Meri's Speech for Congress opening, 14th May 2023 (continued)
I would like to thank our keynote speakers with a small gift of appreciation for sharing your incredible skills and knowledge with us all today.
Everyone please show your appreciation in the usual way.
Andrew Watson, our health and safety director and himself a medical professional will escort our keynotes out as we move onto the Congress business at hand.
Elections I am disappointed that of the over 15,000 paddlers globally that we only had one nomination to the board.
This has been the situation since the inception of IBCPC, each election has seen the board elected by acclimation. My challenge to you is that you think about the future, think about what people have to offer.
We could take these two ways, that people think it is easier to sit on the side-lines and criticise rather than put their hand up to volunteer, or perhaps and hopefully, they think that we have been doing a fantastic job and do not want to see change. However, I am an extraordinarily strong believer in not staying beyond your use by date, so please do think about the future.
No, it is not an easy role and yes it takes an incredible amount of voluntary time, but the rewards are countless and cannot be measured in monetary terms.
So, on that note I would like to declare that there will be no election as those who were standing for the positions were not challenged and are therefore elected by acclamation.
IBCPC Board Members 2023
President: Meri Gibson
Vice President: Lucia de Ranieri
Treasurer: Janice Melville
Secretary: Anne Arndt
Director at Large: Linda Kuska (Membership)
** Bios of the board members can be found on the IBCPC website.
** We then moved onto the business part of the Congress. The approved amendments to the Constitution and By Laws will be posted on the IBCPC website.
