably not take anything out of any other reserves as those are the two big moving numbers that are about right and that cashflow-wise, everything else will remain.
Gen Ross explained that what this slide shows is that every one of these numbers is audited from our outside accounting firm and that the slide shows a ten-year spread on audited numbers, and that this is everything consolidated.
Gen Ross added that the slide shows you what the revenue is, what the expenses are, and then the last column to the right shows your ten-year average because an operation this big you really can’t pick out a single year as it could look very misleading if you try to base the organization on a single year.
Gen Ross stated that if you look at longer-term averages, you will see that the revenue and expenses are listed there.
Gen Ross added that the second from the bottom lists the results from our gains and losses over time in our investments.
Gen Ross stated that if you look at 2022, we lost $6.5M on paper had we sold our investments and that really threw everything else crazy.
Gen Ross stated that if you average what our investments have done over time (looking at the last column to the right), the $1.1M is a gain.
Gen Ross stated that investments are very important to us as we have built our reserves and gains on our investments and overall, we make money.
Gen Ross continued to discuss the items listed on the PowerPoint slide and stated that by averaging a ten-year view, we are doing fine.
Gen McGinn thanked Gen Ross for the presentation and stated that the information was helpful.
Q&A
Gen Keefe asked Gen Ross about the budget increase in legislation and whether we have added more folks to Mike’s Legislative team.
Gen Robinson responded that we have filled all of the positions, and that the Legislative department is 100% filled out.
Gen McGinn asked whether the legislative budget line that Gen Keefe was referring to was salary.
Gen Robinson stated that the line refers to salary plus the other expenses to include contract, some of the Legislative events (i.e. Capitol Summit), etc.
Gen Ross responded that a portion of the Legislative Budget does include the Leg salaries.
Following no further questions or comments, Gen Boyles entertained a motion to approve the 2024 Insurance Trust Budget, the Memorial Building Budget, and the NGAUS Budget as recommended by the Finance Committee. Gen Ross so moved. Gen Keefe seconded. The motion was passed by unanimous consent.
Gen Boyles thanked Gen Ross for his presentation and then turned the meeting over for the Insurance Update.
Insurance Update – Ms. Michelle Alcivar (NY Life), Mr. Carl Adamek & Mr. Steve Seivert (AGIA)
Luke stated to the Board for background purposes that after 40 years of having done business with Voya they exited the market and about a year and a half ago we undertook a comprehensive RFP to select a new carrier and a new third party administrator (TPA).
Luke stated that our new carrier is New York Life Insurance and our TPA is AGIA.
Luke then turned the meeting over to Ms. Michelle Alcivar who was present on the phone line on behalf of New York Life.
Ms. Alcivar introduced herself as the Account Manager at New York Life for the NGAUS plan.
Ms. Alcivar stated that on 1/1/23, New York Life became the new carrier for the Life, DI, AD&D, and Member Life plans.
Ms. Alcivar then provided the Board with an overview of the plan’s financials based on a 9-month estimate.
9-Month Plan Experience:
Ms. Alcivar stated that the 9-Month Plan Experience slide lists (per plan) the royalty, the margins, the cost stabilization reserve (CSR, which is formerly known as the PSR), and the dividend.
Ms. Alcivar noted the following totals for all the plans combined:
Total: Royalty: 338,683
Total Margins (188,111)
Total CSR: 704,916
Total Dividend: 666,974
Ms. Alcivar stated that the figures are contingent upon New York Life receiving the $1.56M transfer from Voya that is currently in the works.
Q&A
Following no questions or comments, Ms. Alcivar continued with the NYL Presentation.
NGAUS Income: Royalty plus Dividend (previously defined as Revenue):
Ms. Alcivar stated that the slide illustrates NGAUS income which is royalty plus dividend (previously defined as revenue) and discussed the 2023 (9 month estimate): $1,004,799 in revenue.
Earned Premium (Non-NY Tech Plan):
Ms. Alcivar discussed the 2023 (9 month estimate): $1,937,000 in revenue .
Earned Premium (Member Life Plan)
Ms. Alcivar discussed the 2023 (9 month estimate): $154,000 in revenue.
Open LTD Claims:
Ms. Alcivar discussed the 16 Open LTD claims as of 9/30/23 and stated that they are currently reserving 475,293 for those 16 claims.
Marketing
Ms. Alcivar then discussed the Marketing for the Program and what has been done so far since 1/1/23:
Brochures:
Countrywide Life/DI
NY Life/DI
Website Copy:
Life, DI, AD&D
Applications:
Streamlined applications
Ads:
Developed 10 ads, 3 for print and 7 for digital
Video:
Developing a Video to help HRO’s with No Cost Program 10
Following no further questions or comments for NYL, Gen Boyles turned the meeting over to Mr. Carl Adamek and Mr. Steve Seivert for the AGIA Update.
AGIA Update – Mr. Carl Adamek and Mr. Steve Seivert
Mr. Seivert began by noting that this is their first conference and board meeting as the new plan Administrator and that he has had the pleasure of meeting with some of the Board over the past few days.
Mr. Seivert commended the Board for their service to our country and stated that it is an honor to have a partnership with NGAUS.
Mr. Seivert discussed the following functions provided since they have come on Board as the NGAUS Administrator for the program.
Administration:
Services Provided
• Application Intake and Processing
• Fulfillment production and issuance
• Premium Collection
• Premium and Compensation Distribution
• Claims Eligibility Verification
• Customer Service
Call Statistics (Measurement of Performance)
Completion Rate
• Service Standard is 97%
• Over 99% since Jan of 2023
Service Level
• Service Standard is 90% answered in 60 Seconds
• Over 99% since Jan of 2023
Mr. Seivert then discussed the No Cost Program and highlighted the following:
• Approved March 2023 to drive more participation in the program
• Launched July 1, 2023
• AGIA has received 194 No Cost products to date
Mr. Seivert discussed the Paid Program:
A total of 636 products submitted and approved
• 338 Disability Basic
• 242 Supplemental Disability
• 56 Term Life
Total new premium added to the program since 1/1/23 has been over $125,000.
Mr. Seivert discussed some of the Business Transition Discoveries and transitional challenges that have been faced:
Paysite responsiveness to communication
• Updating pay site contact information
• Coordinating efforts with Benefit Briefers to get responses
HROs not submitting applications in good order (NIGO)
• New workflow to submit NIGOs to Benefit Briefers for completion
• New process has seen a significant reduction in number of NIGOs received.
Bring premium to current
Plan moving forward
• Provide pay site a report illustrating premium discrepancy
• Bring to current in 2024
Mr. Seivert stated that they have some challenges ahead of them with the pay sites, but they have identified them and have quantified them and are addressing them on a weekly basis while reporting back to Luke and Monty on a weekly basis as well.
Q&A
Following no questions, Gen Robinson commended Luke for his work with the insurance program during the transition from Voya to NYL/AGIA.
(Applause by the Board)
Gen Robinson stated that he would not be here, but the Board may see this program grow to about a $3.0M revenue generator for the association.
Gen Ross stated that there is a problem hanging out that we are trying to resolve and that problem is that after a great 50 year relationship with our previous insurance company, they are trying to take a reserve number that should be about $300,000 for the accounts that they are keeping and hold $600,000 and that they want to end the contract at about double the standard reserve requirements for the claims that they have.
Gen Ross stated that we have tried to negotiate with them, but they have stopped responding and that we are going to continue to reach out and send them a demand letter and we are going to have to threaten legal action.
Gen Ross stated that the Board needs to know this information since they own the insurance company and know that we may have to engage an attorney and do legal action against these people.
Gen Ross stated that this is all about them trying to get a bonus at the end that they are not entitled to.
Gen Ross stated that he wanted to bring the matter to the Board’s attention so that they are aware of the issue and that legal action may be taken.
Luke stated to the Board that when we transitioned companies, we made the decision to keep all outstanding claims with the previous carrier Voya, to maintain continuity for the technicians under claim.
Luke stated that what Voya is doing is that they must hold back reserves to pay those claims and essentially what is occurring here is the amount of money that Voya is holding back is considerably more than they have historically held in claims with the delta being approximately $200,000 to $300,000 which is our money.
Luke added that there is no rationale for them proposing to keep more money other than the fact that they are trying to get as much out of us as they can due to terminal accounting.
Luke stated that we are entitled to this money and that there is no basis in holding back more reserves, so we are going to use legal means and otherwise as we are trying to get information out of them prior to going through legal means.
Luke added that as Gen Ross has stated, they have stopped responding so we are going to do what is necessary to get those funds that are our funds.
Gen Boyles thanked Luke for his comments and for his work on the insurance program.
Following no further questions or comments, Luke then presented the NGEF Update to the Board.
NGEF Update – Mr. Luke Guthrie
Luke provided the NGEF Board with a snapshot of the year within the Educational Foundation.
• Nearly $547,000 Raised thus far this year
• 9 Guardian Scholarships awarded to the children of fallen Guardsmen
• CNGB Direct Mail – Luke thanked GENs McKinley, Grass, & Lengyel, who helped earlier this year send a signed letter/direct mail fundraising appeal to our NGAUS members who are General Officers which raised over $31,000 from that letter.
• Legion de Lafayette’s (LDL) (A pretty good year for LDLs as it remains a major donor society and a major source of the foundation’s revenue)
• Spruance Legacy Award (8th Year - The only award that NGEF gives which is for sustained commitment and giving to the foundation).
• 25th Annual NGEF Golf Tournament held this past October
• 80th D-Day Anniversary next June
Gen Boyles asked Luke how the $547,000 raised thus far for the year compared to what was budgeted.
Luke responded that it exceeds what we have projected and is probably slightly above historical averages, but it varies from year to year.
Luke then discussed the Guardian Scholarship and stated that for the last 13 years, defense contractor and our industry partner Leonardo DRS has been the sole benefactor of the Guardian Scholarship.
