July 2023 ABA Board Meeting Minutes

Thursday, July 20th, 2023 2:00 pm – 4:45 pm ET via Zoom

In Attendance
Kathy Burnette
Danny Caine
Diane Capriola
Jenny Cohen
Cynthia Compton
Ray Daniels (ABA CCO)
Jeff Deutsch
Kelly Estep
Allison Hill (ABA CEO)
Raquel Roque
PK Sindwani (ABA CFO)
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo
Lisa Swayze
Tegan Tigani
Holly Weinkauf

Absent
Jake Cumsky-Whitlock
Joy Dallanegra-Sanger

2:05 pm – 2:15 pm ET: Welcome, Call to Order, & Opening Statement (Tegan, Jenny, Cynthia)

2:16 pm ET – 2:18 pm ET: Approval of June Meeting minutes
Motion to approve the minutes of the June 2023 Board meeting was made by Holly, seconded by Jeff, and approved unanimously by the Board.

2:18 pm ET – 2:32 pm ET: Finance Committee Report
Motion to accept the report of the Finance Committee including recommendation to change investment advisory policy to remove Facebook from the Restricted List, as made by Holly. Motion was seconded by Diane. Allison gave an overview of the history of this policy, and motion was passed by the Board, with Jenny and Danny abstaining.

2:32 pm ET – 3:35 pm ET: Ends Policies Discussion
Board continued discussion of the Ends Policies document, and reviewed each section and proposed change of the document.

3:35 pm ET – 3:47 pm ET: Break

3:47 pm ET – 4:34 pm ET: Resumed Ends Policies Discussion
Numerous revisions were discussed and the Board collaborated on content changes until consensus was achieved. Motion to accept these revised policies (with the caveat that Tegan would review for clarity and grammar by August 7 for the Board's final review) was made by Diane, seconded by Jessica, and approved unanimously by the Board.

4:34 pm – 4:43 pm ET: CEO Report and Ends Policies Compliance Report
Highlights of the CEO Report and current legal action of ABA regarding book banning in various states and cases presented by Allison. Allison also offered to answer questions about the compliance report she had distributed ahead of the meeting. Board acknowledged and thanked ABA leadership for extensive and ongoing work on this issue. A motion was made by Holly and seconded to accept the compliance report as presented at 4:41 pm ET. The motion passed unanimously. (Jenny was temporarily absent for this vote.) 

IndieCommerce: Allison gave a review of the current status of IndieCommerce platform update, and reviewed projected costs of this work. The motion to document the Board’s approval for the expenditure of the full range of the budgeted $3.2 million which was passed in January of 2022 was made by to Kelly, seconded by Jenny, and unanimously approved by the Board.

4:44 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned