Conventions

Elections for officers will occur at the Far West Ski Association Annual Meeting & Convention May 28-31, 2020, to be held at the Red Lion Jantzen Beach, Portland, Oregon. Voting will be held on Sunday, May 31.

Delegates attending the convention will elect their President, Secretary and Treasurer to one-year terms and two Trustees to two-year terms.

In addition, VP of Communications, VP of International Travel, VP of Marketing and VP of Membership will be elected to two-year terms.

There are no By-Laws amendments currently proposed.

If you are interested in being a candidate for any of the above positions, please contact Steve Coxen, Nominating Committee Chair.

Qualified nominees for any of the open positions will be accepted up to the date and time of elections. All candidates must be members in good standing of FWSA.

FWSA Qualifications for Positions as approved by the Board of Directors are:

President:

1. Held a voting position on the FWSA Board for a minimum of four (4) years.
2. Attended at least three (3) FWSA conventions within the five (5) years prior to the current convention.
3. Attended at least one (1) North American Ski Week within the five (5) years prior to the current convention.

Treasurer:

1. Understanding of cost center accounting and GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).
2. Working knowledge of MS Excel and QuickBooks or the current FWSA accounting software.
3. Held the Treasurer position in a FWSA ski club or council or has demonstrated equivalent job experience as an accountant who has done financial preparation and analysis.

Trustee:

1. Held a voting position on the FWSA Board a minimum of three (3) years.
2. Strong business, financial, and leadership skills.
3. Attended at least three (3) FWSA Conventions within the five (5) years prior to the current convention.          

VP of International Travel:

1. Must meet either 1 or 2 below:
   1. Held the position of club or council “Trip Leader” and led a    minimum of 2 trips of 25 or more people, or
   2.  Served as an FWSA Trip Leader, assistant Trip Leader, or FWSA Ski Week staff member for a minimum of two (2) trips.
2. Assisted as a volunteer on at least one trip related to this position.

Desirable experience with the following:

• Standard accounting procedures
• California Seller of Travel Program
• Travel Budgeting generating an organizational profit
• Writing Requests for Proposals (RFP’s), conducting a bid process, and writing and negotiating trip contracts
• May substitute other similar experience for any of the above

If elected to the VP of International Travel position:

• May not receive personal financial or other benefit as a result of being a club, council, or FWSA Trip Leader for an FWSA sponsored trip. For example— a trip leader who works as a tour operator or for a travel agency may not receive compensation or other benefit for their business or company. They may not use FWSA participant contact information as a source for their personal or business marketing.
• Will oversee all FWSA trips assigned to their Travel position and attend those trips unless an FWSA Trip Leader has been assigned to coordinate/run that trip.

FWSA By-Laws, job descriptions and the Operations Manual are available here on the FWSA website. To find the link, click on the “About” tab, then click on the “Governance” tab.

Declared candidates at the date of this publication are listed below.  Even though an incumbent is running for re-election to their position, potential candidates should not be discouraged from running for a position.

• President: Gloria Raminha (incumbent running for re-election)
• Treasurer: Randy Lew (incumbent running for re-election)
• Secretary: Sheri Parshall (incumbent running for re-election)
• Trustee 1: Linda Westlund (incumbent running for re-election)
• Trustee 2: Tucker Hoffmann (incumbent running for re-election)
• VP of Communications: Joe Harvis (incumbent running for re-election)
• VP of International Travel: Debbie Stewart (incumbent running for re-election)
• VP of Marketing: No candidate declared
• VP of Membership: No candidate declared

All candidates will have access to space for flyers and election materials at the registration area and on the tables on Sunday. In addition, each will have the opportunity to speak to delegates (see the Convention Schedule of Events for time and location). The elections will be held during the general assembly on Sunday.

The Nominating Committee Chairman will oversee elections.  Members for an elections committee will be solicited at the Convention.  All elections will be by secret ballot. Vote totals are confidential to the elections committee and records will be destroyed after verification by the committee and certified by a Trustee exercising oversight.