 |
|
Meet the candidates
For Director
Keith A. Ihms, CGCS
|
Statement
I want to thank my peers within the Arkansas GCSA and my friends from the Lone Star GCSA chapter for nominating me for election to the GCSAA Board of Directors. It is truly an honor and I appreciate their support and confidence as I seek to continue my involvement at the national level. It has always been my desire to give back to my profession, which has provided me, my employers and my family with so much over the past 25 years.
Based on my experience and involvement at local, state and national levels, I feel that I’m now ready to assume a position on the board of directors. My primary goal would be to continue GCSAA’s positive momentum as we work together to make our association stronger. During the past 25 years I have served on three local and one state GCSAA board as well as one state turfgrass association. In addition, my experiences working with various university turfgrass program advisory boards and endowment committees have given me a broad range of knowledge.
These experiences have developed my communication skills with members, other directors and staff and will be of great value to me as I am required to make GCSAA board-level decisions.
GCSAA can and should continue to evolve and be responsive to changes in our membership, the industry and the world in which we work. Serving on various GCSAA committees and resource groups during the past years has allowed me to see and be involved in many of these changes that continue to shape our association. In the early 1990s I was appointed to serve on the Chapter Relations Resource Group. This not only led to better communication between local chapters and the national office, but also to the chapter delegates meeting. As a member of the Certification Committee, I was privileged to be involved with the development of new guidelines for the certification process and in the rewriting of test questions. Even though I was not a member of the Membership Standards Resource Group, I was involved in the informational presentations throughout the Midwest. During these discussions we disagreed on certain issues at times, but I learned volumes about the processes required in making sound decisions. Our organization is unique, I believe, in that it encourages committees and individual members to express their opinions and ideas regarding decisions that must be made by our elected leadership.
We must continue to provide our membership with accessible and affordable educational opportunities. This is the backbone of our organization. We must develop brand recognition of our association and its members and communicate to our employers and the golfing public the role a golf course superintendent plays in the facilities’ financial success and the golfers’ enjoyment of the game. We must promote the growth of golf at all levels and continue to encourage and educate all superintendents to become involved with the future successes of GCSAA.
I am committed to serving the membership of GCSAA because I believe that GCSAA’s primary purpose is to serve you, the members. I believe my professionalism, work ethic, long-term involvement within local and state GCSAA chapters and my service on GCSAA committees and resource groups qualify me to serve the members, the game of golf and GCSAA well if elected. I now ask for your support and the opportunity to continue to serve our profession at the board level. Thank you.
RECENT issues
 |
 |
December |
November 2006 |