SSA Leadership after 12/31?

On Dec 5, 1:35 pm, Bullwinkle wrote:
On 12/5/07 11:24 AM, in article
,

" wrote:
Bullwinkle:

At the Board of Directors meeting in Elmira Dianne Black-Nixon was
asked to stay on as Chair to give continuity to the society and the
Board of Director. Fred

Thanks for the update.

Like I said: disgraceful.

As a point of information, I'm posting the following verbatim from the
final recommendations of the Future Restructuring Task Force, availble
to all SSA members for review. I'm assuming you read the report?

[Begin Quote] Transition
Recommendation 4 -- Transition from Current Board to New Board
The Society needs a smooth transition from the current Board structure
to the
new structure proposed in this report. During the transition period
all directors should continue to serve until the end
of the terms for which they were elected. The Executive Committee has
stated that those of its members who were elected
prior to February 2007 intend to resign en masse at the end of 2007.
It cannot be stated too strongly that the entire membership of the
FRTF feels this would be a major mistake. There is a strong need for
organizational memory within the
Executive Committee. The Board should follow existing practice when
determining how the next Chairperson and other ExCom members are
chosen. ExCom members should feel free to continue to serve the needs
of the Board and
continue to serve on the Executive Committee. However, any who
disagree with our viewpoint on this issue should follow their hearts
and resign. The bottom line is that the routine departure of a small
minority of members is tolerable, but
the mass resignation of the entire ExCom would be detrimental to the
best interests of the SSA, and is unacceptable.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)
Member, FRTF

On Dec 5, 10:35 am, Bullwinkle wrote:

Like I said: disgraceful.

As the well known quote goes:

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat
it." (Socrates).

Keeping at least SOME members of the board during the transition is
the BEST way to teach that history to the new board, and IMHO is the
best way to help the SSA from repeating any of the past mistakes. To
throw the new members of a board into the water just to see if they
will sink or swim is also disgraceful.

I too serve as a volunteer on the board of directors of TWO
international professional societies, and have served on the BoD of
organizations in decline.

When nobody else volunteers, would you prefer that the organization
fold up when there are no directors left??? That would be most
disgraceful. If that's truly your wish, please feel free to resign
from the SSA.

I for one am grateful for the directors that discovered the problems
with SSA, brought them into the open, effected some change to IMPROVE
the SSA, and are still volunteering to help rebuild, reinforce and
reestablish a viable organization that serves the sport (or hobby, if
you want to draw that distinction). There are some directors that
should find it appropriate to resign -- there are some that I support
and sincerely hope will continue their (volunteer) service to SSA.
Some "sub-organizations" (e.g., Region 12/SoCal Soaring) have put
together fund raisers to help defray the cost of a board members'
service to the region and SSA, and I have gladly contributed to these.

Yes, you're entitled to your opinion. Rather than yell "FIRE" in the
theater, pull together some facts, apply a little reason and ask
yourself if throwing them all out would really be the best thing to
do. Yes, I find myself feeling that way about our all to parochial
lawmakers...but putting in a 100% new batch of people that have no
idea how sausage is made is a recipe for instant disaster, IMHO.

-Pete
#309

On Dec 5, 5:52 pm, Papa3 wrote:
The bottom line is that the routine departure of a small
minority of members is tolerable, but
the mass resignation of the entire ExCom would be detrimental to the
best interests of the SSA, and is unacceptable.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)
Member, FRTF

Agreed.
I am please that they all offered to resign.
I am more pleased that some were asked to stay to provide continuity.
I am very pleased that someone would accept the request, for the good
of the society.

I don't get to fly often, and even less so in gliders. But I sorely
wish the best for the SSA, for the good of soaring and aviation in
general.

Dear Bullwinkle et all:

I agree with Eric & Pete.

I think the statement "All directors to resign" was made in haste, as
was Dennis's resignation. I believe all our Directors are good,
honest, honorable men and women that were deceived and very, very
embarrassed by it.

Mr. Gleason deceived the organization and Dennis for 2 years; he was
eventually caught and is now undergoing due process for his crimes.
Good, done, move on.

It makes no sense to get rid of all our directors for the reasons
pointed our above.

It does make sense to follow the FRTF recommendation on Transition, no
matter what the earlier, hasty statements of intention. I also feel it
will be a long time until we find a new Executive Director that will
just equal what Dennis has done in membership and new vitality to the
SSA. IMHO I think he never should have resigned. He was deceived by a
crooked CFO that plotted to deceive him, the BOD, and the Ex
Committee. The deed was identified, corrected and the guilty party
punished (or soon to be). Now we must move on, but we don't need to
throw everything out with the dirty bath water.

