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BOARD BUSINESS

Strategy Session Results & 2007 Objectives
Mike Taylor, President

Annually, the PJVA Board of Directors meets for a full day in the fall to discuss strategies and plans for the association. This year this occurred on October 28, with all fourteen directors, our association administrator, and a professional facilitator present. A portion of the day was spent looking at the longer term direction we want to take the association and the remainder was spent identifying specific responsibilities and expectations for each director.

The strategies for the current year are: Increase industry recognition and understanding of the importance and value of the joint venture function Develop effective and consistent external and internal communications Create educational programs to develop people at all levels Provide tools along with recommended practices and products to assist JV experts Have a nimble organization that is responsive to industry and PJVA members These strategies are different from those of the previous year only in that they are more explicit regarding the educational component of our association.

There was considerable discussion at our meeting about the changing needs of our members. Our association is comprised of individuals from many job functions outside of the traditional roles of the JV Rep, JV Analyst and JV Administrator. We felt that this was a compliment to our association and a recognition that many disciplines want, and need, to better understand the joint venture function.

Also, we noted that JV Reps in the industry had changed from being primarily technical to include those with marketing, accounting, land, legal and business backgrounds. Maybe we now need to go from educating engineers on agreements to educating accountants on engineering? I believe it is also obvious that there is competition and shortage for all professions, resulting in less experienced people carrying a bigger load and increased demand for training and mentorship.

Tactical work plans were developed for all the above strategies and for every director portfolio. I would like to touch on a few of the critical plans here:

The marketing of PJVA and creating a JV identity were considered critical. To this end, we have a number of tasks including revised display materials and brochures and representation at events such as the Mt. Royal College industry career nights.

We are now completing the last modules of our Mt. Royal College certificate programs for JV Administrators and JV Analysts. Part of our objective behind these programs was to attract people into these roles and provide a certification of a level of competency for those currently doing these functions. The next step we see is to create a program of study for non-technical background JV Reps and perhaps a corresponding program for technical background JV Reps. Our hard-working Education Director, Brian Van Maarion, is leading this initiative; however it will require substantial input from a broad base of volunteers. I expect it will take a couple of years before we have a product to offer. There will be more discussion on this initiative over the next few months.

Last year, we established a standing committee of agreement experts to monitor the industry's use of our model agreements and identify issues for the Board. I expect that this committee will be more active this year.

We are looking at all our seminars to ensure they are meeting the needs of our membership and are current in content. It is essential that changes such as the replacement of JP-95 with JP-05 and the advent of the “Gas Handling Agreement” model are reflected in our courses and seminars. See the update from this committee in this issue of JVViews.

Through the Petroleum Synergy Group, we have established links with a number of other industry associations to capitalize on what they have developed and topics they may be presenting of interest to our members. Generally, PJVA members get member rates at these association events. For example, CAPPA has online training capability that we may be able to take advantage of and CAPL has a large variety of courses.

The members of the Board see many opportunities for the Association in the long term. A mentorship program has been mentioned, education will likely always be a priority and we have even discussed going towards an industry recognized designation along the lines of CAPL's P.Land program. Members of the Board are always eager to hear your views. Our names, contact information and portfolio responsibilities are contained on our website. We appreciate your support.

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