District St. Louis,
The September 2024 meeting of your Board of Governors was held on September 17th.
President's Report
President Lauren Torres of Anton Paar called the meeting to order and provided a memoriam to one member, Michael Muehlbauer, from District St. Paul/Minneapolis who joined in 1981.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is setting strategic priorities at their meeting on Oct. 31 ahead of the officer installation on Nov. 1 at the District Carolinas meeting.
The Executive Committee is working to reduce costs so the organization comes in as close to net zero as possible.
Treasurer's Report
The meeting focused on the financial performance and strategic planning of the organization.
Revenue is $32,000 behind budget, primarily due to declining membership and book sales, with a 13% year-over-year drop to 3,585 members.
Expenses are $78,000 under budget, contributing to a net operating loss of $141,000, 2.6% below projections.
The organization has a strong financial position with $5 million in net assets.
Membership dues for 2025 (not including individual district dues) will be $160 for professionals, $47 for students, $21 for retirees, and $0 for honorary life members.
World Brewing Congress (WBC) 2024 Summary
Out of 822 attendees, 50% were first-time attendees.
30% of attendees completed the survey, rating the meeting experience at 4.3 out of 5.
Top-rated items included the closing keynote, scientific sessions, and taproom talks.
Attendees expressed interest in learning more about food safety and low/non-alcoholic beer.
The most important factor in attending WBC was networking and the program, common for MBAA meetings. Attendees overwhelmingly prefer to keep Q3 for time of year.
Noted reporting tool was used at the meeting, so please continue to abide by the Code of Conduct.
District Health Updates
New materials on the District Health Community Resource Page include templates for welcoming new members and encouraging lapsed members to rejoin.
Guidelines for working with guilds and best practices for independent district community engagement were developed.
Ongoing training efforts included meetings with over 70% of districts, focusing on technical chairs and board officers.
Financial dashboards and new ways of tagging items for the archives were introduced to build a database of technical content.
Nominating Committee
Immediate Past President Doug Wilson of Hopsteiner presented the following slate:
- Molly Browning (Lallemand), President
- Brian Faivre (New Realm Brewing), 1st Vice President
- Steve Bradt (Hopsteiner), 2nd Vice President
- Lauren Torres (Anton Paar), Immediate Past President
- Marcus Powers (Zipline Brewing), Treasurer
- Ben Bailey (Troegs Brewing), Treasurer-elect
The Board of Governors approved this slate with a unanimous vote.
Approval of Minutes
Approval of minutes from May 2021 was also unanimous, with no edits required.
New Business
The Member Get A Member campaign is still in full effect. When joining the MBAA, new members should enter the promo code NewBrew24 and list you as a referring member. For each new member you refer, you'll receive 20% off your membership dues.
The organization is looking for volunteers to serve on various committees and working groups. See https://www.mbaa.com/membership/Pages/Volunteer.aspx for more info.
A reminder for Districts to include District Events on the Master Brewers Calendar. We need to continue to encourage people to attend District meetings and join Master Brewers to help increase membership numbers.
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UNITED WE BREW
Bob Griesedieck
Griesedieck Brothers Brewery
Master Brewers Association of the Americas
District St. Louis BOG Representative 2024-2025
District St. Louis Immediate Past President
National Nominating Committee 2022-2025 | DEI Task Force 2023-
Cicerone Program Certified Beer Server
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