A meeting of the Finance Committee of the Internet Society (ISOC) was held on Monday, March 10 at 16:00 UTC. In attendance were Jason Livingood, Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, and David Farber, Rudi Vansnick, Bert Wijen as members of the Finance Committee.
Also in attendance were Kathy Brown, ISOC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Greg Kapfer, Chief Financial Officer, and Sandra Spector, Director of Finance. John Marshall, Tom Kazazes and Trip McLaughlin from Morgan Stanley were also in attendance.
Jason called the meeting to order.
Summary of Cash and Investment Accounts
Sandy walked the Finance Committee through ISOC’s December 31, 2013 cash and investments balances. Sandy described each account, banking arrangement, and use of funds.
Investment Results
Tom Kazaze from Morgan Stanley walked the Committee through investment of the $10 million PIR Board Designated Contribution. Tom reviewed current and potential future financial impacts on this investment and predicted that return on short-term bonds would remain low until inflation or job numbers changed.
Trip McLaughlin reviewed Continuity Fund investment results. Trip noted that due to the recent fund reallocation to conform to the new Investment Policy, performance results under the revised allocation of assets are for a short period The negative investment returns in 2013 were a result of the fixed income investment mix that had been used through mid-year, but that the current fund mix, including equities, is well balanced for the current outlook for returns on investments.
2013 Results
Greg reviewed 2013 unaudited financial results, previously submitted to the Committee with Management Commentary. Greg noted that although sponsorship and membership revenue targets were not met, expenses were contained resulting in a $53K surplus. Also impacting the 2013mfinancial results were lower than planned PIR 1-2 Character Domain revenue and unplanned expenses for CEO search and IGF support.
Currency Swap Application
Greg noted that currently Swiss francs and Euros were performing strongly against the US dollar. In case of a change in performance, Greg would like to set up banking paperwork required in order to lock in currency rates when such rate protection was warranted. Usually, this has been in the form of forward currency purchases of Swiss francs or Euros. Prior to initiating any currency purchases, Greg will seek Finance Committee approval. The Finance Committee concurred with this approach.
AOB
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 17:00 UTC.
All Board Finance Committee Meeting Minutes