Luke then stated that after 13 years, they received the phone call that they knew was coming at some point in which DRS stated that they could no longer support the program based on business priorities.
Luke added that thankfully, when USAA was contacted, they did what they always do and did what they asked of them, and they absorbed the scholarship.
Luke stated that moving forward, as of January 1, 2024, we will be operating the USAA Guardian Scholarship.
Luke added that this past year, we awarded 9 Guardian scholarships, which brings our total to about 110 ($25,000 scholarships each over 4 years) in the last 13 years to kids who are the children of fallen Guardsmen.
Luke stated that tonight, prior to the LDL Ceremony, we will be honoring a young lady named Gabrielle Bowen from Maryland whose dad was lost in Afghanistan when she was only three years old.
Luke stated that this evening, we will be honoring Gabrielle and her mom prior to the LDL ceremony.
Luke then provided a snapshot of the 20 Legion de Lafayette recipients who will be honored during tomorrow evening’s ceremony:
In Memory SFC Collin J. Bowen Col (ret) David Kirtley
Airbus MG (Ret.) Francis & Kerry McGinn
AM General In Memory of 1LT Francis M. McGinn
Maj Gen (ret) Daryl & Kris Bohac Northrop Grumman
Brig Gen (ret) Dave Brubaker Oshkosh Defense
In Memory of SFC Jimmie L. Cole Sr. Rocky Brands
Maj Gen (ret) Garry Dean Maj Gen (ret) Terry L. Scherling
In Memory Capt. Demetriades Sr. LTC (Ret) Chris W. Small
Driscoll-Morin Family In Memory Stanley Black & Decker
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems USAA
In Memory of the Hove, Matzke, and Maj Gen (ret) Delilah R. Works
Wengert Men Who Served
Gen Robinson mentioned to Luke that his projected revenue last year that he was going to raise under the NGEF was targeted at $406,000 and asked what the number was again that was raised this year.
Luke responded “$547,000”.
Luke then discussed the Spruance Legacy Award which is the only award that NGEF offers and noted that this is the eighth time that we have made this award.
Luke stated that this is the first award to a small to medium-sized American company, Rocky Brands/Rocky Boots, who are very well deserving of this distinction as they have donated nearly $100,000 over the last decade to NGEF.
Luke also noted that the NGEF Golf Tournament was held on October 2nd with over 100 golfers in attendance with nice weather.
Luke asked that the Board members save the date for next year’s 26th NGEF Golf Tournament scheduled for Monday, September 23, 2024.
Following no further questions or comments, Gen Boyles thanked Luke for his presentation and then turned the meeting over to Gen Cole for the General Conference Update.
General Conference Committee Update – Gen Cole & LTC (Ret) Jake Jakubek
Gen Cole stated that the General Conference Committee convened yesterday at 0800 with the main tasking to consider the bid to host the 2028 General Conference and to receive an update from Team Michigan.
Gen Cole stated that Team Michigan came in and had a Q&A session with the Committee followed by a detailed engagement yesterday evening with key members from the NGAUS leadership and staff along with MG Rogers and his team from Michigan.
Gen Cole stated that during such time, they were able to address all parties’ questions to meet Michigan and NGAUS’ intent for a successful conference.
Gen Cole also noted the following highlights this year:
• To meet Team Michigan and Gen Rogers intent of promoting their state, we will be doing what Gen Cole considered the first Michigan Pavilion in the Exhibit Hall. Gen Cole stated that Jake will continue to work with Team Michigan as we move forward.
• Gen Cole stated that Gen Rogers and Team Michigan’s intent is for this to be the year of the Company Grade and to help promote our future leaders and get more increased involvement from that category of our membership.
Gen Cole stated that he believed that we were on track to have a successful conference there.
Gen Cole stated that additionally, we had two bids yesterday, one from Puerto Rico and one from Maryland with both teams well-prepared.
Gen Cole noted that both Adjutant Generals were present with the professional teams that represented both their association as well as their convention bureau leadership.
Gen Cole stated that both presentations were very professional and that both presentations met the criteria spelled out in the SOP.
Gen Cole stated that after careful deliberation, along with input from our advisory team, the General Conference Committee unanimously selected Puerto Rico to host the 150th NGAUS General Conference & Exhibition in August of 2028.
Gen Cole noted a couple of key points that were brought up by the committee:
1. The committee was extremely impressed with the preparedness of Team Puerto Rico when they came in and did their presentation.
2. The committee was excited about the ability for an enhanced attendee experience in Puerto Rico.
3. The cost to the members is comparable between both bids, but with a tropical destination.
4. Puerto Rico was innovative and met the Conference Committee’s “ask” to be creative.
5. The opportunity to visit an island destination at least once every ten years, which is not documented but is a desire of the committee.
6. Puerto Rico has also provided a great past experience to our members in 2007.
7. Puerto Rico has solid exhibitor space.
Gen Cole stated that one of the discussion topics from our Corporate Advisory Panel representatives was acknowledging the differences between exhibit space available at a location like Puerto Rico and when we go to Hawaii versus a CONUS space.
