Dear District 6 Members,
Some of you may or may not be aware that the ILCA NA Region is having an
election coming up for the following positions of: President,
Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Member-at-Large (not measurer as
some of you might be led to believe). I have stated briefly who is
running and what their qualifictions are. In addition, there will also be
a vote on a set of proposed by-laws (go to: www.laser.org and then click
on by-laws) and on a request for proposal (also viewed at: www.laser.org).
Ryan Minth, who is the current president is running for that position.
Ryan sails both full and radial rigs and competes on a regular basis in
both open and master events. Ryan lives in New York and works in the
computer industry. Peter Johns, who is the brother of Vanguard CEO Chip
Johns, is running against Ryan. Peter was instrumental in the running of
the 2002 Laser Worlds at the Hyannis Yacht Club. Peter is involved with
the Hyannis Yacht Club, works as an investment advisor for Merril Lynch
and has served on numerous boards of directors. Peter's position paper
can be viewed on the Laser website. Tracy Usher, the Vice-President, was
acclaimed as VP and so he gets the position. Mark Kastel and Eric Faust
are competing against each other for the position of Secretary. The
secretary is the person on the Executive Committee who communicates to the
District Secretaries. Mark competes in the Full rigs and operates an
agricultural consulting business in Wisconsin. Mark was instrumental in
developing the proposed by-laws. Eric lives in Texas, and competes in the
Full rigs in both open and master events. Eric has served as secretary
for the US J24 Class Association and is currently the Executive Director
of the US J24 Class Association. Mark likes the by-laws the way they are
written while Eric would like to see some changes. Mark's position paper
can be viewed on the Laser website. John Dawson-Edwards, the only
Canadian on the Executive Committee, is re-running for the position of
Treasurer. John operates a construction consulting business in Edmonton
and manages the Masters website. You can view his position by going to
the Laser website. His opposition is Fred Schroth, the former Executive
Secretary of the ILCA NA Region. Fred operates a boat repair business in
Texas. John is in favor of having the membership pay at the beginning of
the year (January) while Fred would prefer to have the members pay on a 12
month rotating basis (this is how members paid until this year). Both John
and Fred sail full rigs and often compete in Master events. Both John and
Fred have experience in small business accounting. Tim Landt is running
for the position of member-at-large. Tim is a partner of a Citigroup
affiliate CSG Partners, a health care firm in Florida. Tim races full
rigs in both open and master events and is the ILCA NA Region's
representative at US Sailing. Dave Abbott is a long time Laser sailor who
races and sails full rigs. Dave sometimes competes in Master events as
well as open events. Dave wants to bring back the fun aspect in Laser
sailing and racing. Dave lives in Illinois. It seems that Peter Johns,
Mark Kastel, John Dawson-Edwards and Tim Landt are all in favour of the
proposed by-laws while Ryan Minth, Eric Faust and Fred Schroth are opposed
to the by-laws. I don't know Dave's opinion on the by-laws. Whoever
makes up the new executive committee will take into account on how the
membership votes on the by-laws and will proceed accordingly. The request
for proposal is basicly an evaluation on the job James Appel has done
over the past year. If you like the job James has done with reguards to
the Laser.org website, the Laser Sailor and the management of the Laser
Class (NA Region), please say no to the proposal and let James get on with
the job of running the ILCA NA Region. If you don't like the job James
has done, please vote in favour of the request for proposal and the new
executive committee will probably hire someone else. I am asking all of
you to indicate how I should vote on these three issues. The voting will
start on November 15 and I would like some indication by the 14th. I will
vote according to the wishes of the membership. If no one gets back to
me, then so be it. Please forward this email to anyone you know who has
email but does not subscribe to the two email lists. If you have any
question, please don't hesitate to phone (604-733-9663) or email me.
Thanks,
Andy Hunt District 6 Secretary Received on Mon Nov 10 19:34:25 2003