Greetings Everyone: 

Thanks to all of you that have reached out to me (too many to list) and offered to lend a hand with the work ahead for USASA.

As part of an overall effort to improve USASA member communications, I will be sending periodic updates like this one, which includes a summary of actions taken since the AGM.

On Sunday, September 29, 2024, I met informally with three staff members and Bruce. The purpose of the meeting was to personally introduce myself to the staff, and to learn about their backgrounds and current roles. We also generally discussed a few “hot button” issues, one of them being the web site and its functionality, for which there have been complaints. Bruce and I then met separately for a few minutes to talk about how he and I were going to communicate, such as setting up a regular schedule. We also discussed beginning the process for meeting one-on-one with the USASA members – a campaign promise from the candidate’s forum that I will keep. We also discussed how to best keep track of NBOD action items, whether via a shared Google sheet or some other method using more sophisticated project management software. I also asked Bruce’s to help me with onboarding about background stuff, such as where we are with Collective Global, the current insurance policy, and the current bank accounts (another “hot button” item).

The past ten days, and later today, I will have met individually (by phone) with each NBOD member to talk about several issues. Included among those issues were:

• The plan to fill the vacant At Large Position (open the application to the full membership);
• The plan for 2024-25 Committee Appointments (hybrid: recommendations plus a call for volunteers from the full membership);
• The plan for future NBOD board meetings, including: (a) the timing of when board packets are be sent to the NBOD (target date is four business days ahead of the meeting); (b) Zoom recording of meetings and the use of AI to prepare the NBOD meeting summary; (c) having a USASA Staff member (not the Secretary) prepare the first draft of NBOD minutes; and (d) announcing major decisions taken by the NBOD the next business day and/or in the next newsletter so that members are more timely and fully informed.

Yesterday, Bruce and I had a lengthy phone call to go over some of the issues mentioned above, along with other pressing issues from his perspective. We also discussed the scheduling of one-on-one membership meetings later this month. Bruce will be following up with a list of one hour time slots that members can select from, starting with the week of 10/21/24 and continuing thereafter until completed.

The bullet points listed above, among other topics, will be on the agenda for the next NBOD meeting set for tomorrow, October 10, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.(Central).

The Zoom link for that NBOD meeting is:

Zoom Link

In order to add another level of transparency to tomorrow’s NBOD meeting, there will be some time set aside on the agenda (after the President’s report) for direct member feedback.

Have a great rest of the week, and thanks again to everyone for the support and for the time that you devote to improving adult soccer.

Jim