Gen Cole stated that they talked through history, and that normally our corporate partners would reduce the amount of heavy type of equipment that they would bring to those locations, but they would continue to participate at those locations.
Gen Cole stated that everything was positive and that the recommendation and selection from the committee was a unanimous vote.
Gen Cole then moved to accept the bid from Puerto Rico to host the 2028 General Conference in San Juan Puerto Rico and upon validation of a site visit acceptance of the bid will be complete with no further Board action required, thus allowing formal notification and acceptance to the Puerto Rico Team. Seconded by Gen Berry.
Q&A
Lt Col Sanchez asked (via phone) whether the discussion came up regarding 2028 being a presidential election year and that usually we have some of the presidential candidates show up at the conference.
Lt Col Sanchez also asked whether Puerto Rico was going to be ok trying to get the presidential candidates out there.
Gen Cole responded that it was a great question and stated that the matter was a discussion point during the committee meeting and noted that we had hosted twice in the past in Maryland during an election year.
Gen Cole further responded that the question was posed to both teams and that Puerto Rico also has experience in hosting either sitting presidents or candidates.
Gen Robinson stated that the best way to comment is to note that Sen. John McCain came to the island of Puerto Rico the last time NGAUS was there during a presidential cycle.
Gen Cole reiterated that the matter was indeed a discussion point.
Following no further questions or discussions, the motion to accept the bid from Puerto Rico to host the 2028 General Conference in San Juan Puerto Rico, with the provisions as previously stated by Gen Cole, was carried by unanimous consent.
Gen Boyles thanked Gen Cole for his presentation and then asked whether anyone had any comments or anything to brief to the Board by exception.
Lt Col Marshall spoke and commended Team Nevada for their outstanding job hosting this past conference in Reno, NV.
Lt Col Marshall then raised the matter of NGAUS giving a platform to Gen Dunbar to speak at the conference and discussed his belief that it was not a good look for our association to do so.
Gen Robinson responded and stated that when it came up before the Board for Gen Dunbar to do some contracting work, Gen Dunbar was still going through the process with the Air Force and that his case was not resolved.
Gen Robinson stated that he was not sure if the Board was aware that Gen Dunbar’s case was later resolved with absolutely zero findings and that everything that Donald Dunbar was accused of doing in his official status as the AG of Wisconsin proved to be untrue and he was completely cleared.
Gen Robinson also noted that Gen Dunbar was retired at the last grade that he held and was given a clean review by the Department of the Air Force upon the completion of the investigation, which lasted almost three years.
Gen Robinson stated that he thinks that it is important that people understand that sometimes when people are accused of some of these things, it does not necessarily mean that they are guilty.
Lt Col Marshall responded “Absolutely.”
Gen Robinson stated that he was aware of some of the things that were going on with the National Guard at the time, and that there were some things done that were totally inappropriate by some very senior leaders in the Guard.
Gen Robinson further stated that he thought that it would be unfair to not treat Gen Dunbar fairly now because he has been an unbelievable supporter and proponent of this association.
Gen Robinson then stated to the Board the following, “Donald Dunbar may be the straightest arrow that I have ever worked with,” and that some of the judgment was somewhat unfair, but that hopefully the updated information would eventually penetrate through the masses that what was accused wound up being not true.
Lt Col Marshall thanked Gen Robinson for the update and stated that he appreciated it as he, and possibly many others, may not be aware of the final resolution and that he was empathetic about what occurred yet mentioned that the headlines are still out there, and that we must be very careful about how we tread through those things.
Gen Boyles stated that he appreciated Lt Col Marshall for bringing up the matter and added that there may be a lot of other people out there who are not aware of the outcome of the litigation.
Gen Boyles stated that the matter of Gen Dunbar speaking at the conference was discussed and that they thought that with the matter being cleared, they felt that they could do it.
Gen Boyles added that we do need to get that message out there somehow.
Gen Boyles then asked whether there were any other comments about the General Conference.
CGO Army Director CPT Petersen discussed with the Board the CGO attendance at this past conference in Reno, while also noting some of the high points that they took away from their most recent feedback.
CPT Petersen noted that CGO attendance was down and that they were very confident that they are putting on a strong program of professional development but noted that they were down by 16% on the Army side and 10% on the Air side.
CPT Petersen stated that it is an assumption that they are going to make, but the CNGB memo came out very late in the year last year and they can assume that funding constraints resulted in fewer Company Grade attendees.
CPT Petersen stated that in addition, the dollar amount didn’t match with the attendees allowed to be sent by state.
CPT Petersen further stated that if next year (2024) is intended to be the year of the Company Grade, he thinks that we need to try to influence that memo to come out sooner so that states can obligate those funds correctly and forecast that.
CPT Bilal added that if people were to advocate for that, then the language of the memo also needs to be updated because it is very restrictive.
Gen Boyles asked whether they were basically saying that the letter needed to be scrutinized and whether feedback needed to be provided.
CPT Petersen responded, “Yes.”
Gen Boyles asked whether anyone had a copy of the letter.
