Highlights from SME Board of Directors Meetings at the MINEXCHANGE 2025 SME Annual Conference and Expo

The 2024-2025 SME Board met on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025 with Marc Herpfer presiding in Denver, CO. All present were welcomed, and a safety share was provided. Minutes from the Dec. 19, 2024 quarterly meeting were approved, actions taken by mail ballot were ratified and all committee reports were approved.

SME Chief Financial Officer Michelle Hegarty reported on the outcomes of Fiscal Year 2024, and the first three months of Fiscal Year 2025. In summary, SME is in good financial health. The SME Board approved the 2024 Audit as recommended by the SME Audit Committee and presented by Audit Committee Chair Resa Furey. The board also approved revisions to SME Reserves Policy.

Association Growth Strategic Committee Chair Hassan Amini detailed the committee’s key initiatives including enhancing social media outreach efforts to reach new audiences, increasing virtual section engagement, and growing corporate partners.

SME Membership Manager Laura Nelson outlined new recommendations for current SME partnerships. The SME Board voted to approve most of the recommendations with a few modifications. Nelson then reviewed membership highlights noting that the Society membership increased to 14,648 members including 3,122 new members.

SME Director of IT and Web Development Tim Brown provided an AI and cyber security report, highlighting ways that SME is strengthening its technology by identifying effective solutions, securing assets, keeping staff prepared through regular training, and evaluating emerging technologies to expand capabilities and security in all areas. Staff is consistently reviewing responsible AI adoption, focusing on data privacy and security, ethical use and continued education applications.

Industry Innovation Strategic Committee Chair Jordon Oxborrow reported on several current activities of the committee including the preprint server proposal and a recommendation to investigate and report on the viability of utilizing the data in OneMine.org to train an AI LLM. The board approved the formation of an ad hoc preprint server committee to review the feasibility of, and as appropriate, implement a custom branded SME pre-print server.

SME Meetings Director Cori Knasinski reported on the early outcomes of the annual conference noting that the current attendee count was 6,600 registrants including 921 international members and 590 students; the conference included 125 sessions and 694 presentations. This year’s MINEXCHANGE Conference was co-located with several events – CMA’s 127th National Western Mining Conference, World Gold 2025, and the Komar Kawatra Symposium.

Structure and Governance Committee Chair Genevieve Sutton reported the committee’s recommendations to update the awards. Award committee members will be advised of any specific recommended revisions.

Industry Workforce Strategic Committee Chair David Bieber stated that the committee meets monthly and is focused on three initiatives with a goal to complete one each year. He described an Australian intern program for students in mining programs who have not declared majors; the committee is reviewing it as a potential SME program. He also provided updates on the Emilly Griffith program, highlighted trade engagement ideas, and suggested the creation of a social media committee.

Responsible Mining and Underground Construction Strategic Committee Chair Julie Lucas noted the progress of the work toward creating a symposium on reducing carbon emissions, requested support in identifying permitting-related public documents that need to be updated and reported on the efforts towards creating a repository of these papers.

Herpfer acknowledged and thanked outgoing Past President Marc Le Vier, Directors Richard Lambert and Barbara Nielsen, and Board Intern Vasu Gangrade. Incoming President Bill Hancock was presented with the 2025 President’s Pin and the final meeting of the 2024/2025 SME Board of Directors was adjourned.

The 2025-2026 SME Board of Directors held its first meeting on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025 with Bill Hancock presiding. President Elect Mary Korpi, new Directors Ravi Ravishankar and Mick Routledge and new Board Intern Rosa M. Rojas were welcomed to the table. Hancock led a Mega Issue discussion on what the industry needs from SME. The discussion centered on the concept of creating an SME University. It was agreed that further analysis needs to be done to better understand the market.

AIME President-Elect Steve Gardner provided an update regarding AIME activities noting that  in 2023 AIME contracted with Inventures, an association management company to take over management of the institute and that there is a new executive director as of 2024 who is providing improved service in that role.

Meetings Director Cori Knasinski reported on the preliminary results of the 2025 annual conference noting a final headcount of 7,050 attendees including 977 international members and 602 students. The next annual conference will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 22-25, 2026. The 2025 SME Midyear Meeting will be in Denver, CO, Sept. 11-14.

SME Foundation President Andy Cole reported on SMEF fundraising and programming activities noting that the 2025 Fiscal Year goal is to raise 1.6 million. He reviewed other fundraising activities including the $4k by 40 program, the silent auction, two golf tournaments, Division and Local Section Challenges, the expansion of the CRP partners and individual donations. The SME Board approved a motion to accept the slate of 2025 SME Foundation Officers and Trustees.