USA Boxing Conference Call Summary to Membership
Mike Martino October 15, 2009
October 15, 2009
TO: USA Boxing Membership
FROM: Michael S. Martino, Interim Executive Director
DISTRIBUTED VIA: Web & Email
CONFERENCE CALL SUMMARY
I want to thank the USA Boxing members who participated in the two conference calls last week. I believe the communications were helpful from a National Office position and also provided valuable feedback to the Board of Directors. These calls also allowed the membership to voice their frustrations with USA Boxing, most specifically, how the organization was mismanaged to the point where USA Boxing was close to collapsing. For those members who were unable to participate, I hope this letter provides the answers to many of the questions that surround our current National Governing Body status, financial issues, membership - club - sanction fee increases, insurance coverage, and the strategies for taking the steps toward the reorganization of USA Boxing.
As many of you are aware, USA Boxing faces a number of obstacles in our attempt to operate a fiscally sound National Governing Body. The Board of Directors and the National Office are working to restructure current debt, create a balanced budget for 2010, and maintain the programs and initiatives that are necessary to provide services to our grassroots programs and develop competitive international men's and women's teams.
One of the most serious challenges confronting USA Boxing has been our insurance. The premiums continue to increase, and the only choice we have is to decrease coverage, increase deductibles and pay higher premiums. During the past three months, representatives of the National Office, USA Boxing Foundation and USA Board of Directors have conducted numerous conversations with our broker, ESIX Entertainment & Sports Insurance Experts, relating to our insurance renewal process/quotes. In the end, we were able to secure coverage. It is only because of the Foundation's commitment to our organization that we were able to meet this obligation. We are grateful for their trust and will fulfill all obligations associated with our Foundation relationship.
Agenda
We used the following agenda items as the outline for the calls.
- Foundation Loan
- Membership Fee, Club Dues and Sanction increases
- Governance Changes
- Insurance Renewals
- USA Boxing National Coach
- Independent Board Membership Nominations Robert Purdy and Barry Elson
- USA Boxing's 2010 High Performance Plan, submitted to USOC
- 2010 National Tournament
Foundation Loan
History.....The Board of Directors met with representatives of the USA Boxing Foundation and United States Olympic Committee on August 4, 2009. The meeting was scheduled to provide those entities with an overview of USA Boxing's current leadership and financial challenges, insurance renewal updates, and the membership interest in examining our current governance. USA Boxing presented a plan for reorganization that would provide for LBC's to have the right to vote on USA Boxing Board of Directors' membership.
During the meeting, USA Boxing made a request for a loan to the entities in the amount of $500,000. USA Boxing representatives Tom Virgets, Michael Martino and Joe Higgins presented information that stated USA Boxing would be at risk of failing as the National Governing Body if the loan was not made. USA Boxing would not be able to pay the October 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010 insurance premiums, which would put USA Boxing out of business. The Foundation and USOC requested additional information and deliverables (supporting documents) with deadlines. USA accepted the challenge and the meeting was adjourned.
On September 28, the Foundation conducted a Trustee conference call. The Foundation agreed to loan USA Boxing $300,000 with the following conditions:
- The payments constitute loans to USA Boxing and shall be repaid to the Foundation in equal annual installments of $50,000 without interest, the first payment to be made on or before December 31, 2010, said payments shall be in addition to the monies to be paid to the Foundation pursuant to the Settlement Agreement between the parties dated June 12, 2009.
- USA Boxing shall execute documents satisfactory to the Foundation memorializing the loans from the Foundation to USA Boxing; Payment of the insurance premiums due after October 1, 2009 and on or before January 1, 2010 are conditioned upon the following which must first occur:
- USA Boxing provides for increased revenue from its membership and other sources such as the United States Olympic Committee, exclusive of the Foundation, sufficient to balance its budget and repay the monies owed to the Foundation in 2010 and thereafter;
- USA Boxing considers governance changes to provide membership with a voice in the governance of USA Boxing through the selection of one or more directors or other such measures.
