Newly-elected members Steve Burrall, Edward Zhang, Bob Barber, and Gurujeet Khalsa were welcomed aboard at the September 9th meeting of the American Go Association’s Board of Directors via conference call. The board thanked outgoing members Chuck Robbins, Lisa Scott, Jie Li, and Andy Okun, and appointed Daniel Smith as Chairperson and Chuck Robbins as Secretary (a position appointed by the board).
The board discussed President Andy Okun’s report including the promising early organization of the 2016 World Mind Sports Games in Brazil, the Congress liaison/coordinator role, the proposed 2014 Congress in Vancouver and the related issue of travel by non-citizen U.S. residents to Canada and the appointment of Lisa Scott to the position of volunteer coordinator. The treasurer’s first quarter report was presented, covering closure of accounts from previous congresses and new financial oversight measures the AGA will assume in future Congresses.
Addressing some items brought up at the recent Go Congress, the board had a preliminary discussion about developing a policy regarding game records and their broadcasting, which will take account of intellectual property rules affecting collections of game records, instructed Okun to look into what’s necessary to fix the AGA Go Database (which has been disabled because of security concerns), and formed a committee to propose an email privacy policy regarding access to AGA member email addresses. The board discussed options for funding international travel for strong players, but did not arrive at a conclusion.
Finally, the board began reviewing progress on the goals it set for the AGA last year, which were: rank certification; development of the AGA professional system; improving the AGA member experience in an assortment of ways; fundraising and sponsorship; using new methods to market go and increase membership. Due to the length of the meeting, that discussion will be continued at the next board meeting, but it was clear that instituting a rank certification system will be a high priority in the coming year.
– reported by Daniel Smith
