Boy! Where has this year gone? It sems like it was just yesterday that I sat down to write the first of these letters outlining what I knew would be a busy year for the Executive Committee and the AAPG organization.
New Executive Director
Mission accomplished, No. 1: As announced both in last month’s EXPLORER and by a press release, the Search Committee found an excellent candidate for the executive director’s position, and the Executive Committee approved the offer to Tom Wilker. He is already hard at work, having met with the employees of AAPG in the Tulsa office early in May. He is calling key leadership volunteers and getting various opinions about the challenges AAPG has faced and is facing now. He has not only gotten his feet wet at this point but is knee deep in all the many facets of AAPG, Datapages and the Foundation. My advice to him at the beginning of his term was, ‘Be careful what you ask for!”
Back in Black
Mission accomplished, No. 2: I was truly hoping to turn around the budget from losing to winning this year, and it has been done. The first part was sitting down and looking at all the events we hold around the world and really understanding why some make money and many lose money or at least don’t have a good rate of return. Working with Alan Wegener, we were able to scrutinize and eliminate some planned events (before money was spent on contracts and such) that would not have been profitable. Some events, such as the International Conference and Exhibition in Oman, far exceeded our expectations for being in the black. I believe the final tally for that meeting was somewhere over $500,000 in profit! We also had a Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Symposium in December that had a nice return.
Events notwithstanding, AAPG got a couple of windfalls as well. We got the last installment for the COVID financial assistance for keeping employees during the pandemic and we also received payment for a partner share coming from NAPE that fell into this fiscal year. Through employee attrition, we have also gone from 43 full-time employees to 37, and that has helped with general overhead costs. The staff has taken on additional duties to cover these departures.
At the beginning of the year, in my first budget meeting, I was presented with a deficit budget of about $1.2 million, and by hook or by crook, we have turned that into a positive final number of hopefully somewhere around $1.3 million, if not more.
Streamlined Governance
Mission accomplished, No. 3: The House of Delegates met on May 2 for the first of two House meetings this year to change key Bylaws that not only affect the relationship between the executive director and the Executive Committee when it comes to financial responsibilities, but also eases the pain of smaller affiliated societies to be able to choose their one delegate instead of being forced to hold an election. An excellent example of this would be the Amarillo Geological Society, with only 26 AAPG members. Every three years they had to find two willing people to hold an election to send a delegate to the House. As you can imagine, with only 26 AAPG members, it was a task. Now, the leadership of this affiliated society can just appoint a member, making it much easier for everyone.
There is another pivotal House meeting on June 27. This meeting will change the responsibilities of the delegates by allowing committees to be formed and address AAPG honors and awards, as well as the national elections of officers. It also alters the Advisory Council members to be appointed by section and region leadership instead of being elected. This saves staff time at headquarters and reduces the cost of governance. The AC will also be tasked with research and development of different aspects of AAPG, such as a possible re-write of the Campaign Policy, or the Code of Ethics which needs to be updated with social media in mind. In this respect, the Advisory Committee will truly be “advisory.” They will also be charged with updating the Long-Range Plan with the assistance of the executive director. The plan has fallen by the wayside the last few years and needs to be updated for sure! Additionally, the Advisory Council will only have one immediate past president, cutting down the term for someone running for the president-elect position from five years to three. This should make it easier to get younger volunteers to run for office, as well as increase the pool of qualified applicants overall. The possibility of a five-year term is daunting … but three years is easier to swallow.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for smooth sailing through this next House meeting. I cannot praise enough the dedication and hard work that has gone into crafting all these Bylaws changes by the House Leadership and the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, headed up by Dan Billman. And of course I need to thank our parliamentarian, Craig Henry, for making sure the Bylaws corrections meet conventional standards.
There is a lot more to be done regarding the streamlining of the organization and cutting waste, but I am fully confident that the upcoming Executive Committee headed by President Brian Horn will continue the progress!
Acknowledgements
In closing, I offer my sincere thanks to those who have given me encouragement and support this past year. I don’t think I appreciated what it took to be president of this august organization until I was actually wearing those shoes. A few who must be shouted out would be Charles Sternbach, Paul Britt, Bill DeMis, Kristie Fergeson and Dick Bishop, among many, many more.
I must say I was surprised at how well the Executive Committee members worked together with a vision for the future of AAPG, especially financially. Each of us morphed a little and bent a little to get things done.
I want to give a loud round of applause to Sarah Barnes, who is leaving the EC as secretary, and welcome Andrea Reynolds. She has large shoes to fill. I have never seen anyone get the minutes of a meeting out as fast as Sarah! A loud shout-out also goes to Kenneth Mohn, chair of the House. I know he put in long hours trying to get my wish list for House changes in order. David Hawk, incoming chair of the House will also have a huge gap to fill. Another outgoing EC member is Sa’id Al-Hajri, who has done an excellent job as the vice president of regions. His willingness and dedication to spending time at regional events and reporting issues to the EC was outstanding. I am sure he is looking forward to a much-needed rest. Maria Mutti will be replacing him as vice president of regions, and I know that she too will do an outstanding job.
Matthew Pranter is finally getting a rest from being editor for AAPG. The editor position is one of the most time-consuming positions on the Executive Committee, and Matt has not only been doing his job well but also juggling his position as director of the School of Geosciences at the University of Oklahoma. No small feat there! Daniel Minisini is the incoming editor. I have spoken to him about his role and he has some great ideas for the Bulletin and other publications, which I am eager to see put in place.
And of course, I am being replaced by Brian Horn, who has done a great job as president-elect this year. His replacement is the newly elected John Casiano, who is astonishing. It is wonderful to see how the next generation of oil and gas finders are stepping up to the plate for AAPG. I feel confident that they will stand on the shoulders of the last few generations of geologists to carry it forward.
Everyone who sits on the Executive Committee is a dedicated volunteer to the organization. This is not a paid position, but the feeling of accomplishment in moving the needle financially or otherwise in this organization is very satisfying. However, it couldn’t be done without the hundreds of other volunteers and members who pitch in. As I have mentioned many times before, volunteers built this organization, and it is still volunteer-driven.
It has been a pleasure to serve as your president these last 12 months and I believe I am leaving AAPG in great hands to continue the improvement and efficiencies that were started this year. Please give your support to the new Executive Committee and our new executive director as they continue to show that AAPG is the best organization to join and learn the science of the rocks beneath our feet.
Best,
Deborah