AGA Steering Committee (and other) Changes

[krandall@world.std.com]

Hi folks, 

In the past few weeks, we have made some changes to the structure of the
Steering Committee.  The following announcement will come out in the issue
of TAG following the one that is currently in the mail, and we wanted all
of you to hear about it first. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  I'm excited about it,
because I really have wanted to help both Paul and Merrill more with thie
projects, but have been too busy "chasing my tail" with other AGA stuff to
do anything meaningful.  I think these changes will be very positive for
AGA, and look forward to new and exciting days on the horizon!

Karen

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In some ways it seems like a very long time ago that a group of us got
together in person and hammered out an organizational chart for AGA, and I
got "arm twisted" into acting as interim chair for the Steering Committee.
In other ways, that time has flashed by. We have a good group of people on
the Management Committee, although there are still openings, but it will
always be a tough job keeping people this far flung geographically
organized and working in a cohesive manner. 

It is my great pleasure to report that Bob Cashin has stepped up to the
plate to take over as our new Steering Committee Chairperson. Bob has been
a strong supporter of the AGA and active in his "hats" as Steering
Committee member and Financial Secretary for the AGA. I am sure he will do
a fine job as Steering Committee Chair, bringing enthusiasm and energy to
the position that this beleaguered Mom has sometimes lacked!

In Bob's place, David Lass has agreed to take over the role of Financial
Secretary. David is a long time Boston area AGA member, and is experienced
handling financial matters. He is currently also treasurer of the Boston
Aquarium Society. We are very excited to have David on board. I think he
will be an active and enthusiastic member of our management team.

We are also pleased to announce that a 5th member has been added to the AGA
Steering Committee. Erik Olson has been working hard as a member of the
Management Committee keeping our web site up and running, and maintaining
our various managerial mailing lists. Without Erik and his computer, I
don't know where we'd be! For those of you who are not "web savvy", Erik
also maintains a large and comprehensive web site of his own, called "The
Krib". This site probably contains more information on planted tanks than
any other single source on the Internet. 

There are other big changes coming for the AGA. It is with great regret
that I must announce that Neil Frank has decided to retire from his
position as editor of TAG as of January 1, 2000 after an amazing run of 10
years in that position! He has done an outstanding job over that period of
time, producing a magazine that the AGA could always be proud of. It is
due, in great measure, to Neil's work on TAG that the AGA has become the
large, vital organization that it is today, with over 800 members and
growing, world wide. Neil, you have my heartfelt thanks for the work you
have done, and I'm sure that is echoed by our entire membership. Neil will
not be leaving AGA though, he will continue as a valued member of the
Steering Committee.

The good news is that we have a fresh, enthusiastic new face waiting in the
wings to take over the reins of TAG. That is Mary Macaw. Mary is no
newcomer to work for volunteer aquarium organizations and is currently
serving as a member of the board of directors of the Boston Aquarium
Society. Neil and Mary will work together closely during the change over so
that the transition is as smooth and painless as possible.

There are all sorts of plans on the horizon, and if you will refer back to
the organizational chart printed in the Jul-Aug 1998 issue of TAG, there is
still plenty of room for _you_ to help. One of the areas that I feel we
really need to get moving is finding regional representatives to funnel
information both to and from local members. As well as retaining my seat on
the Steering Committee, I will be taking on this position "officially" for
the North Eastern U.S. though I have unofficially been doing this work for
years. If you are interested in organizing a group of AGA'ers in your
region, please feel free to contact me or Merrill Cohen (our Regional
Coordinator) for ideas on how to get started. We have strong pockets of
membership in several areas, and it would be good if these groups could
start sharing information with AGA as a whole.

In this regard, I will mention that The Northeast Council of Aquarium
Societies has again invited AGA members to gather for a special AGA event
in conjunction with the NEC Annual Convention in March, 2000. The NEC has
invited Claus Christensen to come from Denmark to speak again, and he has
graciously accepted. If you missed him the last time, this is a great
opportunity. Claus is extremely knowledgeable, and a very entertaining,
dynamic speaker as well. AGA members will also have a conference room
available the first day of the convention for their private use. Details
have yet to be worked out, but the round table discussions we've had at
this event in the past have been well attended, very educational and
enjoyable. Look for more information in the next issue of TAG.