Gen Robinson responded that we work on the letter every year and that there is kind of a little bit of friction with the leadership at the Bureau and what they are willing to include.
Gen Robinson added that there is some flexibility that they have been able to field into the letter that some of the AGs in the states choose not to take advantage of.
Gen Robinson stated that it is not always the language in the letter from the Bureau that is of issue but sometimes it is the local interpretation by the senior leadership in the state that does not fully utilize the potential of what the letters allows.
Gen Robinson stated that we do have an agreement with GEN Hokanson, LTG Jensen, and Lt Gen Loh and have had a constant dialogue and commitment from them to increase the number of officers across the board that would be able to attend in an official status.
Gen Robinson added that maybe we can work on the language a bit and get some help from some of the PFOs as it is hard to direct a USPFO and an AG on how they interpret the language in the letter.
Gen Robinson mentioned that there are plenty of AGs out there and PFOs across the country that did a really good job of getting people to the conference in an official status.
Gen Robinson stated that the leadership at the Bureau (Hokanson, Jensen, & Loh) all support expanding those numbers as best we can.
Gen Robinson stated that they would continue to work on that.
CPT Petersen thanked Gen Robinson.
EANGUS President MSgt Reilly added that this was something that EANGUS was working on as well as he had a meeting with SEA Whitehead specifically about the matter while also discussing the matter with Charles Young at the NGAUS Conference this past year.
MSgt Reilly stated that in addition to either giving that flexibility to the TAGs in allowing people to go, kind of curtailing that so we could team up, if you want, on both ends.
MSgt Reilly stated that the other thing is that there are 54 different languages and interpretations, and that they are also trying to understand how we best promote the associations, promote SSLI, etc., in the most ethical, legal, and moral way.
Gen Boyles thanked MSgt Reilly for his comments.
Gen Boyles then went through the agenda and asked whether any of the other presenters on the schedule wanted an opportunity to speak.
Gen Boyles asked the Company Grade Directors whether they had anything else to present.
CPT Petersen responded, “No sir.”
Gen Boyles then asked whether the Warrant Officers had anything to present.
The WO Committee members responded that they did not have anything to present to the Board.
Gen Boyles asked whether the Retired Separated Directors had a report to present.
Gen Doorenbos stated that they did not have anything to present right now and that they had lots of great ideas that may require a little bit of travel and possibly some money, but they would defer at this time.
Gen Doorenbos stated to Gen Boyles that she and Gen Oster talked about maybe going to speak to the EDs about best practices and getting the word out to try and find ways to capture retirees as they come off duty to increase the retiree role.
Gen Boyles responded that he understood.
Gen Boyles then asked Gen Robinson whether he had any comments.
Gen Robinson stated that he was just trying to find out where Gen Oster went because he spent an hour and a half bending his ear and beating him over the head and now he’s not saying anything.
(Laughter from the Board)
Gen Oster responded to Gen Robinson that he basically gave him permission to do everything that he wanted to do so why would he want to say anything else.
(Laughter from the Board)
Gen Boyles then asked Mike whether he had a Legislative Update to present.
Mike responded that he did.
Gen Robinson briefly interjected to commend Maria and Gen Simmons for their work with Membership and noted to the Board that this past week we had exceeded our membership goal for the year.
Gen Robinson stated that if you have never worked up close and personal with membership, you do not understand what it involves.
Gen Robinson stated that he does not know if he has ever seen anybody as Chairman of the Membership Committee have the kind of effect that Randall Simmons has had and that he meant that sincerely.
Gen Robinson added that since Maria came into the position, she has done an incredible lift on Membership.
Gen Robinson stated that we are not where we want to be, but he thinks that we are headed there as he commended Gen Simmons and Maria for their efforts.
(Applause by the Board)
Gen Boyles then turned the meeting over to Mike for the Legislative Update.
Legislative Update – Col (Ret) Mike Hadley
Mike stated that in the interest of justice he would keep his remarks short.
Mike then provided a few highlights to the Board.
Mike noted to the Board that we finally got the CR passed this week which has been signed into law.
Mike stated that we have two CRs that that are watching right now and that the first one which concerns them is with MILCON.
Mike also noted that there are two different deadlines the MILCON CR, which takes us out to January 17 and that finally we also have the DoD Defense budget CR that is going to take us out to February 2.
Mike directed the Board’s attention to the legislative handouts that were distributed which give more detail on everything that his team was currently working on.
Mike stated that his team would continue to update the Board regarding how the outcome of what the Defense appropriations are going to look like beyond those dates.
Mike then discussed the NDAA and stated that the House and the Senate have both completed their work and that now we are just waiting for it to go to conference.
Mike added that he believed that we are probably going to get an NDAA completed before the end of the year but to stay tuned because there will probably be more dramatics that take place before we get to it.
Lastly, Mike highlighted discussions on the Equipment transfer to Ukraine and mentioned that a lot of states were aware that we have been directed to start sending equipment over to help with Ukraine.
