New BOD Announced; Plans for 2021 Begin

Congratulations to the newly elected 2021 Board of Directors!  A special congrats to Paul Sermersheim and Tom Sluder for being "freshman" board members. Also, congratulations to Dan Crumrine on his election as President!  We are all excited to see what the board has in store for the upcoming year.  Here is the full list of 2021 Board of Directors

The newly elected boards members met last week via Zoom to start planning for 2021. The most immediate outcome from the meeting is the opportunity to send a select few members to the Virtual GIS for FREE!!!  With only one scholarship applications this year, the Board felt it was in the best interest of the CIGCSA members to provide opportunity for education to those that may have been most effected by the pandemic in 2020.  More details will follow, but any member struggling to justify the cost of the Virtual GIS to their employer due to club or course financial performance, may be eligible for a grant to cover the cost of registration.  Financial need will be heaviest weighted factor in determining the grant recipients. 

Although there is still a fair amount of uncertainty, the board wasted no time in setting a tentative schedule of events.  Unfortunately, the annual Winter Social is held at the beginning of January and Tier 3 mitigations may still be in place at that time, preventing us from gathering indoors at a dining establishment. Therefore, the board made the decision to combine the Winter Social and GIS Happy Hour into one event during the month of February. More details will follow once it is determined the parameters the event must work within to comply with State guidelines.  Another change early in 2021 is postponing the Education Event 'Shop Meeting' until April.  The board will create in-person and virtual plans for the event.  Once again, when it is clear what the best practices will be, final plans will be announced. 

Outside the early change to the 2021 events calendar, the Board remains very optimistic that events can/will resume by May 2021, if not earlier. There was energy and excitement as the board discussed the Scholarship Fundraiser, Vendor's Day, Chapter Championship, 9- Hole event, and adding a season long Match Play to the golf event lineup.  Outside of golf events, the board also plans to host a First Green Field Trip in September or October, the Annual Meeting/Education Event in December, and social events in January and February of 2022.

Finally, the Board wants to provide our vendors an opportunity to discuss the PRP (Partner Recognition Program) for 2021.  We recognize what a difficult year 2020 was for sponsorships and hope to provide the best PRP opportunities in 2021.  The first step is finalizing the events calendar.  This will be followed by a Zoom meeting for any current or future Class AF (vendors) that would like to hear about our offers and voice their opinions to the Board.  That meeting will be held January 4th at 10AM.  It will be a virtual meeting via Zoom and be a 'open house'-still event.  Meaning, vendors are welcome to drop in, hear about opportunities and come and go as the need throughout the 2 hours.  This is a great opportunity to provide feedback to the Board, so they can continue to improve the PRP program. Vendors, please save the date for Jan. 4th. All members are welcome at the meeting to hear about the program.  A link will be emailed next week. 

Thanks for reading,

    Travis Williams, CGCS

    Immediate Past President, CIGCSA