In fact, what had been proposed in various circles, but which didn’t happen is really the story. Most notably, NSAA will not become an association of regional ski area associations; rather, geographic representation will be built into the mechanism for electing directors. Also, suppliers will not go out on their own, and will remain as supplier members of NSAA, but now with some specific voting rights. (Details on these task force proposals are in a separate sidebar.)
Berry says the direction NSAA seems to be taking is “logical” when you match what people say they expect from the association with what is possible in funding through dues.
NSAA is re-emerging as an association with active involvement by the membership, especially in the committee activities which will once again drive the organization’s programs. What will have to happen, Berry says, is for that process to be re-energized.
“We need a broader level of involvement in the organization,” Berry says. “One of my jobs will be to reach out and try to get good people involved in the committees, and get more of the committees more responsive and pro-active.”
Berry wants to make sure that issues addressed by the association have as broad support as possible among the members in order to get maximum involvement. He points out that the agenda of a national association should enjoy general support and not be driven by region-specific considerations. “We need strong mandates before pursuing agendas,” he says.
Berry quickly adds that public lands issues will continue to be vital for a large number of members, but that projects relating to these will, as in the past, be funded separately by assessment of members on public lands.
When I conducted my interview with Michael Berry on December 12, the Lakewood, Colorado, office was up and running, complete with a phone (303-987-1111), a fax (303-986-2345), a couple of desks and an administrative assistant, Patti Eisler. A truck was on its way from McLean, Virginia, which had been lovingly packed by Sid Roslund with all the association’s files and belongings from the Springfield and McLean days. There was a little cash in the bank and a line of credit pending. (“Colorado Ski Country has graciously offered to provide guarantees should our credit providers want this,” says Berry, adding “hopefully, this won’t be necessary, but I appreciate the offer.”)
The final sorting out of the separation from SIA is continuing, spurred by numerous meetings between NSAA Chairman, Chris Diamond (Mt. Snow) and SIA Chairman, John Stahler (Tecnica), and with the help of lawyers and accountants. Who gets what is inevitably the difficult and messy part of a divorce, and Berry reports that the process is proceeding “in a gentlemanly way all round, and as reasonably as anyone could hope.”
“Personally, I get along well with Dave Ingemie,” says Berry, “and I intend to continue working with him. In fact,” Berry elaborates, “I have an idea our associations may be able to get things accomplished together even better now that the relationships are less complex.”
While any possibilities of resuscitating the old joint NSAA/SIA marketing committee are just “vague, general talk” as of now, Berry doesn’t discount it for the future.
“As of now,” he says, “I intend to take advantage of whatever we can work on together, whether it’s bringing new skiers to the sport, school programs, whatever.”
Short-term staffing, by which Berry means between now and the San Diego convention, is going to be lean. “We have to be very cautious, very prudent,” Berry says.
At the time of writing, staffing consisted of himself, Sid Roslund (B-77 and technical administrator) and administrative assistant, Patti Eisler.
“Sid has been playing a much broader role recently, and I’m sure will do so in the future. He’ll continue with the important B-77 work, of course, but with the publishing of the new standards, some of the pressure may be off Sid for a while, and he’ll be able to get into some other things. In the meantime, he’s been absolutely fantastic, holding everything together for us in McLean, keeping the NSAA programs going, picking up all the details on the Keystone and Mt. Snow trade shows. Everything!”
Berry has also announced that Alyson Bradley has joined the staff as accountant, as well as Tom Moore, who will be manager of meetings and conventions. His most active hunt is for someone to handle the important communications and public relations responsibilities.
All this adds up to a staff of six for now. Berry also expects to use Tom Ptach on a consulting basis. Ptach, who has hung up his CPA shingle in Steamboat, Colo., went to the top financial job at USIA by way of Vail, and Michael Berry feels “very comfortable” having his detailed knowledge and experience readily available. “Tom may end up being our external auditor,” Berry adds.
Further strength for financial planning comes from having Dennis Harmon (Heavenly, Calif.) on the board, Berry feels. “His understanding of the association, together with his extremely strong financial background, will be invaluable to me, especially at this pivotal time.”
But, what makes Berry most excited of all is the potential offered by the services he can tap into at the National Ski Patrol/Professional Ski Instructors Association, which, as owners of the building where NSAA has settled, are NSAA’s landlords.
Berry explains: “Steve Over, who runs NSP/PSIA, has installed an absolutely superb computer software package for association management. I never knew anything like it existed. It is possible for NSAA to tap into this and immediately solve a whole lot of what I saw as my biggest administrative headaches.”
