Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Whitefield, R. Johnson join Board of Directors
Hilgendorf, Natali, Connors retain seats for two-year term

Hilgendorf	Natali	Connors	Whitefield	Johnson

By Scott Johnson
Election Committee

In a ground-breaking election, in which the NBUA ushered in the era of online voting, the association saw a former board member re-elected as well as a first time candidate.

Joe Whitefield returns to the Board of Directors after an absence of one year and Rich Johnson was elected for the first time. Also re-elected to the board for two-year terms are President Steve Hilgendorf, the lead vote getter with 84; Dave Natali, who received 77 votes, and Rich Connors, who won his first election with 72 votes following his appointment last summer. Whitefield was fourth best vote getter with 57 and Rich Johnson was fifth with 56.

Also running for election were Mike Brancheau, Jason Burke and Jay Neff. Receiving write-in votes were Richard Leetz, Pete Love and Chris Thomas.

For the first time in NBUA history, voters were able to choose their candidates online, which resulted in one of the largest turnouts in history. One hundred and three members cast ballots in the election, with 75 of them casting ballots online.

In the board meeting following the election, Hilgendorf was elected to a second term as President and Dave Natali was voted Vice President, replacing long-time board member Jack MIller who did not seek re-election. Connors was voted Treasurer and Whitefield was voted Secretary. Gavin Anderson will remain Training Director, Gary Coy in charge of Evaluations and Scott Johnson will lead the Recruiting/Retention Committee with help of Natali, and Johnson will also be Web Site Committee Chairman. Rich Johnson will head the Liaison Committee and Miller, President Emeritus, will coordinate the Sunshine Committee.

The next full board meeting will be held Nov. 16 at the WIAA.