Mike stated that what they are concerned with is not just the equipment transfer but more importantly the accounting of it and then down the road how DoD services are going to budget to ensure that we have proper backfill of that.
Mike added that up to this point we have not seen a formalized plan on how we are going to get there so hopefully if his team is successful, they are going to get some reporting requirements back to DoD directing them to provide a continual update on how we are going to get better down the road.
Mike mentioned that there is going to be leadership changeout probably now and between the time that we do have to start refilling those ranks of equipment.
Mike stated that he just wanted to put that on everyone’s radar because that issue is going to continue to grow.
Q&A
Gen Cole asked Mike to quickly cover the current status of the Mike Victor.
Mike mentioned to the Board that Gen Cole had a question regarding the UH-60V program and stated that this is a UH-60 recap program that has been in place now for several years that converts UH-60Ls over to UH-60Vs that provides a lot of new components, a digitized cockpit, etc.
Mike added that what has happened was that it was found out a few days ago that there has been a safety and flight message that went out to stand down the fleet until some critical inspections were completed.
Mike mentioned that Georgia was one of the last states that got a tranche of UH-60Vs and they have 10 of them and they started doing a 40-hr inspection and found FOD and metal shavings inside one of the engine compartments which prompted them to do further inspections on some of the other aircraft they had.
Mike stated that what they were told was that about 7-10 of the aircraft had significant FOD or other faults that were found, crushed wire bundles, etc.
Mike stated that this prompted a safety and flight message to stand down the fleet until all of the aircraft could be inspected.
Mike mentioned that there was more to follow and thinks that it may have significant impact on the program going forward, but that his team would continue to monitor that.
Gen Cole thanked Mike and stated that he thinks that it is important for everyone to know that there was already a move to shut down the Victor program with current production, while noting that TN received 4 aircraft on Wednesday.
Further discussions were held concerning the matter.
Gen Cole stated that this is something that he thinks that the Board needs to monitor very closely and assist where they can and help get all that fleet across our formations modernized.
Gen Cole thanked Mike for the update.
Gen Ring added for the Board’s awareness that the Sikorsky UH-60M model line currently does have a termination point that is currently at the DA level and that they are looking to extend that line.
Concerning Zero-Cost TRICARE and Dental, Gen McGinn mentioned to Mike that his report said that we are advocating to the Conference Committee to include this in the final bill and asked Mike to elaborate on what strategy and lobbying efforts were being taken on that legislation.
Mike responded that the TRICARE component is kind of stalled largely in Congress, however one of the things that was brought to his team was the idea of trying to go after a portion of that with regard to the Dental.
Mike stated that Congress thought that was a much more attainable thing, at least in this session.
Mike stated that there was a new bill proposed just to cover dental this year and in fact, Congressman Kelly and Congressman Kim’s office offered up both of those and are the primary sponsors of both of those pieces of legislation which is moving forward.
Mike added that it is included in the House language right now so it will definitely be a conference item and that candidly it is going to be a tough hurdle to overcome and to get accomplished this year, but we will see.
Further discussions were held regarding the matter.
Gen McGinn asked the TAGs in the room whether this was a priority for them.
AGAUS President Gen Harris responded that the TAGs had discussions at their last AGAUS meeting about what their priorities were going to be and that while there were a lot of new and interesting things introduced, their priorities remained those 4 priorities that they had last year, to include this issue as one of the priorities.
Gen Harris stated that one of the things that they are committed to was actually developing a one-pager talking card so that when TAGs go in to visit their congressional delegations, they hit on those 4 priorities.
Following no further questions or comments, Gen Boyles thanked Mike for his presentation and then continued to move on with the agenda.
Gen Boyles asked Gen Simmons whether he had anything to add with respect to Membership.
Membership Update – MG (Ret) Randall Simmons
Gen Simmons stated that with respect to the Membership strength numbers for this year, there were 42 states that improved or maintained their 100%, which is pretty positive and that the focus of the Membership going forward is to focus on the 19 states that dropped a little, especially some of the large states that are in that 19 that make up such big numbers.
Gen Simmons thanked everyone for their support of Membership and certainly all of the states and the state associations are the ones who really make it happen.
Gen Boyles thanked Gen Simmons for his presentation and commented that he appreciated his hard work.
Gen Boyles asked whether Blaise was present for the Industry Update.
Industry Report – Brig Gen (Ret) Maria Kelly for Mr. Blaise Lemke
Maria responded that Blaise was not present while mentioning to the Board that Industry Day would be held on December 11th and 12th, with the program being an open invitation in partnership with the Corporate Advisory Program.
Maria also noted that Industry Day is two days with Day 1 being the Mini Workshop where a lot of new industry comes in and it is hosted and put on by the CAP here in the NGAUS building, with of course Day 2 being the Industry Day where we hear from a lot of our leadership for the greater population of Industry.
Maria stated to the Board that we would love to see everyone there.
Following no questions or comments, Gen Boyles thanked Maria for her presentation and then asked Mr. Bruce VanSkiver whether he had a CAP Report to present to the Board.