I too apologize for taking this domestic matter to an international
forum, but we really don't have a better place to air our laundry to
the rest of the SSA membership.

Sincerly,

Wayne Walker

I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

On Dec 6, 7:06 am, Jack wrote:
I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

I could not agree more with Wayne and Jack.

I would especially like to voice my support for Dennis. It's too bad
it's already a done deal with him. We let a good man get away.

Paul Gravance

On Dec 7, 9:18 am, gliderman wrote:
On Dec 6, 7:06 am, Jack wrote:





I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

I could not agree more with Wayne and Jack.

I would especially like to voice my support for Dennis. It's too bad
it's already a done deal with him. We let a good man get away.

Paul Gravance- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would hope that at least some of the present board and executive
committee members will stay on to apply the lessons they have learned
during the unfortunate events of the recent (and not so recent)
past.

Regarding Dennis Wright, I find it hard to understand how the
resident, hands-on Executive Director of a small organization like SSA
could be clueless for so long as to what was happening. At the very
least, it speaks to his awareness and competence and provided
sufficient justification, IMHO, for discharging him.

Raphael H. Warshaw
1LK

On Dec 7, 4:58 pm, 1LK wrote:
On Dec 7, 9:18 am, gliderman wrote:





On Dec 6, 7:06 am, Jack wrote:

I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

I could not agree more with Wayne and Jack.

I would especially like to voice my support for Dennis. It's too bad
it's already a done deal with him. We let a good man get away.

Paul Gravance- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would hope that at least some of the present board and executive
committee members will stay on to apply the lessons they have learned
during the unfortunate events of the recent (and not so recent)
past.

Regarding Dennis Wright, I find it hard to understand how the
resident, hands-on Executive Director of a small organization like SSA
could be clueless for so long as to what was happening. At the very
least, it speaks to his awareness and competence and provided
sufficient justification, IMHO, for discharging him.

Raphael H. Warshaw
1LK- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

After serving two terms (long ago) as a director, the good (very good)
people on the board held the best wishes for soaring pilots all over
the world. How many bad worms have I seen in life? Not enough to stop
me from eating apples. In very long years of accepting checks from
soaring pilots and even just glider riders, I have only received one
bounced check. God bless the SSA... all it stands for and the world of
good people it represents. Let me cast my vote now...They all stay
with grattitude expressed. Love Y'ALL. Fred Robinson.

"1LK" wrote in message
...
I would hope that at least some of the present board and executive
committee members will stay on to apply the lessons they have learned
during the unfortunate events of the recent (and not so recent)
past.

I agree 100%

Regarding Dennis Wright, I find it hard to understand how the
resident, hands-on Executive Director of a small organization like SSA
could be clueless for so long as to what was happening. At the very
least, it speaks to his awareness and competence and provided
sufficient justification, IMHO, for discharging him.

Again I agree. I have never met Dennis, but by all accounts he is a very
nice fellow who under more favorable conditions might have stayed on with SSA
for the rest of his working years. Unfortunately, it was exactly that
"niceness" that may have been his downfall. When your position is that of
"Captain of the ship" you must consistantly "trust but verify", even if it bends
some egos. It looks to me (from what little I know) like a simple monthly scan
of the SSA's bank statements would prevented the worst of the disaster.

Vaughn

On Dec 8, 7:49 am, "Vaughn Simon"
wrote:
"1LK" wrote in message

...

I would hope that at least some of the present board and executive
committee members will stay on to apply the lessons they have learned
during the unfortunate events of the recent (and not so recent)
past.

I agree 100%



Regarding Dennis Wright, I find it hard to understand how the
resident, hands-on Executive Director of a small organization like SSA
could be clueless for so long as to what was happening. At the very
least, it speaks to his awareness and competence and provided
sufficient justification, IMHO, for discharging him.

Again I agree. I have never met Dennis, but by all accounts he is a very
nice fellow who under more favorable conditions might have stayed on with SSA
for the rest of his working years. Unfortunately, it was exactly that
"niceness" that may have been his downfall. When your position is that of
"Captain of the ship" you must consistantly "trust but verify", even if it bends
some egos. It looks to me (from what little I know) like a simple monthly scan
of the SSA's bank statements would prevented the worst of the disaster.

Vaughn

I agree Vaughn. You have it right. Being on a BOD in a union, we do
the samething with expenses each month, but Pres. has day to day and
has caught an office manager doing creative bookkeeping. They were
released by end of the week. "Trust but verify" is good to run SSA by.

larry