Annual General Meeting 2004

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held at the University of Wollongong
Tuesday, 25th August, 2004, commencing at 10.30am

1. Present
   
   Margaret Sheil, Stephen Blanksby, Jennifer Beck, Peter Hains, Larry Hick, John Korth, Carolyn McKinlay, Charles Hocart, Stephen Watt, Todd Mitchell, Andrew Aquilina, David Harman, Roger Kanitz, Thitima Urathamakul, Charles Hocart, Kevin Downard.
   
   
   
2. Apologies
   
   Paul Greenwood, Bruce Tattam, John Traeger, Zoë Harvey.
   
   
   
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
   
   The minutes of the 2003 Annual General Meeting held at the University of Wollongong, Tuesday, 26th August, 2003 and previously circulated, were accepted as a true and correct record of the meeting.
   
   
   
4. Business Arising from the Previous Meeting
   
   Nil
   
   
   
5. President's Report
   
   
   1. Margaret Sheil highlighted the forthcoming visit of Professor Joseph Loo as the ANZSMS non-conference year visiting speaker. Professor Loo will attend the COMBIO meeting in Perth in September and then visit several universities around the country. ANZSMS will cover his travel expenses while local hosts will be encouraged to pay for accommodation.
      
      
   2. Sheil also announced that she would not accept re-nomination for a further term as ANZSMS President due to her increasing commitments at UoW.
   
   
   
6. Treasurer's Report
   
   
   1. Stephen Blanksby presented the annual financial statement.
      
      
   2. Beck raised question of "what does ANZSMS spend money on?" which prompted discussion.
      
      
   3. Downard reminded the committee that membership fees will be raised to $15pa for students and to $25pa for full members from 2005. So more ideas of how funds should be spent to best raise profile of Mass Spectrometry in Australia and New Zealand.
      
      
   4. McKinlay asked if we should collaborate more closely with the Lorne proteomics meeting. She also advised the treasurer that the 2001-2002 financial statement was never lodged with the ACT registrar's office (Blanksby to investigate this).
      
      
   5. Sheil suggested that ANZSMS advertise ASMS subsidies more widely. She also questioned why the annual bank fees were so high (Blanksby to investigate this).
      
      
   6. Downard questioned how IMSS fees were calculated. Sheil responded that fees were calculated based on membership numbers (to be checked with Traeger as IMSS vice-president).
      
      
   7. Blanksby moved to accept 2003-2004 financial statement. Seconded by Hick. No objections. Report signed by Blanksby and Sheil.
   
   
   
7. ANZSMS20 Conference Report
   
   
   1. Sheil presented the proposed budget and program from Stewart Walker and the Adelaide ANZSMS20 committee.
      
      
   2. Sheil confirmed that Murray McEwan and Mike Bowers have accepted as Morrison and Plenary Lecturers, respectively. Carol Robinson cannot attend.
      
      
   3. Sheil suggested that the Thursday session be changed from proteomics to biological mass spectrometry and include a plenary from an alternative field such as Lipid and/or Carbohydrate mass spectrometry. Professor Robert Murphy was suggested as a possible plenary speaker.
      
      
   4. Blanksby confirmed contact from Kerryn Mason the treasurer of the ANZSMS20 committee. It was suggested that ANZSMS release seed funding to the ANZSMS20 committee for the 2005 conference to assist with conference centre deposit and PCO retainer.
      
      
   5. Blanksby also proposed that the ANZSMS invite ex-patriot Australian mass spectrometrists to return to the ANZSMS20 meeting. In particular 4 or 5 could be targeted to give talks appropriate to the conference program. Some funding could be provided. Blanksby to provide a list of possible names.
      
      
   6. Downard. Suggested Jim Shannon as an after dinner speaker for the conference to discuss the History of MS in Australia. Also to chair/introduce student session.
   
   
   
8. Election of Central Committee
   
   The following members were elected to the committee:

   John Traeger	President	(S. Blanksby/J. Beck)
   Richard O'Hair	Vice-President	(L. Hick/T. Mitchell)
   Kevin Downard	Secretary	(S. Blanksby/C. McKinlay)
   S. Blanksby	Treasurer	(C. McKinlay/K. Downard)
   Carolyn McKinlay	Public Officer	(C. Hocart/T. Mitchell)
   Margaret Sheil	Committee Member	(T. Mitchell/K. Downard)

   
   There being no further nominations, all of the above were elected unopposed. A third Committee position was held vacant pending a check for any interested members. It was suggested that it may be useful to have a further committee member in Melbourne (Sheil/Traeger to investigate).
   
   
   
9. Any Other Business
   
   
   1. Blanksby asked the committee to consider giving support to a three day Symposium to be held at UoW in Nov. 2005 to celebrate the contributions to Australian Mass Spectrometry of Professor Berthold Halpern (Founding chair of chemistry at UoW). Financial support will be formally requested from the executive to support an international plenary speaker.
      
      
   2. Sheil raised the proposal of having a society medal struck (i.e., "ANZSMS Medal"). Proposed that it be awarded for Distinguished Contributions to Mass Spectrometry (O'Hair was proposed as the best qualified person to identify the costs and scope of such a medal).
      
      
   There being no further business, the President, Margaret Sheil declared the meeting closed and thanked those who had travelled to Wollongong for the meeting.