Okay,
just got elected to the National Board of Directors representing our
district. District Director for short. Many, many thanks to those who
supported me, all campaign promises will be kept. I hope. Thought this
column would describe more about the board position and the
responsibilities. Both very important.
American Contract Bridge League (ACBL)
The league has
divided the country into 25 different districts instead of 50 states.
Each district has one representative to the ACBL Board of
Representatives, hence, we have 25 “District Directors.” Each district
is guided locally, and also represented on a national level, by the
District Director. In the past year we have had a dramatic change in
the command with the resignation of Jim Kirkham, the passing of Gayle
Andrews, the midwest relocation of Corinne Kirkham, and the district
election that ended October 1 with me.
District 22
In addition to
the Director, each district is managed internally by a board of
directors and its president, who are elected by their individual
“areas.” (Bill Grant likens the District Director and the District
President to a senator and a governor.) Out here in
the west, three league districts - D17, D21, D22 - are also long-time
members of the popular Western Conference of the ACBL which publishes
this newspaper and presents our three annual Great Western STAC
tournaments. Very few districts in ACBL are so fortunate.
Traveling down the chain of command, each district is made up of units
(we have 25 different units in D22) each of which are governed locally
by a unit president and a unit board. These 25 unit boards collectively
elected me as your District Director - at least a majority did.
League, Conference, District, Unit
Confusing? I
hope not. Just keep in mind you have local boards to watch over your
unit, district boards to make district policy, and a District Director
to represent all on a local and national level. Consider the Western
Conference as the watch dog of the west, and Big Brother ACBL lives in
Memphis. I will be in Boston this month for the Fall NABC meetings with
Corinne and will report the league actions in a Forum January
column.
Web Sites
Most of the
actions of the league's different governing organizations can be seen
on their individual websites:
www.acbl.org,
www.theWesternConference.com,
www.acbldistrict22.com,
and on your local unit websites. I am establishing the District 22
Director website at www.KenMonzingo.com to keep our members
informed of the national, as well as D22, happenings. I also highly
recommend the Western Conference site which covers bridge (and STACs)
out west.
Passing the Gavel
To
see a lot of these management people in action please join us at the
Palm Springs Regional December 15-21. On hand will be ACBL leaders from
all levels. The 2008 ACBL President, Dan Morse of Houston, will be
ceremoniously “passing the gavel” to incoming 2009 President Jerry
Fleming of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Several other past presidents of the
league will be on hand for the ceremony including Cecil Cook, Bruce
Reeve and Jim Kirkham. The Western Conference, with president Jerry
Fleming presiding, will hold their annual board meeting during the week
and all six delegates from the member districts will be there, including
three new ones. Corinne Kirkham, our relocated 2008 District Director
will come in to hand her duties over to me, and, of course, the eight
members (and the District Director) of the District 22 Board of
Directors will be meeting with president Warren Cederborg presiding.