I grew up in a small town near Knoxville, Tennessee. Our home was in the shadow of the Great Smokey Mountains, and we could see the often snow capped mountains from our yard. I went to high school in Memphis, Tennessee and completed several years of college there before moving to Birmingham with my family. I have a Bachelors and a Masters degree in English from The University of Alabama in Birmingham.

I often wonder at how blessed I am in my life and family. I met my husband, Gary, while I was in school in Birmingham. We will have been married for 24 years this October and have two children, Jessica and Colin. Jessica is a senior in high school, gifted in math and science. She plans to study engineering when she goes away to college next year. Choice of college has to be determined, but her pre-requisite is that it is out-of-state (I cannot imagine why she wants to live so far away from her mother). My son, Colin, just started seventh grade. He has a gift for computer games, skateboarding, making friends and making me laugh. We have three pets: a German Shepherd mix named Kody Bear, a cat named Gilligan and a green snake who lives in the basement.

While I worked at TransAmerica Printing, I was fortunate to meet Mr. Ralph “Peg” Thomas. Peg worked for the Dixie Section PGA, but he also served as Executive Director for the Alabama GCSA. I assisted Peg with his printing needs for both organizations. Peg is such a “class act”. He became a great friend and mentor to me over the years. While recovering from an illness, Peg made the decision to retire. He recommended that I apply to the Board for his position, and I was hired as his replacement.

Though I had no previous experience working for a non-profit organization, much of the work experience in my past has helped prepare me for this job. I was fortunate that Peg was so well organized and that he gave me the benefit of much of his invaluable experience. I have also been fortunate to work with Boards who have given our Association good direction. I am often amazed at the commitment and hard work of our Board members who give so much time for their profession and industry with so little in the way of reward.

We would like to see the June Conference continue with another first rate educational program. Everyone was extremely pleased with the quality of the education this past June.

We would like to see increased member participation in future events. One thing I feel is key to this is planning the conference further in advance and announcing it earlier in the preceding year. This not only allows participants time to work it into their schedule, but it also allows for greater participation with the other Chapters. It helps in planning the yearly schedule so the other Chapters do not have conflicting events close to the date. In 2009, the Gulf Coast and possibly the North Florida Chapter will join us in co-hosting the event with the Louisiana/Mississippi Chapter. It was a pleasure for me to be able to work with Linda Wells and Tricia Roberts and I look forward to continuing to do so in the future.

You’ve recently redesigned the Alabama GCSA website. What has been your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge to designing the web site was the intimidation I felt at starting the process. However, Cybergolf, the group the Board selected to design the site did a fantastic job and made the design part easy. They gave us parameters of choice and pretty much took it from there. They really got the web site up and running quickly from the time we gave the go ahead. There was some necessary fine tuning, but overall the membership has been very pleased with the result. We are also encouraging our members to submit photos of their courses that we can rotate on the web site and get a competition of sorts going for the best photos. This has spurred a great deal of interest.

Another exciting event in Alabama this summer has been the 61st USGA Junior Amateur Championship which was held at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Birmingham, Alabama in July. Jim Simmons, CGCS was the host superintendent at Shoal Creek and the course was in spectacular condition. Jim had plenty of help. Many of his previous assistants who are now superintendents themselves came to volunteer for the event. One former employee, Brett Morris, even travelled from Australia to help.