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By Mike Lash, AGA
President
I'm very pleased to welcome James
Heiney, Alan Mishlov and Ulo Tamm to national positions at the American Go
Association. James is coming on as our new National Membership Services
Coordinator, Alan is taking over the National Education Coordinator position and
Ulo Tamm is serving a return engagement as our Treasurer. More than anything
else, these appointments re-affirm the reason the AGA thrives - our membership
is strongly endowed with committed, bright and enthusiastic people willing to donate their time and energy to ensure our success. I encourage every AGA member
to think of ways to help these volunteers by working on the staff or taking on
other AGA projects to help continue building the American go
community.
A Lock Haven, PA, resident, new National
Membership Services Coordinator James Heiney feels strongly about helping to
connect and support AGA members from all points on the map, including those in
areas with currently limited numbers of members and chapters. Membership
services has long been an area where the AGA could be doing more to encourage
new members and reward existing members, and James will be focusing on these
concepts. Many excellent ideas were generated in a committee effort last fall so
James already has a long menu of projects to implement and you can expect to
hear from him in the near future.
While National
Education Coordinator Alan Mishlov now lives in Florida, he hailed from Chicago
for 25 years, where he was a member of the Evanston Go Club. Alan is very
enthusiastic about evaluating the broad range of active education programs
across the country. We will be exploring the whole gamut of programs run by
chapters, individuals, universities, grade schools, companies and other groups,
with an eye to determining what really works and deserves more AGA support. Alan
will define a national approach for the AGA to consistently sustain the local
efforts with publications, employment of Go teachers, equipment distribution,
standard school programs, and selected project funding. This is a long-term
program with the results accumulating slowly and steadily. Stay
tuned.
Ulo Tamm, who so ably served as AGA Treasurer
under the Laird administration, has agreed to resume his duties so that current
Treasurer Ben Bernstein can spend more time with his family and business. Ben
has served the AGA for years and his quiet but dedicated work has been a steady
source of reliable, sensible and wise counsel for the AGA leadership. Ben will
be sorely missed; we cannot thank him enough for his service to the AGA and look
forward to seeing him at the board in our tournaments. Broomfield, Colorado
resident Ulo Tamm's past experience in AGA financial affairs and familiarity
with our needs will make this important transition seamless: the AGA Board
appointed Ulo Treasurer on March 20 and he'll officially take over June 1, 2005,
the start of fiscal year 2006. Until that date, all financial matters and
inquiries should be directed to Ben.
Our deepest
gratitude goes to all four of these dedicated volunteers. I hope their
dedication serves as inspiration to you and proof of the growing momentum of
activity in the AGA. Anyone interested in working with them on these AGA
programs, or any others, please contact me at president@usgo.org
and I'll get
you connected right away.
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