The system Berry refers to allows NSP and PSIA to share the cost of the program, while maintaining completely segregated, separate and distinct operations and identities. The administrative economies and efficiencies afforded to those two associations have proven dramatic, and the system is more than capable of absorbing NSAA’s affairs on the same securely separate and distinct basis. If such an arrangement were made, only Berry and NSAA would have access to the computer files maintained by the system.
“When I started to understand what was available,” says Berry, “I suddenly felt my NSAA job becoming manageable. The things I saw as my biggest headaches started to actually look a whole lot easier!”
Summing up, Berry says, “I’m excited! I sense a lot of support for NSAA and its new beginning. I sense there’s a lot of the old that is good and that I can build on, giving it new energy. I’m grateful for the support that is being given to me personally.”
“I think the make-up of the advisory committee is a signal for the future. It really reflects the diversity of the membership. They are really in touch, and I think the direction we are going will enjoy very broad support.”
Berry emphasized the association is moving very cautiously, and with a break-even budget. “We’re going to feel our way,” he says.
“But,” he adds, “the process is going on right now. We need everyone’s involvement and input. I really hope everyone who possibly can will attend the Keystone or Mt. Snow meetings (January 11-13 and 25-27, respectively) and participate in the process of making NSAA the association we all want it to be.”
Highlights of the Draft of Proposed new NSAA By-laws
There are nine members of the NSAA By-laws Review Task Force, plus Jerry Groswold, ex officio. They have met twice in Chicago, once in November and once in December, and will continue to meet as needed to get to the final version. Significant input on the current draft is being sought at the Keystone and Mt. Snow meetings, January 11-13 and 25-27, respectively. A final draft will be presented to the board before being voted on by the membership in May.
Membership: There will be three classes of member: Regular, Supplier and International. (Note: “Associate” members will be “Supplier” members.) Only Regular members vote on all issues. Supplier members would have the vote on issues relating to such matters as meeting and convention sites and exhibitor/trade show services. International members have no vote.
Board of Directors: The principal change between the old and proposed new by-laws has to do with how directors are chosen. First, the country is divided into eight regions, pretty well conforming to the way the industry traditionally thinks of itself:
Southeast: Virginia, Kentucky, N. Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, W. Virginia.
Middle Atlantic: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, New York.
New England: New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut.
Midwest: N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio.
Northern Rockies: Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Southern Idaho.
Central Rockies: Colorado, New Mexico.
Pacific Northwest: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Northern Idaho.
Sierras-plus: California, Nevada, Arizona.
It is proposed that each of these regions get at least one director. Additional board seats would be allocated based on skier visit totals, as determined by a two-year moving average of the totals in the Kottke end-of-season survey. (In passing, one could surmise that Dr. Kottke may get enhanced participation in his survey!)
If a region’s total skier visits exceed two million, it gets a second director; if it exceeds five million, a third; and a fourth if it exceeds eight million. No regional would get more than four directors, regardless of how much it exceeded the eight million mark. Furthermore, it would not be allowed for any region to have more than one-fifth of the total board seats.
Based on this formula, there would today be 22 regional directors, plus four officers with board seats (chairman, vice chairman, secretary, treasurer) plus two supplier board members, making for a total of 28. The immediate past chairman would be a non-voting member of the board. (The pre-merger board was 24, so the increase is not as great as some had predicted.)
Two explanatory notes here: 1) the maximums per region affect regional directorships only, and are not affected by whatever regions the officers come from; and 2) the averaging of the Kottke totals would presumably stabilize any possible attendant violent skews in skier visit totals.
Board nominations: The proposed by-laws require that directors be owners, general managers or presidents of the member ski area. The proposed mechanism is one in which the immediate past chairman heads a five-person nominating committee, which would consist of himself, two directors who are not officers and two regular members. There is wording that would require consultation with regional associations to solicit input on nominees.
The task force looked into the possibility, urged by several, that regional associations elect their own NSAA board members. While recognizing this would be desirable in several situations, it was also recognized that such a process just wasn’t workable today in some of the eight regions, and to mandate this election process would not be fair.
However, Berry pointed out that if a region wants to go through its own process of electing the individuals they want on the board, it would be “most likely” that the NSAA nominating committee would use those names.
Finally, in addition to the nominating committee mechanism, there would be provision for independent nominations on written notice by 20 members of NSAA. Nominations from the floor would not be accepted.
Terms: Striving for the proper mix of continuity and turnover, the task force proposed regional directors serve three-year terms, but not more than two consecutive ones. This provision would be for regional directors and would not apply to officer/directors.
Supplier board members: The two supplier board members would be elected by the supplier members.
Executive Committee: As in the past, there are provisions for an executive committee, which would be comprised of the chairman, vice chairman, secretary, treasurer and immediate past chairman.
