Greetings everyone,
Your MBAA Board of Governors met on Tuesday, October 18th for our final meeting of the year. As was mentioned in the subject line, this is a change as your BOG now meets three times per year instead of two. You can view the slide deck presentation from our meeting
here.
After the formalities of starting the meeting, we got right down to business and approved the slate of officers for next year. I tried to make the motion to approve the slate on behalf of District Northern IL ,as our very own Doug Wilson will take over as President, but I'm not sure if I got in quick enough. Regardless, the slate was approved and they will be installed at the
Midwest Technical Conference next weekend. If you have not registered for the conference, today is your last day to do so to guarantee your place at the Saturday evening dinner. Registration will be accepted on site, but but we have to get counts for dinner to the hotel in advance.
Most of the meeting was devoted to discussing the presentation of the District Health Task Force. This presentation was the culmination of over two years of work by the committee to determine a set of best practices to ensure the vitality of our districts going forward. There was a lot included in the presentation so please have a look at the slide deck to see what was the scope of the committee's work and what was recommended. Because District Northern IL is a new district and was founded with the idea of effective operation from its beginning, we have incorporated many of the committee's recommendations already. The biggest change to potentially affect us is that members of the district will now have voting rights in respect to the district officers, pending approval of the district bylaw changes. District Northern IL has a succession plan in which officers rotate through their roles each year, so term limits do not practically apply to us. If you have any questions about the committee's work or recommendations please respond to this post or reach out to me or Doug Wilson directly as both of us serve on the District Health Task Force.
The next order of business was outgoing president Andy Tveekrem's year in review which focused a great deal on strategic planning. Again, there was a lot to take in so please review the slide deck to see what your organization will be focused on in the future. As your Board of Governors Representative, I am your primary conduit to your larger organization, so please let me know if you agree, disagree, or have other input regarding the plans for your Association.
The Treasurer's report was similar to the last several ones in that we are still in difficult times, but your organization is on firm financial footing. The big takeaway (again) is that membership is the driving force behind our success (financial and otherwise) and so it is imperative that you renew your membership and encourage your peers to join and do the same.
In closing, I wanted to tell a quick story. I think of myself an MBAA evangelist, always recruiting and extolling the benefits of membership. A few weeks ago I was wanting to contact a colleague about a supply question I had, but I knew he had changed jobs a long time ago and I did not have his contact information. I thought I knew where he worked now, but I wasn't sure. Long story short, I was able to find him, but not after a lot of tracking and some good luck. When we finally spoke I shared the story of the long trail I had gone down to find him. This colleague is a longtime member of MBAA (which I knew) and so he shook his head and asked why I hadn't just looked him up on the member directory. I had no answer other than it hadn't occurred to me. I always say the greatest benefit of MBAA is access to the people that belong to it, and such a simple tool as the membership directory is how you get it.
I hope this message finds you, your family, and your company in good health and good times. I look forward to seeing many of you, hopefully next weekend in Indianapolis.
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Rob Hunter
Practical Brewer
Crust Brewing
Rosemont, IL
(630) 653-5500
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