Nominees for Commodore must have previously served at least two years as Officer or a committee chair.
When I submitted my candidacy last year, I wanted to focus on improving the SMSA experience beyond what happens on the water — our facilities, communications, social activities, membership, and member engagement. While I’m still in my first term, serving in this role has given me an even greater appreciation for what makes SMSA special and where I believe we have opportunities to grow.
During my term so far, I have worked with our chairs, volunteers, and members to improve communications and expand SMSA’s visibility in the larger community, support continued membership growth, identify improvements to our facilities and technology, and strengthen our social and overall member experience.
I want to continue that momentum by creating stronger connections between everything SMSA already does well. Adult Learn to Sail, junior and high school sailing, keelboat and small-boat racing, cruising, and our social activities should not exist as separate islands. Each is an opportunity to introduce someone to SMSA, bring them deeper into our community, and strengthen their connection to the club.
At the center of that effort are the things I believe matter to the future of SMSA: recruitment, retention, participation, and reinvestment.
An important part of that is continuing to build our social experience. I want to create more reasons for members to come to the club and more opportunities for different parts of our membership to interact. Our social activities can help connect racers, cruisers, families, new members, longtime members, and people who first came to SMSA through one of our programs. The more opportunities we create for those connections, the stronger our sense of community becomes.
That ties directly into something else I want to continue building: SMSA pride. I want members to be proud of our club, our facilities, our programs, our events, and each other. That pride comes from being involved, seeing the club improve, welcoming new people, and feeling like you are part of something worth investing your time and energy into.
My focus moving forward is to continue improving the overall member experience and ensuring that the value of being an SMSA member is clear and continues to grow. That means supporting our programs, improving communication, encouraging participation, strengthening our social community, and reinvesting in our facilities and technology.
Whether someone is racing, cruising, learning to sail, supporting our junior programs, attending a social event, volunteering, or simply spending time at the club, I want them to feel connected to SMSA and proud to be a member.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as Rear Commodore and for considering my candidacy to continue in the role.
2 candidates from those listed below will be elected.
I am running as a Director for this election. I am currently Vice Commodore but have
decided not to run for that position again. I’m proud of my time as Vice Commodore
and feel that I have accomplished many of my goals but am finding that with all the
other activities I participate in at the club (High School Adult Learn to Sail, Patuxent
Pursuit RC, Smallboat RC, Club Boat Chair, and Keelboat racing) the additional role of
an officer is a little too much for me.
I feel that with my experience as Vice Commodore, and a strong relationship with the
current Board of Directors I can best serve the club as a Director. As our By-Laws state
the duties of a Director are to “evaluate short and long-term goal proposals, initiate
programs to achieve such goals and provide the strategic planning for the association.”
Like I stated when I ran for Vice Commodore, my goals are to see us focus on
membership, revitalization of some club activities, provide opportunities for increased
new member and community presence with a focus on increased training, youth small
boat racing, and woman-focused racing.
Thank You for Your Consideration.