AHA Governing Committee Meeting Summary: January 2023

The following is a summary of the January 2023 meeting of your American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee (GC).

GC Members Present: Matt Bolling, Sandy Cockerham, Shawn Cormier, Chris Frey, Chris Hummert, Annie Johnson, Amy Martin, Melissa McCann, Jill Marilley, Doug Piper, Cassie Salinas, Goose Steingass, Roxanne Westendorf, Gail Milburn. Absent:  Jen Blair

AHA Staff:  Julia Herz

• Approval of November meeting notes.
• 2022 GC Successes: Executive Director Julia Herz presented a review of the 2022 accomplishments of the GC. They include:
  • Moved most GC communications to Basecamp.
  • Transitioned off three expired members: Denny Conn, Carvin Wilson, and Donna Reuter.
  • Approved a slate of 12 ballot candidates to run in the 2022 election.
  • Onboarded 3 new GC members: Doug Piper, Melissa McCann, and Matt Bolling.
  • Transitioned in new GC chair Shawna Cormier, with Jll Marilley moving to past chair.
  • Paused the 2023 GC election allowing the group to continue to grow, formalize and get time to create standards of the GC role and prerequisites for future GC candidates.
  • Outlined a path to completion before forming a subcommittee or working group.
  • Established the following subgroups:
    • Events and Education Subcommittee
    • Industry Working Group
    • Competition Working Group
    • HBC Sessions Working Group
    • DEI – AHA was invited to co-chair the Brewers Association DEI Committee
  • Established charters for GC, Exec Subcommittee, and Events & Education.
  • Instituted chair/co-chair training.
• Review of GC Deadline document.
• Executive Director Notes
  • Reviewed the results of the 2022 Membership Survey and survey respondents were emailed a summary of key findings.
  • AHA Membership in 2022 was 36,000.
  • Brew Guru is sunsetting. – Users of Brew Guru will be encouraged to save the member deals page to their home screen on their mobile devices.AHA membership card can also be accessed on the member’s account via HomebrewersAssociation.org.
  • The AHA Forum is being researched to be updated.
  • Homebrew Con big picture
    • The seminar selection working group has begun to review seminar applications.
    • HBC is being evolved as a “fermentation vacation”.
    • There will be an Industry Coalition meeting on Friday at HBC.New event is the Homebrew Officer Bootcamp.We will have two workshops in lieu of some seminars.One day of National Homebrew Competition (NHC) judging for final round will be on Wednesday and is organized in concert with BJCP.
    • GC annual meeting will be on Saturday.
• Chair Update:
  • GC needs to start working on the Annual Governing Committee Recognition Award. Past award winners are listed at https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/membership/aha-governing-committee/recognition-award/
  • Subcommittees already have or are preparing draft onboarding documents for potential new members interested in participating in these groups so they can learn about their expectations.
• Subcommittee Updates:
  • 2023 Big Brew Recipe will be Chris Frey’s Nearly Nirvana Pale Ale.
  • Zymurgy Live will kick off on January 25. There three months of webinars scheduled.  Info on speakers and topics can be found at https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/presentations/zymurgy-live/
  • Competition Working Group seeks skilled people to run and judge in NHC.
  • Nine NHC first-round sites have already been picked and registered with the BJCP.
  • The NHC website is live. Entry window for the competition opens on January 24 for only one week. 
  • The individual seminar selection grading was completed on January 10, 2023.
  • The Model Code of Conduct for Clubs is available on Basecamp for GC review.
  • Shawna Cormier joins the BA Board in February.
  • The Industry Group has reviewed the review of draft of the Retailers Survey, and the GC and ideas from the GC have been incorporated into the survey. 

Governing Committee Terms & Committees List

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