As of December 31, 2004, the Society has 4,411 active members, including 3,440 members, 937 associate members, and 34 emeritus members. Bornstein reported that the INS office processed 451 new member applications. 20.6% of the new applicants to the Society were from outside North America, compared to 15.7% in 2003 and 14.8% in 2002.

As of January 10, 2005, 70% of the membership had paid their 2005 dues, which is better than last year (65%).

Jill Rich, Chair of the Program Committee, presented the following report. Submissions were received from 18 countries. A total of 815 abstracts were received, with 764 accepted for presentation. All submissions were reviewed by two to three Program Committee members to determine if they met criteria for inclusion in the Scientific Program. Poster sessions at this meeting will be shorter in duration than in the past, with fewer posters included in each session. Rich reported that the electronic submission system generally worked well. She outlined several recommendations to the Board for next year's program. President Brandt thanked Rich for her work on behalf of the Society.

On behalf of Robin Morris, Chair of the Program Committee, Bornstein provided the Board with the following update about the Dublin meeting. This meeting is being held jointly by INS, the British Psychological Association Division of Neuropsychology (DON), and the British Neuropsychological Society (BSN). The theme for the meeting is “From Theory to Practice.” Abstracts were submitted from 32 countries, with a total of 412 abstracts received for review. The program will include three invited addresses and an invited symposium on planning. Donald Stuss will deliver the Birch lecture. A post-conference satellite meeting will be held July 11–12, 2005 in Galway, Ireland on rehabilitation and language. More information about the satellite meeting is available at http://www.conference.ie

Bernice Marcopulos presented the following report. The ILC has focused its energies on three areas in the past 6 months. It is developing a survey to be completed online by non-North American INS members. The goal of the survey is to gain a better understanding of factors that contribute to their joining and remaining in the Society, as well as features of INS they value, in order to guide future ILC program development. Board members provided Marcopulos with feedback about the draft of the survey. Marcopulos also reported that the ILC has recruited several members to serve as regional representatives from different geographic areas. Representatives are still needed for Scandinavia, Southern Europe, and the Middle East. The other project the ILC has worked on is expanding offerings available to members on the ILC webpage (http://www.ilc-inc.org). Two new features have been added, International Positions and Resources (including assessment scales, data bases, etc. germane to international use). The Board requested that Marcopulos review tests listed to ensure they are in the public domain and not commercial products. The ILC has also continued its regular activities, including publishing INSNET, developing the Book and Journal Depository, providing support for authors through the Support Consultation Program, and answering inquires from international colleagues and organizations. The Board also reviewed the budget of the ILC Committee.

Neil Pliskin, CE Director, provided the following report to the Board. The special theme for the St. Louis meeting CE offerings is “Medical Neuropsychology.” Twenty-nine courses are being offered, and pre-registration has been strong. The CE program for the Dublin meeting is completed, and will offer 9 courses. Planning for the Boston 2006 meeting is well underway, and the special theme will be “Innovations in Interventions.” Pliskin has submitted an application on behalf of INS to the American Psychological Association to offer accredited online and home-based CE programming. Preparations are well underway for transferring direction of the CE Committee from Dr. Pliskin to Dr. Jennifer Manly.

Jack Fletcher, Chair of the Publications Committee, reported on the recent activities of this committee. The transition of JINS Editorial offices and editorial responsibilities from Igor Grant to Kathy Haaland is now completed. Haaland has made changes to the Editorial Board, and consulting editors to the journal have agreed to serve with the understanding that manuscript reviews are to be completed within 3 weeks to help reduce publication lag time. The transition to electronic submissions to JINS is also now completed. A recent survey was conducted and found that the membership is very positive about the journal.

Fletcher further reported that meeting abstracts will be posted on the Cambridge University Press website and can be accessed through the INS website. The current plan is to publish the abstracts as an online issue of JINS with pagination as a supplemental publication. He also updated the Board on the INS Book Series based on the Vivian L. Smith Summer Institute. The first book in the series will be on frontal lobes edited by Jan Risberg, with the second book on pediatric disorders edited by Marsha Barnes. Fletcher reported that discussions for publishing this book series are underway with Cambridge University Press.

Bornstein reported on behalf of Don Stuss, Chair of the Awards Committee. The committee reviewed recommendations for Society awards previously outlined by former committee chair, Linas Bieliauskas. Currently, the Society has three categories of awards: Meeting Awards (presented annually at both the winter and summer INS meetings, with decisions made by the Program Committee), Society Awards (presented on a regular basis by the Society and selected by an ad hoc committee appointed by the President), and Society Administered Awards/Grants (administered by INS and funded by an outside institution/foundation). At present, there are three Meeting Awards (Rennick, Butters, and Cermak Awards for presentations at the meetings), one Society Award (the Benton Award for mid-career research achievement) and one Society Administered Awards/Grants (the Rita Rudel Award, funded by the Rita G. Rudel Foundation).

The Awards Committee recommended that there be no change to the Meeting Awards or Society Administered Awards/Grants. The committee further recommended expansion of Society Awards, to also include awards for early career research achievement, lifetime achievement—research, lifetime achievement—education, and service to the Society. A method for the creation of named awards was proposed, with the amount of the award to be limited to the amount of interest earned in a particular year on collected donations to the award fund. It was recommended that such named awards not be content-specific. The Awards Committee also proposed the creation of Honorific Presentations, a one-time presentation/symposium to be held at an INS meeting to honor a member of the Society. Such a symposium does not necessarily have to be post-humous, but the honored individual should no longer be in an active career. The Awards Committee also reviewed the proposal to establish a membership status of Fellow to recognize achievement of members, but recommended against it.

