Presidential Column

CSEG Budget 2009

In January 2009, the CSEG Executive approved the budget for the year 2009 as proposed by the Finance Director Larry Herd. The budget was arrived at through submissions from various committees, discussions between the Director of Finance Larry Herd and the Assistant Director Brock Hassell with Jim Racette, Office Manager, Jon Downton, Vice President, and I. We were very cautious in our approach and estimated a substantial decrease in revenues in some areas due to the downturn in the economy. Yet some costs are going up. After many years of substantial surpluses that have helped provide a corpus to the CSEG Foundation (the CSEG Executive has elected over the last few years to provide a portion of the surplus each year to the CSEG Foundation), we are facing a year of break-even or the possibility of having a deficit. Thanks to those years of surpluses, we have set aside some money to cover any losses in lean years, like 2009 might be. Our goal is to support committees that are very active like the RECORDER and the Technical Luncheons. It was decided to maintain the high quality level of the RECORDER despite a decrease in revenue from advertising. Even though the convention centre is increasing the cost of a meal at the technical luncheon, we decided for now to maintain the price of a luncheon ticket the same and again maintain the high quality of talks. It was also decided to increase our commitment to Outreach. Outreach is carrying the banner of the CSEG to many universities and high schools, promoting the sciences in general, and geoscience in particular. If we are to have members 10 years down the road to replace our ‘greying’ (or some would say ‘balding’ – aging anyway) CSEG membership, we need to be out there to ensure that new graduates come out to provide the services required to maintain the flow of oil and gas to sustain our economy. An aspect of these services that is becoming more prominent year after year is the environmental impact and remediation. Geoscience can (and will) play an active role in this area as well. The CSEG Executive also wanted to provide support for volunteers coming up with new initiatives like the microseismic workshop that is planned for later this year (watch for the announcement to come later).

SEG Governance & CSEG

The CSEG is a Section (or Associated Society, the two terms being synonymous in the SEG Constitution and Bylaws) of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Over the last few years, the SEG has evolved to become a truly global society. It now counts more than 30,000 members with more than half of them from outside the U.S.A. In order to function effectively as a global organization, the SEG is offering more services online (visit www.seg.org) and is opening up offices around the world to have a presence on other continents for servicing local members. As a consequence of its success, the SEG needs to review its governance to ensure that it will be a relevant society to all its members globally. These fundamental changes are not taken lightly and do not happen overnight. A group of volunteers has been working diligently for many months and will remain active for months or years under the banner “Governance Review Committee” (GRC). The GRC is making recommendations to the ExComm (Executive Committee) and the Council of the SEG for consideration. Part of the process includes consultations with stakeholders, the CSEG being one of them. The CSEG executive reviewed the proposed changes and offered our perspective on these changes. The CSEG represents the second largest section within the SEG. If you are an SEG member, you might want to get involved. Some information will appear in the February issue of The Leading Edge (President Elect’s message). Your comments can then be forwarded to the committee chair: Klaas Koster at klaas_koster@hotmail.com.