USA Board of Directors action on Foundation and Fee Increase
On September 26, 2009, the Directors conducted a Board Meeting conference call. The Board approved a motion to accept the Foundation loan in the amount of $300,000, recognizing that if the Board did not accept the Foundation loan, USA Boxing would not be able to pay the October 1, 2009 insurance premium. The Board agreed to accept the conditions attached to the loan. Interim Executive Director Michael Martino presented the plan for membership, club and sanction fee increases. The Board approved the following motion:
For the year 2010 the following increases will be approved:
|
$40.00 |
The Membership Services Department will be preparing a detailed letter outlining these increases. The letter will also discuss the new insurance limits and deductibles. We hope to have this letter sent to LBC leadership by next week, to allow adequate time to notify its membership about 2010 fees.
The Board of Directors discussed re-establishing the policy that Membership Fees must pay for Membership Services. This discussion focused on the Board examining the fee structure each September to determine the increase or decrease of fees based on the projected budget.
The Board then passed a motion that provided for a change of governance for USA Boxing. This document was reviewed and approved by Board members, with the understanding that it would need to be approved by both AIBA and the USOC before USA Boxing could take action. The new governance will give LBCs the right to conduct elections to select a specific number of Directors. The number of Directors will be determined at a later date, once the change of governance proposal has been returned with approval from AIBA and the USOC. Initial plans have LBCs retaining one vote each. The LBC's would have the right to select two grassroots directors, one coach director, one official director and one women's boxing director. Affiliate organizations would be represented by one director. The board would have two or three athlete directors (voted on by athletes) based on the 20% representation. The board would continue to seat two or three independent board members. The selection process would include a credentials committee that would have objective criteria to determine qualifications prior to the board voting on accepting the candidate.
Insurance Renewal
USA Boxing renewed their insurance policies on October 1. As discussed above, the Foundation's loan will provide the funds to pay the October 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010 quarterly premiums. During the renewal process it became evident that USA Boxing would not be able to carry the same coverage as the previous year. Increases in premiums and the limited number of Insurance Companies interested in our high risk business created a challenging task of finding appropriate coverage. As a result, USA Boxing had to make some very difficult decisions regarding coverage and deductibles.
We recognize that many of our athletes utilize the insurance as their primary coverage for boxing injuries. However, USA Boxing's insurance has always been a secondary policy. Our sport accident insurance remains at $25,000 per accident claim. The change is associated with the deductible, which has increased to $1,000 per incident, if the athlete carries a primary policy, and $2,500 deductible per incident if USA Boxing's policy is primary. The National Office and our insurance broker have researched other National Governing Bodies to determine their coverage limits and deductibles and we have found that we are consistent with their insurance programs.
USA Boxing National Coach
The Board of Directors passed a motion to name Ed Weichers, Volunteer National Coach. By passing this motion, the Board wanted to bring closure to the search and interview process that named Ed and Joe Zanders finalists for the position. Ed and Joe participated in oral interviews with a selection committee during the week of the 2009 National Championships. Supporting documents were distributed to the Board after the interview process, but no action had been taken to complete the process.
This is a volunteer position and no funds from the 2009 High Performance Plan will be dedicated to this position. We welcome Ed to the National Staff. His first assignment - - take over as Chair of the Coaches International Task Force.
Independent Board Membership
Recruitment of Independent Board members has remained a challenge for our organization. Recently, under the recommendation of Foundation Trustee Bill Deeter, two independent candidates, Robert Purdy and Barry Elson, were interviewed by Chair Tom Virgets and Interim Executive Director Michael Martino. The Board passed a motion to send their names to the current USA Boxing Board of Director's Nominating Committee for review. The National Office will keep membership posted on any action.
2010 National Tournament
The National Office is looking at several options for hosting the 2010 USA Boxing Championships. As many of you know, the Daniels Fund contributed $100,000 to our tournament last year. These funds were provided through a two-year grant. We are in discussion with the Daniels Foundation to modify the original grant which mandates that the tournament be conducted in Denver. One scenario would be to conduct the preliminary bouts through the semi-final round at the Olympic Training Center, and move the Championship Finals to Denver. This plan is in the early stages, but does create some interesting marketing opportunities.
Rate It
Signin to rank content.
