New AIDA Board Members

[mermaidgirl]

We welcome the following volunteers to the non-executive (non-voting) board positions:

Alex Boulting-- IT officer

Ralph Potkin, M.D. - Medical and Science officer

CarlaSue Hanson-- Media and PR officer

Peter Bojovic-- Legal Officer

Marcello de Matteis -- Judge Responsible officer

We are in the process of getting the new website completely updated and running by the first of the year. Contact information for the executive and non- executive officers will be available on the website. We encourage all freedivers to contact AIDA with any concerns or comments. On a personal note, as the new PR officer; please apprise me of any pertinent happenings! You can send me a message here, on facebook, or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you and all the exciting events of 2011!
Let's make this a great New Year in freediving!

Carla

 

[trux]

Interesting! I do not remember voting for these positions on the Assembly. Were the positions assigned directly by the Board without informing the Assembly? Perhaps posting about it on the Assembly first would have been rather important. Or did I just miss the post? Well, I can't find any relevant information even after searching in the archive again.

Also as a member of the IT working group, I did not get any message about getting a new manager. I wonder whether Alex Boultin knows about the existence of the IT working group, and whether he will coordinate our work in some way, or whether he is supposed to replace us instead.

Are the CV's of the new members available somewhere? I know some of the names, but not at all some others, and I am sure the information would be appreciated by many.

In any case, although I find it a pity the Assembly was not informed about this important act, I am glad the positions are finally occupied, and congratulate to the new Board members!

 

[mermaidgirl]

Trux,
I will pass these questions along. I don't know all the answers.I made the post as an individual not as an official statement of Aida. I would like to keep all freedivers informed of what is going on in an "unofficial" capacity for expediency.There was no ulterior motive or secret agenda - we are just trying to get moving! I will ask the Board for an official statement with some background info on the new officers.
I do know that the non-executive positions ( me,etc) I posted, were filled by people who have been helping in these areas. The executive positions are elected by vote of the assembly.
Jonas is too busy so Alex is taking over for him. Please email him regarding IT concerns. Please contact me at any time with questions, such as these, and as the communications liason; I will do my best to respond accordingly. In addition, if anyone wants to help me with PR ,it would be greatly appreciated!
Carla

 

[trux]

No problem, Carla! Your post here on DB is very much appreciated. In fact DB is the only working international freediving forum, so you were very right to post the information here as soon as it was accomplished. I just wondered whether the Assembly was informed or not - perhaps I have just overseen the information. But considering we just voted for other Board members a few days ago, I find the information about these ones could have been mentioned on the Assembly too, regardless if they were appointed to the office without the necessity of being elected by the Assembly. I think the majority of the Assembly members do not follow the DB forum, so I'd tell that until now nobody of them knows we have new Board members. And the same probably applies for the members of the diverse working groups, who likely do not have any idea that they may have a new manager appointed (just like it was the case with the IT commission).

However, it has nothing to do with your post. More probably an omission on the part of the Board. Please go on posting information on DB, it is very welcome!

 

[mermaidgirl]

Thanks Trux. Kimmo and I have been very busy trying to move forward (finally!) I will continue to make informal posts here ,as well as on FB on my page, and the Aida page. Also, I will be making official posts in the blog here on DB and the Aida website news section. It is my desire to "inundate" the world with freedive communications!

 

[Kimmo]

Hello Ivo,

Thank you for your excellent feedback.

Regarding current Aida Statutes Aida president is responsible to collect the candidates for these specific new officer positions and Aida Board makes approval. Based on this responsibility I have been asking these candidates in Assembly emails during this Autumn (in meeting minutes emails). Unfortunately this latest meeting minutes where this decision can be read is little late due Xmas, which is important holiday for some people. But this email will also be there.

Aida IT group is un-official task force and activity inside that group variates. For IT officer position I asked interests first from this tiny IT-group members (you, Eric, Simo and Jonas) but none of you were interested about this job. For these new positions I collected CV´s from all the selected candidates which documents I delivered to Aida Board to be reviewed before the Board vote.

So currently in Aida we try to follow precisely Aida Statutes and Swiss laws which is the only way to keep this kind of international and democratic organization in right course. There is not much space for my personal opinions in my current role in that organization.

From the beginning of the 2011 we will also publish updated Aida website where our purpose is to publish Aida wide news more often and also for "basic" freedivers as I have learned during this year that all the Assembly members may not inform their members quite actively. We will also increase our presence here in Deeperblue now with a kind help of CS (new Aida Media&PR officer).

Best rgds,

Kimmo Lahtinen, president of Aida

 

[Jouskari]

I think it´s a really good idea to post unofficially on what´s going on within AIDA on DB! Some information is much better than none.

Sounds really good that there´s finally some progress regarding the website (plus other things). By the sound of it there are still a few things to be sorted out within the organzation, but it seems to be on a much better track than a few years ago.

I really wish I could help out with the PR things but at the moment I´m responsible for a few other things here at home so I cant take on anymore responsibilities. However, if you are in needs of more hands DB is definately the place to let people know about it!

 

[trux]

Thanks, Kimmo, for the information! No need for defending your acts by Swiss laws I never accused you of doing something against the rules, and I value your work greatly!

I just still do not understand whether the names of these officers and their CV's were already presented to the Assembly in one of the previous Board meeting minutes, or whether it will be only in the next ones. In any case, I think the information is important enough to deserve an independent post on the Assembly mailing list - why not just copying and pasting the information from Carla's first message and posting it to the Assembly? We discuss it already the second day here, but the waste majority of the Assembly still has no idea we have new Board members. I already thought sending the information to the Assembly yesterday myself, but do not find it is appropriate. Somebody else could do it thought, and I think it would be still better if it came directly from the Board itself. So please do not wait till the last meeting minutes are ready, and do not hesitate announcing this important news right away now.

 

[Kimmo]

Hello Ivo,

At my position I´m just willing to inform also the other freedivers at this forum how the Aida governance is run now and also to inform them how this kind of organization works. This is because as I have learned during this year that many Assembly members does not know these public "secrets" either.

Like I mentioned in my previous response: this CV information, which was related to new Aida officer candidates, was delivered only for Aida Board. I´m not willing to deliver it lightly for all the Aida Assembly email addresses as I´m willing to respect these persons privacy (this kind of approach is important especially in internet related communications!). Although we can ask them to tell something about themselves as soon this information is more public. I´m also willing to emphasize that their responsibility starts officially from the beginning of the year 2011, together with a totally renewed Aida Disciplinary Commission.

Official Aida Assembly email (related to the latest Board meeting) will follow today or tomorrow to the Aida Assembly members. So please be patient.

And please stay tuned as there will be some more and really interesting renewals coming soon in Aida.

Best rgds,

Kimmo Lahtinen, president of Aida

 

[mermaidgirl]

Ivo,
I wrote the Board minutes release last night and will have it out today. I have included a little background info on each new officer ie; country of origin, experience, occupation.I hope this clears this up. Next month, I will make the news release immediately following the meeting.
Carla

 

[Don Paul]

Congrets on the PR and Meda post Carla, I know you will do a great job.:fridaylooking forward to seeing to seeing the new ADIA site.
Have a great New Year,

All the Best, Don

 

[hteas]

Congratulations to all who have been working so hard to bring AIDA back to the freedivers. Awesome work to all of you!

Howard

 

[Jouskari]

Great work! I really look forward to the new website! :t Our community is spread thin around the globe and a good representative website is something AIDA really needs.