It is important to begin by noting that six Endicott House employees took advantage of the retirement incentive program. They ranged from administrative, maintenance, grounds and wait staff personnel to the Managing Director, Howard Miller. These six individuals accounted for 125 years of service to the Institute.
With the announcement of the Managing Director's retirement, a committee composed of three members of the Endicott House Board of Governors was appointed to evaluate and recommend what the future management structure ought to look like. Several options were explored and "on-site" discussions were held with two management companies. It was ultimately decided that the operation as a whole was essentially sound, but that help was needed in the sales and marketing areas to replace the lost business that resulted from the discontinuance last year of the Sloan School of Management's Program for Senior Executives. This eight-week residential program, offered each spring and fall, had been held at Endicott House for the past 38 years, represented a major portion of our conference center business. It was proposed that one of the management companies, Conference Center Consulting Group, be retained for a specified period of time to assume responsibility for the sales and marketing effort. This recommendation was contingent upon the successful negotiation of a suitable contract. The committee also recommended that a concurrent search be initiated to replace the Manageing Director.
Several major capital projects were completed during the year including the replacement of the Brooks Center septic system and the expansion of the main parking lot. The living room was air conditioned as were the remaining bed rooms in the main house. Also, in an effort to continually upgrade computer capabilities and, in anticipation of the Institute's new accounting/financial system, new computers were purchased for the business operation.
From a statistical standpoint, there were 56 overnight conferences held at the facility, lasting from one night to four weeks. Of the total, MIT-related groups accounted for 17 of these residential groups, 12 were from other non-profit groups, and the remaining 27 represented corporate businesses and some educational groups not classified as non-profit. These figures compare with last year's 67 overnight conferences with MIT-related groups accounting for 33 of these groups, 13 were from other non-profit groups, and and the remaining 21 represented corporate businesses. There were 3,531 room nights occupied by a total of 3,723 guests this year compared with 5,535 room-nights occupied by 5,556 guests last year. Room occupancy was 28.7 percent compared with 37.8 percent last year. There were 29,755 meals served this year compared to 25,075 last year.
Howard F. Miller