AMA News Executive Vice President - 2009/02

HELLO, EVERYONE! Words can’t
describe how excited I am to begin this
journey as AMA’s new executive vice
president (EVP)! I must begin by thanking
you for your support and I pledge I will do
my best to meet and exceed your
expectations.
The responsibilities of this position have
changed dramatically. Historically, the EVP
position was our chief financial officer;
however, with the approval of AMA’s
revised bylaws, my responsibilities will focus
on addressing critical strategic issues as
defined by our president. Dave Mathewson
and I have not had the opportunity to sit
down to discuss specifics, but I am aware that
he has a list of issues he would like for me to
address.
Since Dave has taken office, he has
reserved Sunday mornings of our Executive
Council (EC) meeting weekends to develop a
strategic plan for AMA. Eric Williams,
District II associate vice president (AVP), has
offered his guidance in this endeavor. Eric is
an avid modeler, active club officer, CD, and
is an organizational effectiveness specialist
for Accenture, an international consulting
firm.
When I was employed at Sprint I had the
opportunity to work with several people from
this fine firm on various strategic issues. I
found them all to be high caliber and
extremely professional in aiding us to address
complex problems. We are fortunate that Eric
is willing to donate his time and talent to
facilitate the EC strategic planning meetings.
One of the areas we have addressed
concerns marketing. As many of you know,
since January 2008 our main focus for growth
has been the Park Pilot Program. We will
continue to refine this program and address
critical issues such as our point-of-sale and
advertising campaigns. We are also focusing
on ways to make our AMA brand be more
prominent so that we are known for much
more than simply “a way to obtain insurance
coverage.”
Fortunately we have three people on the
AMA team to assist in this endeavor. Jeff
Nance, AMA’s marketing director, recently
joined the AMA staff and brings with him a
wealth of marketing expertise. President and
CEO of Hobby Lobby, Inc., Jay Graves, has
agreed to join our Marketing Committee,
which includes Don Anderson, senior vice
president with Hobbico, and Eric Meyers,
senior vice president with Horizon.
Our public relations firm, JWalcher,
continually brings AMA to the forefront in
the media. Maya Ellman from JWalcher
obtained coverage for us on ESPN. The
powerful aspect of this is that now Maya can
preface news releases with “as seen on
ESPN.”
Another area of our branding effort is the
AMA Leader Club program. The objectives
contained in the program are all about us
acquiring and maintaining our flying sites.
Not only is it “the right thing to do,”
community service is a perfect way to
advertise your club to the public. I will
explore this in more depth in future columns,
but I want to illustrate a couple examples of
this community service.
This past summer, Ralph Brown, good
friend and icon of the Omahawks in Omaha,
Nebraska, decorated his vintage station
wagon with one of his models. As seen in the
picture, Ralph proudly represents the
Omahawks in a community parade. He is one
of many who understands the importance of
community service and all its benefits.
One of AMA’s largest clubs, with roughly
400 members, is the Arvada Associated
Modelers from Colorado. This club has been
a Gold Leader club for many years. In the
picture, the members are getting their float
ready for the annual Harvest Festival.
I will continue to use this column to update
you on activities being addressed by Dave,
myself, and the EC.
Until next month, please keep in touch
and have fun! Mark