To:        SVP and SVPCA 2009 Annual Meeting Silent Auction Participants
From:   SVP Headquarters
Re:        2009 Silent Auction Payment Problem

Thank you for participating in the hugely successful SVP and SVPCA Annual Meeting in Bristol.

We are writing to inform you that the check and credit card payment materials from the Silent Auction in Bristol were inadvertently destroyed while in the custody of the Order Processing Department at the SVP Headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. The material had not yet been processed. The total amount for Silent Auction check and credit card payments is $5,302. In total, the auction raised more than $13,900 for SVP and SVPCA, based on the exchange rate in effect.

SVP's headquarters management is provided by The Sherwood Group, a firm that specializes in services and staff for nonprofit membership communities in science, research and medicine. The Sherwood Group stands behind its work, and will cover the entire amount of the loss to SVP and SVPCA. Although we have chosen to address this problem ourselves, both Sherwood and SVP carry insurance to cover the destruction or theft of materials and assets.

This loss does not apply to cash from the Silent Auction, which was deposited in a U.K. bank account, and it does not apply to the Live Auction donations – cash, check or charge. It also does not apply to other meeting-related fees, such as registration or merchandise sales, regardless of payment method. Everything else has been accounted for and processed securely.

It is our responsibility to inform individuals who paid for Silent Auction items by check or credit card that your account information may have been compromised. Although we believe that the material has been buried in the landfill, be alert for inappropriate charges or withdrawals, and please notify SVP Headquarters immediately at: svp@vertpaleo.org  if you suspect a problem.

We are embarrassed by this mistake and offer our apologies to the SVP and SVPCA community, along with our assurances that our internal controls, which are audited every year by a third party, have been addressed as appropriate. (This is the first such incident in more than 25 years of doing business.)

We know that SVP and SVPCA auction participants are motivated by the opportunity to support important SVP and SVPCA programs.  We look forward to facilitating such opportunities for many years to come.

Sincerely,
Kate VanZanten
SVP Executive Director

Greg Schultz
Vice President, The Sherwood Group

President’s Statement Concerning the Destruction of Silent Auction Financial Documents

I am writing to you on behalf of the Executive Committee regarding the recent loss of check and credit card payment materials from the Annual Meeting Silent Auction that occurred while in the custody of SVP's Management Firm, The Sherwood Group.

Although this is unfortunate, we are pleased that The Sherwood Group brought this to our attention immediately and took swift action to ensure that SVP and SVPCA will suffer no financial harm from this incident.  Moreover, they have implemented corrective actions to ensure that similar events will not occur in the future.

The Executive Committee had a conference call with The Sherwood Group during which we reviewed Sherwood's procedures for handling SVP funds as well as Sherwood's and SVP's insurance policies. After this review we retain full confidence in Sherwood and are confident that SVP's finances are being properly managed.

As the letter from Sherwood stated, we believe account information from those of you who paid for Silent Auction materials via credit card or check is buried in a landfill, but you should be alert for any inappropriate charges or withdrawals. No further action is required from you as Sherwood is reimbursing SVP in full for the lost funds and your account will not be charged.

We appreciate that many SVP members use the auction as an opportunity to lend their financial support to SVP.  Because the Sherwood Group will fully refund SVP for the lost Silent Auction donations, we urge those of you who purchased items at the Silent Auction to donate some or all of the funds you already committed to SVP via our secure Web site at: https://www.vertpaleo.org/donate/index.cfm .

Sincerely yours,

Blaire Van Valkenburgh, President

7 October 2009

Dr. John Holdren, Director
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President
725 17th Street Room 5228
Washington, DC 20502

Dear Dr. Holdren:

On behalf of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), I write to express strong support for the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) proposed Executive Order for issuance by President Obama to promote the preservation and use of scientific collections.

Our nation's natural science collections, whether at a public museum, such as the Smithsonian, an independent or university-affiliated natural history museum, such as the Paleontological Research Institution (Ithaca, NY), or a science department at a liberal arts college, are irreplaceable resources that enable us to understand our world. These specimen and data collections are critical for interpreting the biological and physical history of earth, and are essential to our ability to understand how earth systems function today and how they may function in a rapidly changing world.

Founded in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (http://www.vertpaleo.org/) now has over 2,500 members representing professionals, students, artists, preparators, and others interested in vertebrate paleontology. It is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, with the object of advancing the science of vertebrate paleontology. The Society publishes the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the leading scholarly journal in the field for original research papers on fossil vertebrates, ranging from fish to dinosaurs to mammals. We are engaged in supporting science education at all levels, including K-12 students, undergraduate and graduate education, as well as through museums and the media. The field of vertebrate paleontology and the allied fields of evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, and earth history use and depend on our nation’s scientific collections of living and fossil vertebrates.

The proposed Executive Order sends a strong message to the natural science collections research and education community. In short, it would demonstrate that the Obama Administration is aware of the important role our institutions play in the nation's scientific research and education enterprise. Moreover, it would demonstrate that federal support and use of data from scientific collections have been hindered by inadequate coordination of planning and budgets. The Executive Order would establish a formal mechanism by which federal agencies could ensure wise and strategic investments in this important and irreplaceable part of our research infrastructure.

Thank you for your consideration of the Executive Order proposed by the NSC Alliance. We urge your office to support adoption of this order.

Sincerely,

Blaire Van Valkenburgh
President, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606

View the full lecture by Sir David Attenborough at the SVP 69th Annual Meeting and the 57th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy (SVPCA)
 
This event was sponsored by the University of Bristol. 

This lecture was one of a series in honor of the Centenary, in 2009, of the foundation of the University of Bristol, and a contribution to Darwin 200 events, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

Sir David Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, is arguably the most respected documentary filmmaker. He was born in 1926 in London, and spent his boyhood in Leicester collecting rocks and fossils. He studied geology and zoology for a natural sciences degree from the University of Cambridge and continued with studies of anthropology in London from 1944 to 1946.

He joined the BBC in 1950, acting first as a producer of factual programs, and later making his own natural history programs for radio and television. He was controller of BBC Two from 1965 to 1969 and continued as BBC Television's controller of programs until 1972, when he left administration to continue making programs. His major series "Life on Earth" (1979) was an enormous worldwide success, and he has since made a number of such ambitious and inspiring series: "The Living Planet" (1984), "The Trials of Life" (1990), "Life in the Freezer" (1993), "The Private Life of Plants" (1995), "The Life of Birds" (1998), "The Life of Mammals" (2002), "Life in the Undergrowth" (2005), and "Life in Cold Blood" (2008). Other series have covered anthropological, paleontological and environmental themes.

In a career spanning fifty years making television programs of the highest quality, David Attenborough has received many awards. He has written numerous best-selling books, generally one per TV series, and champions causes such as environmentalism and science education, and he challenges creationism.