After discussion, the Board elected to accept the report and recommendations of the Awards Committee (motion-Brandt, second-Marcotte), and directed the committee to outline ways to develop and implement the awards, as well as to deliberate on award content (e.g., honorarium, travel to meeting, registration, hotel costs, etc.) in conjunction with the Society's Treasurer.

Andrew Papanicolaou provided a written report on the 2004 Summer Institute held June 21–July 16, 2004 in Xylocastro, Greece. The topic for the institute was “The Human Frontal Lobes.” Eighty students and 13 faculty members from around the world participated in the institute. The topic for the 2005 Summer Institute is “Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Disorders.”

Bornstein reported on the results of the recent elections. Igor Grant has been elected President-Elect, and Erin Bigler was re-elected to serve a second term as Treasurer. The three new members of the Board of Governors are: Adele Diamond (USA), Feggy Ostrosky-Solis (Mexico), and Jenny Ogden (New Zealand).

Bornstein reported that future meeting sites are as follows: Dublin, Ireland, July 6–9, 2005; Boston, Massachusetts, February 1–5, 2006; Zurich, Switzerland, July 26–29, 2006; Portland, Oregon, February 7–10, 2007. At the Board meeting in July 2005, the Board approved holding the 2008 North American meeting at a location in Hawaii, preferably on the Island of Hawaii. Bornstein will be visiting possible hotel sites in the coming months. The Board chose Bilbao, Spain as the site for the 2007 mid-year meeting based upon a joint proposal presented to the Board by several local Neuropsychological Societies from Spain. Several preliminary proposals for future mid-year meetings sites were also reviewed. The Board approved in principle holding the 2008 mid-year meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the 2009 mid-year meeting in Helsinki, Finland, pending further development of the proposals.

Barbara A. Wilson discussed current plans to organize a post-meeting satellite conference to follow the 2005 mid-year meeting in Zurich, Switzerland. The satellite meeting will be held in Lichtenstein.

Bornstein reported that the Rita Rudel Award Committee, chaired by Martha Denckla, has reviewed applications for the award, and has selected a nominee. The nominee's name and her research proposal were reviewed with a member of Dr. Rudel's family, who gave their approval. The Committee recommended that Jennifer Crawford from Dartmouth College be the 2005 recipient of the Rita Rudel Award. The Board approved the Committee's selection (motion-Marcotte, second-Taylor).

Erin Bigler, Treasurer of the Society, reviewed the need to develop a specific policy for repayment of costs incurred for Society travel. Travel costs can be repaid in the form of a reimbursement or stipend. A stipend would be viewed as income for US members (and perhaps others) and incur tax liability. The Board adopted the policy calling for the Society to utilize a reimbursement model for travel costs (motion-Bigler, second-Coslett).

The timetable for availability of the meeting abstracts was reviewed. The Board elected to have the title and authors of all abstracts selected for presentation posted on the INS website as soon as possible after the program is finalized (motion-Marcotte, second-Heaton). The Board also discussed current criteria used for determining selection of abstracts to the scientific program. An ad hoc committee was established to review current guidelines and to make recommendations to the Board for possible changes. Members of this committee are: Daniel Tranel, Morris Moscovitch, Branch Coslett, Desiree White, Jill Rich, and Robert Bornstein.

A Financial Advisory Committee was established last year to help guide the office of the Treasurer with investment options for the Society. Given that the Society is not yet at the targeted goal of 1.5 times the annual operating budget in reserves, this committee has been placed on hiatus until such time that this goal is reached in the future.

Dr. Jill Rich, program chair for the St. Louis meeting presented an overview of the meeting. 1,440 people attended the meeting. Several program innovations were incorporated in this meeting including new presentation formats (debates), longer presentation times for individuals in platform sessions, and fewer abstracts in each poster session. In addition, the program included a session to honor the contributions of Louis Costa. This was well received, and similar honorific symposia may be included in future meetings. Dr. Brandt thanked Dr. Rich for her efforts.

The Continuing Education report by Dr. Neil Pliskin was presented by Dr. Bornstein. The program for this year was better attended than in previous years. The plans for future meetings are progressing, and Dr. Manly will begin planning her first meeting in the near future.

Dr. Bornstein announced the results of the election. Dr. Igor Grant is the new President-Elect, Dr. Erin Bigler was re-elected as Treasurer, and the new members of the Board of Governors are Dr. Jenni Ogden from New Zealand, Dr. Feggy Ostrosky-Solis from Mexico, and Dr. Adele Diamond from Vancouver.

The report for the International Liaison Committee by Dr. Marcopolous was presented by Dr. Bornstein. Dr. Brandt announced that Dr. Marcopolous was reappointed for another term. He thanked her for her efforts and the work of the committee.

Dr. Haaland, the new editor of JINS, reviewed her efforts with the journal. No new directions are being contemplated. Online manuscript submission and review has been implemented, and Dr. Haaland requested feedback about the new features. She also introduced the new associate editors.

Dr. Brandt announced that Jennifer Crawford has been approved as recipient of the Rita G. Rudel award.