CAP Report – Mr. Bruce VanSkiver
Mr. VanSkiver thanked Maria and her team while also commending Blaise for bringing in his congressional experience and really providing an education for all of our industry partners out there.
Mr. VanSkiver stated that one of the things that they have been focused on putting in this year is education with our new industry partners.
Mr. VanSkiver discussed some of the things that the CAP has done in cooperation with NGAUS which have really made a fundamental difference, such as the Minuteman Stage at this past NGAUS Conference in Reno, NV.
Mr. VanSkiver also discussed the new industry workshop which took place on the Exhibit floor at that time and its impact on providing best practices on Day 1.
Mr. VanSkiver thanked NGAUS leadership for the flexibility to do so at this past conference in Reno.
Mr. VanSkiver also discussed the following with the Board:
• NGAUS Corporate Member Industry Rates
• Corporate Newsletter
• Education and Engagement of New Corporate Members
• The makeup of the CAP (Corporate Advisory Panel)
Following no questions or comments, Gen Boyles thanked Mr. VanSkiver for his report and then asked Gen Harris whether he had anything else to add for AGAUS.
Additional AGAUS Comments – MG John Harris
Gen Harris stated that he did not have much more to add other than what was previously stated regarding the priorities and where the TAGs are going with those.
Gen Harris added that the focus at least for his term as AGAUS President is really refreshing their relationship with some of the other entities in this space.
Gen Harris stated that they are going to return their meetings back to the NGAUS building and that he would be meeting with the National Governors Association on 6 December to figure out how to strengthen that relationship and gain a little better synergy between AGAUS and the NGA.
Gen Keefe asked Gen Harris to discuss the matter of the reserves going into states looking to extend state educational benefits a state has for their guardsmen to the reserve and how that is happening.
Gen Harris responded that he is knee deep into this issue right now in his very own state and noted that the reality is that this is a nationally initiated effort, yet the reserves deny it.
Gen Harris stated that the reality is that they are looking to the states to fill the gaps in the federal funding shortfalls for incentives for the reserve components.
Gen Harris stated that we would see far more aggression in many of our states in the upcoming legislative cycle.
Gen Keefe stated that since we now have the partnership with AUSA he thought that this is probably something that needed to be brought back to them since we sit at the table, to make them aware of the matter.
Following no further questions or comments, Gen Boyles thanked Gen Harris for his comments and then asked Chief Sweeney whether he had a NGEDA Report for the Board.
NGEDA Report – CSM (Ret) Bob Sweeney
Chief Sweeney highlighted the NGEDA Business Meeting that is scheduled to take place 15-19 January 2024.
Chief Sweeney stated that every other year they have a NGAUS Training Day at NGEDA and that the 2024 meeting would be the year to return to hosting the 101 Training, which would include a lot of the subjects that the Board mentioned today being covered at NGEDA as well.
Chief Sweeney also discussed the awards program and getting that information out at NGEDA and giving people examples of how to do that as they would like to see more state associations participate in the program.
Chief Sweeney also discussed the opportunity at NGEDA to educate the EDs on the changes to the Insurance Trust Program and to help them with respect to the marketing of the program.
Chief Sweeney mentioned that they have tentatively scheduled Mr. Charlie Young (NGB General Counsel) to come out to the NGEDA conference.
Chief Sweeney stated that following yesterday’s General Conference Committee meeting, they have finally set the registration fees for the Detroit conference.
General Conference Committee Chair Gen Cole confirmed with Gen Rogers that the Company Grade and the Field Grade registration was set last night.
Gen Rogers concurred.
Gen Cole stated that where we are currently with registration is $0.00 for Company Grade and their spouse, $50.00 for Field Grade and their spouse, and then the $180.00 registration fee for General Officers, our Corporate Partners, and our Retirees.
Chief Sweeney stated that he thinks that is critical for us because when the EDs come to the NGEDA meeting in January, they will be selecting hotels for the Detroit Conference.
Chief Sweeney stated that we hopefully anticipate more rooms being requested, so they need to network that out as soon as they can to all of our EDs.
Chief Sweeney asked all the Areas to talk to their state presidents to update them on the information so that the information could be marketed to the Company Grades because if we are going to increase, we should see an increase in room reservations.
Gen Boyles asked whether qualifying for the free, no cost attendance meant that you had to be a member of the association.
Gen Robinson responded that there is no requirement that you be a member of the association to attend our conference and that what we do have is a lot of people who catch up on their dues and wind up being members by the end of the conference period.
Gen Robinson added that there was no requirement to be a member and that we did not put any kind of rules on the registration fee to associate membership with it.
Gen Gordon asked about the status of registration for Warrant Officers.
Gen Cole responded that they would fall under the same category as 1s and 2s for Company Grades, 3s and above are Field Grades.
Chief Sweeney stated that the information would be spelled out on the registration form as well.
Following no further questions or comments, Gen Boyles thanked Chief Sweeney for his report and then moved on with the agenda to MSgt Reilly and the EANGUS Report.
