The Early Years: A Change in Management
The AUGI Board of Directors entered 2008 by reviewing all of the governing policies that had been used before and decided to get educated on a method called Policy Governance. This is a method of governance that the Board began studying in 2007. In this model of governance there is a balance between policy creation and oversight to provide guidelines to the Executive functions of the organization. Rigid reporting and monitoring are gained through documented boundaries and limitations as well as direction and principles provided.
The Board was encouraged by Autodesk to continue expanding internationally. As AUGI moves in this direction the need for greater structure and expanded organizational teams began to be planned. The AUGI Board expressed a desire to connect to international Country Chapter Leaders.
Local Chapter oversight needs to be advanced also. There was a concern by some Local Chapters that there was an imbalance in the services offered to some and not to all. The Board sought to correct this, but our management provider did not proceed. Concerns over the delivery of Autodesk NFR software also continued to be a concern. NFR software had been offered to our member volunteers in several areas (ATP and more). This program has been troublesome on the delivery and tracking side for some time and the Board worked to make it better. Autodesk offered to make NFR copies downloadable.
To address ongoing concerns from 2007 the board pressed its management provider for a 2008 strategic plan and worked with its management provider to bring each side to a meeting of the minds on how to proceed. AUGI discovered that the management provider was providing some services under the AUGI name without board approval. In the end, the management provider did not submit an agreeable formal strategic plan and balanced budget for 2008.
A midyear transition in the office of the president occurred when Chris Lindner passed the duties to Mark Kiker.
In early June the board held a special meeting with the management provider to seek resolution to all of its concerns. A two-day meeting was held in Atlanta. This meeting brought all of the issues to the table as well as all of the Boards requirements for documentation and compliance. The meetings were cordial and addressed all areas of concern. We departed that meeting with a hope that perspectives were understood by both sides and that all parties would work with the best interests of the AUGI membership. In the following months, the hopes of the Atlanta meeting between the Board and the management provider did not materialize.
In late June the Board held its regular mid-year, face-to-face meeting at Autodesk offices in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The meeting was hosted by Buzz Kross of Autodesk and the Manufacturing team. Very productive meetings transpired and we visited the new Customer Briefing Center.
In August the management provider notified the Board that it was terminating the contract and invoking a 120-day transition period. The Board accepted the termination and announced it to our membership. Per the contract, either party could terminate the contract once notice was provided to the other party. Solidvapor resigned effective December 15, 2008.
In December the AUGI events at Autodesk University were a success. We gathered the international Country Chapter leaders for our first face-to-face meeting. The concept of the International Assembly was discussed followed by affirmative vote to create the entity at the meetings.
The 2009 AUGI Board of Directors Election polls closed in December and the votes were validated and counted. The election results show that no candidates received the necessary two-thirds (67 percent) affirmation vote. This left the Board of Directors without elected replacements for those currently serving. It was an unprecedented occurrence and required the Board to temporarily extend the terms of the 2007-2008 Board members until a new election could be held to elect 2009 Board members.
Total membership expanded by more than 27,000 members and reached almost 145,000 members total.
