NIABT Board of Trustees’ Meeting
Draft Minutes
Mon 6 February 2012
Present:
Glyn Roberts NIIRTA
Leslie Cree MBE MLA
Sue Ramsey MLA
James Devlin BT NI
James Haughey Norbrook Laboratories
Alec McRitchie Bombardier Aerospace Ltd
John Rooney Rooney Fish
Joanne Stuart OBE Attrus Ltd
Gareth McGrath Director of Information and Outreach
Louise Close NIABT deputy Secretary
Peter Hall NIABT Secretary
Also in attendance:
Ivor Gibson NIABT Co-ordinator
As the Chair sent his apologies, the vice Chair chaired the meeting.
1. Apologies:
Apologies were received from the following Board members:
Robin Newton MLA
Grainne Walsh Stratagem
2. Declaration of Interests
No members declared an interest in relation to the agenda items.
3. Adoption of previous minutes
The minutes from the previous meeting were adopted as being true and accurate. However, the Board has requested that in future, draft minutes be circulated to the Board for comment within two weeks of Board meeting. The Board has also requested more clarity on the framework of the events programme.
4. Matters arising
The majority of matters arising from the minutes form substantive agenda items.
5. NIABT Secretary
Peter Hall was elected as NIABT Secretary and Louise Close elected as NIABT deputy Secretary.
6. NIABT Logo Usage
The Board agreed that it agreed in principle to business members using the NIABT logo to register their membership. However, the Board felt that it should look into how other bodies cover this issue and bring forward a paper for discussion at next Board meeting. John Rooney indicated that he would seek to find out the Federation of Small Businesses’ policy on the use of its logo and forward it to the secretariat.
7. Patrons
Letters had been issued on 6 February 2012 by the NIABT President to offer the role of Patron to Sean Neeson and William Wright. The Board agreed that there would be a maximum of three Patrons at any one time, with the third position currently held in reserve until the Board identifies a suitable candidate.
8. Correspondence
The vice Chair reported that two items of correspondence had been received.
One was a letter of thanks from Alban Maginness MLA following his attendance at the Brussels European Programme in November 2011.
The other letter was from CA-NI who had requested that the NIABT consider holding an event to highlight Fairtrade Fortnight. The Board felt that because the Assembly already supports Fairtrade Fortnight and an event has been arranged on 5 March 2012 in the Long Gallery that it was not appropriate for the NIABT to duplicate these efforts.
9. Events
The vice Chair provided a synopsis of recent and forthcoming events:
Recent
12 December 2011: A Christmas reception was held following the last Board meeting. Alastair Hamilton, Invest NI, Kathryn Thomson, NITB and Anne McReynolds, MAC spoke at the event.
13 December 2011: A breakfast briefing on Competition Law was delivered by Kyla Brand and Marcia Polleti of the Office of Fair Trading.
17 January 2012: Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Confucius Institute for Northern Ireland delivered a briefing on the importance of trade links between Northern Ireland and China.
Forthcoming
14 February 2012: A social media breakfast briefing will he held. Ciaran Norris, Head of Mindshare will deliver a briefing on the pros and cons of social media in today’s business world.
23 February 2012: The President’s annual Dinner will be held in Parliament Buildings, commencing at 7:00pm. The date for the dinner has moved from 16 February. Joanne Stuart has sent her apologies as she cannot attend.
28 February 2012: A Young Directors Forum panel event will be held in the evening at 6:00pm.
29 February 2012: Phil Flanagan MLA fellowship with Rural Generation.
29 February 2012: Brenda Hale MLA fellowship with McClelland Salter.
8 March 2012: Chris Lyttle MLA fellowship with James Brown Funeral Services.
13 March 2012: A Property market update will be delivered by CBRE and RICS.
22 March 2012: A regional business lunchtime event in Craigavon will be held.
22 March 2012: A regional business dinner will be held in Omagh in the evening of 22 March.
17 April 2012: A breakfast briefing on the Eurozone will be delivered by David Phinnemore of Queens University.
27 April 2012: An educational visit to Core Systems and Hydebank Young Offenders Centre has been arranged.
8 May 2012: A social economy breakfast briefing will be delivered in partnership with NICVA.
16 May 2012: A Balmoral Show business breakfast will be held in the Kings’ Hall.
May/June 2012: An Oireachtas educational programme is to be arranged. Details to follow.
18 June 2012: Annual General Meeting.
12/13 September 2012: 2 day Westminster programme.
26/29 November 2012: 4 day Brussels programme.
Future Board meetings
12 Mar 2012: 5:00pm in Senate Chamber
21 May 2012: 5:00pm in Room 21
10. Financial update:
A financial update covering the period from 1 December to 31 December was discussed and agreed. The Board has requested that the financial information currently provided at meetings should be reworked in the future.
A discussion also took place around the possibility of reviewing business contributions in the future and Joanne Stuart agreed to meet with the secretariat to improve the presentation of the financial information.
11. Membership applications:
5 membership applications were approved by the Board. These are in respect of;
• Belfast City Centre Management:
• Early Years:
• INC Marketing:
• Stredia:
• U105:
12. Membership removals:
The Board approved removal of 2 businesses due to non-renewal of membership.
• JCI Belfast
• SPM Group Ltd
13. Corporate Secretaryship:
The vice Chair reported that Professor Rosemary Craig, University of Ulster, is visiting Parliament Buildings on 12 March with a group of 50 MSc Degree Management and Corporate Governance students.
As part of their programme, she has asked if they can attend the next NIABT Board meeting on 12 March to observe and take minutes.
Rosemary has also asked if the students could meet informally with the members of the NIABT Board immediately after the Board meeting for further informal discussions.
To accommodate the large number of students involved, it would be necessary to move the meeting to a larger venue such as the Senate Chamber.
14. AOB
The vice Chair acknowledged and congratulated Joanne Stuart, who received an OBE in the New Year Honours List.
The Board discussed the option of having a brief promotional video compiled with footage of forthcoming events including the President’s Dinner. Quotations will be sought from three companies.
The Board also discussed that it may wish to make contact with Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn with a view to arranging a meeting.