Hello,
I was born the eldest of four into a prosperous WASP familyin southern Cali. I squandered pretty much every opportunity given tome, a West Point appointment, a scholarship to Virginia Tech, those sortsof things. We moved a lot so I never really developed any long termfriendships. I received many "citations” during my four years inthe military. However, those where not the kind you wear on youruniform, they were Article 15's of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.I wasn't at the "appointed place at the appointed time". I chafe atauthority.
Upon my honorable discharge from the military I returned toCali and pretty much lived as a 1%'er for a few years. In 1980 SiliconValley called and I went to work as a design engineer to VP of Engineeringfor a number of tech firms in the valley. They included TeledyneMEC, M/A-COM, ThermoFisher Scientific and MBARI among others.
During that time I became a pillar in the community, whoknew, and was, and still am, involved with non-profits, all501(c)(3) orgs. Additionally, my wife, MBA in Non-Profit Management fromthe Anderson School of UCLA, has been intimately involved in all aspectsof non-profits. She is currently assisting Burning Man in its transitionfrom a LLC to a 501(c)(3). This has been a difficult process fraughtwith politics and leadership issues. Hmmm.
Now, about Amsat: Amsat is not a corporation. It has nocompensated senior management, it doesn't issue stock and it can't besold, taken over or merged. What Amsat is; a club chartered/incorporated underthe articles of 501(c) paragraph 3 which stipulates that it can be aneducational org. Donations can be deducted from the donor’s taxes. A(7) is a social club and donations may not be deducted. You've no doubtheard of political non-profits, the donations to them may not be deductedbut they are used to shield where their money that they distributecomes from.
Amsat was chartered in 1969 and IMHO the by-laws are out ofdate. The mission statement and by-laws need to be revamped. Thereneeds to be more members on the BOD. The served terms should be 3 years.There should be term limits so current members rotate off. Thisinsures there is no entrenchment of an "old guard" and thereis an infusion of new ideas and talent.
Is Amateur Radio growing? I have no idea, nor does anyoneelse. Is Amsat growing? Same. The satellite biz has changed dramatically.It has become VERY commercialized. I posted an email from a knowledgeable outsideobserver a while back that discussed this.
Is there anyone on the BOD or within the GM, who can pick upa phone and make a personal call to Jeff Bezos, Dmitry Rogozin,Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Hiroshi Yamakawa, Jim Bridenstine, orZhang Kejian? I hesitate to guess that the answer is "No",though I threw a ringer in there. These are all young people who wereprobably born after 1969.
How does Amsat move forward? Amsat needs to have a dynamicBOD who operates in a fair, honest and open manner and is willing to revampthe mission statement and by-laws to reflect an exciting organizationfocused on education. The GM needs to be invited to BOD meetings and seethe results of said meetings. By meeting with any/all of the aboveindividuals, Amsat can show them that the club is providing the interestand educational directions for young people to become the newengineers/scientists that these space organizations are going to requireto be viable in the future.
BTW, status quo, anger, personal attacks and/or the airing ofdirty laundry is the antithesis to Amsat moving forward.
Just sayin’…..
--- Ciao baby, catch you on the flip side 73 de W3AB/GEO
You can say "over", you can say "out", you just can't say "over and out".