EANGUS Report – MSgt (Ret) Dan Reilly
MSgt Reilly stated that there were a lot of great things on the horizon for EANGUS but like any other organization, they also have challenges that they are actively working on and that there are a lot of growing pains that take place when you are trying to change things and make things more innovative.
MSgt Reilly stated that some of the things that they have been doing is streamlining processes, creating online forms for resolution submissions, bylaw changes, and anything that they could do to make things easier for their members to be more actively involved.
Concerning membership, MSgt Reilly stated that when he took over, they closed out 2021 with about 36,000 members and finished 2022 with 39,365 members while vastly approaching that number right now.
MSgt Reilly also discussed how EANGUS has enhanced their bylaws to streamline the whole free digital membership.
MSgt Reilly noted that even with the free one-year memberships, they have had more life members now especially in the last two months, than they have had in their history.
Legislatively, MSgt Reilly stated that they are obviously in line with NGAUS and that the teams are pretty tight with that.
Concerning EANGUS events, MSgt Reilly also stated that they have projected out four years of events, after looking at the NGAUS, AGAUS, and NGEDA calendar of events, while making sure that there was no conflict with scheduling.
MSgt Reilly stated that the information would be sent out there highlighting the main events that they have.
MSgt Reilly noted that in 2025, EANGUS will be holding their conference in Reno, NV from 9-14 August and discussed with the Board how they have revamped the process of their national conference.
MSgt Reilly discussed the importance of not only addressing the needs of their members, but also their state associations as well by looking at committees that were stagnant in the past while introducing new committees.
MSgt Reilly discussed how he tasked their Junior Enlisted with creating podcasts for events.
MSgt Reilly also discussed the Legislative Quarterly Summit.
Gen Boyles stated that he thinks that everyone could tell from MSgt Reilly’s presentation that he is a great leader for the EANGUS organization.
Gen Boyles stated that he had a chance to attend their annual conference this year and it had great attendance and great turnout with the NGB leaders there and just a great program.
Gen Boyles commended MSgt Reilly for a great program and for providing great leadership.
MSgt Reilly thanked NGAUS and Gen Boyles for the impact that he left showing up for those PDs prior to hosting the NGAUS Conference and that they appreciated it.
Following no further presentations, questions or comments, Gen Boyles stated to the Board that the next order of business was to go into Executive Session to take care of two matters.
Gen Cole made a motion to move into Executive Session prior to lunch to cover a couple of matters and reminded the Board that they would be going straight into Executive Session following their return from lunch and that those that were on the phone that were voting members would not be able to participate in the Executive Session for “call-ins”, nor were there any proxies allowed for that process.
Discussions were held by the Board regarding the Executive Session directives as outlined by Gen Cole, specifically with regards to remote Board members not being able to participate in today’s Executive Session, specifically, the vote to fill the President’s position.
Following ongoing discussions, Gen Ross explained to the Board that parties who are normally present on the phone are aware that every time that the Board goes into Executive Session, the phone lines are cut off and that they do not get to participate by remote in Executive Session because you have no control over who you are sharing the information with.
Gen Ross stated that he believed that was the rationale and that he did not believe that anyone ever questioned it before.
Gen Robinson reminded the Board that minutes are not even taken during the Executive Session and that there is usually just a one-line synopsis at the end of the session based on the Board Secretary’s interpretations of the decisions that were made.
Gen Robinson added that the only way they have been able to control it in the past has been to disconnect all external communication.
Gen Berry seconded the motion to move into Executive Session and the board voted to approve the motion.
During the executive session the board approved the following motions:
• a 6.982% bonus for the current President.
• Gen Frank McGinn as the new President.
• Acting Chair (Jimmie Cole) and the Treasurer to negotiate the salary package for the new President.
The Board came out of executive session. Discussion was held regarding the timing of the announcement of the new President. Gen Boyles asked if there was any other business to discuss.
Gen Rogers discussed the upcoming conference and reducing the costs of participation in the conference, especially for Company Grade Officers.
Gen Keefe asked a question regarding participation of State Partnership partners and the possibility of having a formal breakout for them. The discussion was deferred until the March meeting.
Gen Robinson congratulated Gen McGinn on his appointment to the position and said he would ensure a smooth transition. He then expressed his gratitude to the board for their support, advice, counsel, etc.
Taskers: Gen Sheridan
Previous Taskers:
• Legislative Affairs will provide a civic engagement proposal that includes budget, legal ethics review, and the effect on 501(c)(19) status to the legislative staff and the Finance Committee (ongoing).
• Gen Boyles will work with Gen Cole (Army) and Gen Berry (Air) regarding the Task Force matter (closed).
New Taskers:
• The Resolutions Committee will review and make recommendations regarding the multi-domain naming issue (ongoing).
• The Awards Committee will create a video regarding how to write awards (ongoing).
• Legislative Affairs will research how long it took to get the ANG statutorily included (ongoing).
Gen Gordon announced her retirement and expressed her gratitude to the board.
Gen Boyles entertained a motion to adjourn. Gen Cole so moved. Gen Gordon seconded. Motion carried and meeting was adjourned.
