The first business meeting of the Chlamydia Basic Research Society was called to order by the interim president, Gerald Byrne. Dr. Byrne welcomed the members to the meeting and acknowledged those individuals responsible for the organization of the conference. He then gave a brief history of the origin of the organization.

The first order of business was the approval of the constitution. Joanne Engel reviewed the basic components of the constitution which was written by the group who met in Tucson in March, 2002. Dr. Byrne called for the vote, and the constitution was unanimously approved.

Ming Tan then presented the slate of officers for election. The individuals were nominated at the organizing meeting and have served in an interim capacity during the organization of the society. The floor was opened for additional nominations and two additional individuals were nominated for the position of councillor. The slate was as follows:

President - Gerald Byrne

President-elect - Priscilla Wyrick

Secretary/Treasurer - Roger Rank

Councillors (4 to be elected):

Harlan Caldwell
Lee Ann Campbell
Joanne Engel
Grant McClarty
Peter Timms
Michael Ward

The President, President-elect, and Secreatary/Treasurer were elected by unanimous vote. It was then decided that Ming Tan would conduct an e-mail ballot of the voting members to elect the councillors.

Roger Rank presented the Treasurer's report. He recognized the contribution of Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines which provided an operating budget for the society and the San-Pin Wang Endowment Fund for sponsoring the cash awards for the best graduate student and post-doctoral fellow presentations. He also reported that the organization had been approved as a tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service.

Dr. Byrne indicated that a survey of the membership would be conducted by e-mail to obtain feedback regarding various aspects of the conference. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.