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Posted: **Fri Apr 02, 1999 9:14 am**

May I take up Geoff Coyles request for "fresh ideas" to "ensure
rotation" and suggest that, rather than announcing a founding President and
Policy Council and, indeed, the next President, it would be a fine thing to
allow full members of the Chapter to exercise their voting rights.

In fact, this would not be a fresh idea, rather a necessary one. The
Constitution of the International Society is quite clear on this point:

"Articles of Organization, System Dynamics Society, as amended. Policy 8
Chapters:
6. The Policy Council shall be elected by majority vote of the chapter
membership. All members of good standing shall be allowed to vote..."

I can think of no better way for the founding members of the Chapter to have
their efforts validated, than by placing themselves before their voting
members to seek their electoral approval.

Regards,

David C. Lane
_______________________________________________________________

Dr. David C. Lane
Operational Research Department
London School of Economics and Political Science
(University of London)
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
e-mail: d.c.lane@lse.ac.uk
Tel. (44) (0) 171-955-7336
Fax. (44) (0) 171-955-6885

Posted: **Tue Apr 06, 1999 10:29 am**

I have noted the message from David Lane about the UK Chapter.

In reply, I can only say that the Chapter was set up exactly as the Society
was when it first started. The proponents took the full advice of the
Societys President and Secretary and the Vice President for Chapters. As
the Societys rules prescribe, the proposal for a Chapter was fully
validated by the meeting of the UK members held in January, gained more than
the necessary votes in support and was approved by the Societys Policy
Council. David was invited to that meeting but did not attend.

The UK Chapters constitution, of course, provides for nominations to office
to be ratified by the members and for members to make nominations
themselves. If David chooses to take part he will have the same chance as
everyone else to make his views known.

geoff.coyle@btinternet.com

Posted: **Tue Apr 27, 1999 11:02 am**

The growth of system dynamics in the United Kingdom has been considerable in
the past couple of years. There are now about 80 Society members in the UK
and three annual gatherings of people interested in system dynamics have
attracted a strong attendance. It therefore seemed that the time might be
ripe to organise a formal Chapter of the Society and I am pleased to say
that the Society Policy Council have approved this venture. Under Society
rules a Chapter has to have a Policy Council of its own, so I have been
asked to be the initial Chapter President to be succeeded in 2001 by Eric
Wolstenholme. One of his first tasks is to develop a succession plan for the
Policy Council to ensure rotation and bring in fresh ideas. The other
members of the founding Policy Council are: Jonathan Coyle, John Morecroft,
Michael Kennedy and Alfredo Moscardini. Each has taken on areas of
responsibility, a particularly important one being a prize for the best
student work in the UK, generously sponsored by HVR Consulting Services and
Cognitus. For details of that, contact Alfredo.

We want to attract as many people as possible so there will be two grades of
membership. Full Members have to be members of the System Dynamics Society
living and working in the UK. You dont even have to be British, though that
is an excellent thing to be. They are eligible to hold office in the Chapter
and to vote in its elections. Associate Members do NOT have to be Society
members. They will be able to take part in all Chapter activities but will
not have the rights of Full Members. To get on the mailing list please
contact the Chapter Secretary, Dr David Exelby, at
david.exelby@hvr-csl.co.uk.

The Chapter will hold its next annual gathering in January 2000, at a hotel
in the beautiful spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. More detail will
be available after the New Zealand conference but reserve the date, almost
guaranteed to be January 20, 2000 (millennium bug permitting!).

Regards,

Geoff Coyle

geoff.coyle@btinternet.com

Ventana software support forum

UK Chapter of System Dynamics Society.

UK Chapter of System Dynamics Society.

UK Chapter of System Dynamics Society.

UK Chapter of System Dynamics Society.