The USBLN Committees meet via email and conference calls. To express interest in joining a USBLN Committee, please contact the committee chair listed below.

Annual Conference Committee

Contact: katherine.mccary@suntrust.com

The purpose of the Annual Conference Committee is to ensure that conference serves the mission of the USBLN and its chapters.

• The conference committee will develop a process and criterion by which BLN chapters will be selected as hosts.
• Guidelines will be developed that carefully delineate responsibilities and financial roles of local chapters and USBLN.
• The committee will design a conference template, with the USBLN serving in the Lead role on future (2006) conferences.

Website Committee

Contact: mmaybaum@qualcomm.com Purpose of the website committee is:

• Short term : to frame guidelines for use of the USBLN website, the content and how to determine what is suitable and what is not, guidelines for linkages to other websites “vis a vis” the organizations’ non profit status.
• Long term : support and maintenance funding and responsibility

Membership/Surveys Committee

Contact: karen.r.quammen@medtronic.com

The membership committee will determine guidelines for membership eligibility and communication among the members to ascertain the direction and pulse of the members.

Government Affairs Committee

Contact: nspivey@nkychamber.com

• The committee will develop guidelines for how and what interface the organization will have with policymakers at the national level.
• Develop guidelines for getting a reading on the sentiment of the membership.
• Develop guidelines for how to move a policy agenda forward.
• Develop guidelines for reaching agreement/ consensus within the membership before the organization moves forward on a policy initiative.
• Develop timelines by which the membership must respond on an initiative before proceeding.

Finance Committee

Contact: chealy@uschamber.com

• Short term : The finance committee will determine how the organization will sustain itself in the short term by developing the business plan for immediate and ongoing operations expenses.
• Long range: The committee will explore funding opportunities that lie within the purview of the non profit status, the recommendations for sustaining the organizations by creating an endowment, developing membership fees, or other.

Sponsorship Committee

The committee will develop criteria for who is an acceptable sponsor, how to approach, who will have the responsibility for securing sponsorship and what the sponsors will receive in exchange for becoming a sponsor.

Marketing/Communications/Media/PR Committee

Contact: beth.butler@southtrust.com

The Marketing/Communications/ Media/PR committee is charged with:

• Short term : Developing guidelines for strategic marketing of the organization, ascertain needs for protecting the organization’s image, conduct an environmental scan to determine outside threats to organization and ways to respond, develop guidelines for how to create the messaging of the organization, and how to fund such an endeavor.
• Long term : Developing a long range strategic marketing plan that will assure growth and an image that is in keeping with the mission and vision of the organization.