On Friday, August 1, ASA President Ji-Hyun Lee called to order the annual Joint Statistical Meetings meeting of the ASA Board of Directors at the Omni Nashville Hotel. Highlights of the meeting follow.
Actions
The ASA Board of Directors:
- Congratulated the Southern California Chapter of the American Statistical Association on its 100th anniversary. SCASA is the ASA’s oldest chapter.
- Approved the 2026 ASA budget. Per procedure, the 2026 budget will receive a final review in November once the third quarter financials are in.
- Approved changing the “senior” membership category (65+ and retired) to “retired” (eliminating the age restriction), effective in 2026.
- Approved in principle a set of fundraising policies for sections, chapters, and outreach groups. Final approval by the board’s executive committee will be made after receiving more feedback from these groups.
- Selected the 2026 Dionne Price Lecturer. The ASA will publicly announce the lecturer’s name soon.
- Recommended a change to the ASA constitution and bylaws regarding election eligibility, requiring an individual to be a member of the association at the time elections begin to be eligible to vote in that election.
- Agreed to extend funding for the International Prize in Statistics for 10 years (five additional award cycles).
- Recommended a change to the ASA bylaws regarding eligibility for selection as an ASA Fellow. The proposed change is that an individual must have been a member for at least five of the last six years to be eligible for selection as a Fellow. If this change is approved, it would take effect in 2027.
Reports and Discussions
- The board heard an update from former ASA President Kathy Ensor, co-chair of the National Academies committee conducting a study titled Frontiers of Statistics in Science and Engineering: 2035 and Beyond. The board provided feedback to Ensor to share with the committee.
- Derek Curtis II, ASA director of finance and administration, presented the preliminary audited financial statements, indicating another clean audit. The final audited statements were received shortly after JSM and formally accepted by the board later in August.
- Curtis reviewed the 2025 mid-year financials. He noted concerns about conference revenues and discussed several scenarios regarding potential year-end operating results.
- ASA Treasurer Jean Opsomer presented the status of the ASA investment portfolio, noting that asset allocation remains in balance.
- Amanda Malloy, ASA director of development, updated the board on 2025 fundraising activities and discussed ways chapters and sections can be involved in fundraising.
- Dave Hunter, the ASA’s representative to CSAB, updated the board on CSAB’s activities regarding data science program accreditation and consideration of AI program accreditation, receiving feedback from the board.
- ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein led a discussion about adding new cities to the list of potential JSM sites, noting requirements for sufficient convention center and hotel space. Based on board comments, the staff will continue to research several cities as potential sites for JSM 2031 and beyond.
- Donna LaLonde, ASA associate executive director, reported on the ASA’s partnership with Instats, including the July NSF@75 virtual conference and a planned “JSM 2.0” conference to be held in the fall. She also highlighted the second year of JSM TV.
- The board discussed the firing of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which happened during the first day of the board meeting.
- The board discussed strategy for developing the ASA’s smaller meetings—all ASA and section-hosted meetings except JSM and the Biopharmaceutical Section Regulatory-Industry Statistics Workshop—as a part of refining meetings strategy and resource allocation.
- Steve Pierson, ASA director of science policy, updated the board on developments within the federal government and the ASA’s responses to those developments thus far. He reviewed news about science and statistical agency funding for the current and the next fiscal year, noted the continuing activities of The Nation’s Data at Risk project, and highlighted the ASA’s work in responding to government calls for comment.
- Tomi Mori, second-year Council of Chapters representative to the board, reported on activities of the COC since the last board meeting and provided an overview of COC events at JSM. She also reported results of an audit of student chapters, noting strong interest in networking and mentoring.
- Jennifer Parker, second-year Council of Sections representative to the board, reported on the activities of the COS. She noted the COS activities at JSM and reported on the status of the annual section survey and allocation of JSM 2026 invited sessions to sections.
- ASA President-Elect Jeri Mulrow updated the board on her Communities in Action initiative. Her plan includes developing and distributing a repository with a toolkit that includes how to build relationships, craft initial outreach messages, and create and deliver effective presentations. She also plans to establish a mentoring program to support and sustain the initiative. The goal is to create sustainable engagement channels between data experts and local communities.
- Lee reviewed progress on her Building Bridges initiatives. The ASA has launched a statistical advisory panel for Nature Medicine. The Evidence to Impact Network, a partnership with the American Evaluation Association, is ongoing and has already offered a successful webinar. Also, the ASA has relaunched the StatsForward program and is developing a clinical trials certificate program.
The board will have its final meeting of 2025 November 21–22 at the ASA office in Alexandria, Virginia.
2025 Board of Directors
Ji-Hyun Lee, President
Jeri Mulrow, President-Elect
Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, Past President
Jenny Thompson, Third-Year Vice President
Susan Paddock, Second-Year Vice President
DuBois Bowman, First-Year Vice President
Melinda Holt, Third-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Tomi Mori, Second-Year Council of Chapters Representative
David Corliss, First-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Jana Asher, Third-Year Council of Sections Representative
Jennifer Parker, Second-Year Council of Sections Representative
Sharina Person, First-Year Council of Sections Representative
Ingrid Van Keilegom, International Representative
Antje Hoering, Publications Representative
Jean Opsomer, Treasurer
Ron Wasserstein, Executive Director, and Board Secretary
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