CANDIDATE FOR AIPG NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT
Candidate for AIPG National
Vice President
John M. Stewart, CPG-11115 Greensboro, North Carolina
I want to thank the Nominating Committee for considering me as a candidate as the AIPG National Vice-President. This is quite an honor and one I take quite seriously. I also want to thank John Bognar for planting the notion to come to the national convention several years ago: “you might learn some- thing new and meet new people” he said, come and see. And I also want to thank Ron Wallace for being such an inspiration and AIPG mentor over the last several years.
I have lived and worked in North Carolina for almost 30 years (though I was born and raised in south Texas and went to school at Texas A&M). My friends call me a “gopher” because I spent most of those years assessing and remediating soil and groundwater. I am a member of the Carolinas Section which is composed of great folks with a long history. Unfortunately, the Section like many others has become one of those “struggling and inactive” chapters. This is no fault of anyone in particular, mostly a function of busy people, aging population (few new young members), a state with licensure (why do I need to be certified if I am licensed?), and a very active chapter of AEG (why join both when you have the same programs?). You have all heard it, and many of you and your sections are dealing with the same problems.
One of the reasons I went to that convention years ago was to learn something new and meet new folks. I did in both regards. I was elected during my first convention to the Executive Board as an Advisory Board Representative and then again the next year. So I have experience working at the national level and I have history of the organization. Knowing history can be a good thing, so long as you don’t allow bad things to be repeated. At the convention, I met and have become good friends with Ron Wallace in Georgia, which has led to trips to Wilmington, Asheville, and Charlotte, North Carolina and Chattanooga, Tennessee to represent AIPG at regional and national GSA conventions and to Co-host a session on careers in geology at the GSA national convention. I have met and worked with the great staff at AIPG national. I met new friends from Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, New York and others. Oh, and did I mention they have incredible field trips, speak- ers, and of course social hours? So as you might expect, I truly believe in the national convention and as Vice-President, I would work, like John Bognar did years ago, to encourage and support “struggling chapters” and others to attend the national convention. Good things can happen at the convention.
As I mentioned above, while on Advisory Board I learned a tremendous amount about AIPG and its various programs. I learned a lot about the interaction between national and the sections, not always friendly but always constructive and in the direction of supporting AIPG. I can provide the Board
www.aipg.org
first hand concerns from “struggling chapters,” a continued and ongoing concern of mine. I saw the dissolution of one Foundation and the rebirth of another. Painful times but with rebirth cost comes growth and great opportunity. I saw and participated in the development of great initiatives to increase membership, reconnect with struggling sections, the eruption of student membership, and new online learning initiatives. I believe we can do a better job getting more student chapters started and I will work to make that happen (might have to hire Ron Wallace as our Student Chapter advisor). I also learned how interconnected AIPG is with other great geologic organizations such as AGI, AAPG, and GSA to name a few. As your Vice-President I will encourage continued participation in and with these organizations and will attend meetings and represent AIPG when necessary.
As I look back on the years severing AIPG, I am not surprised why I accepted the nomination for Vice-President. I personally believe that we, those that can and have the ability, should give back when they can. I always have, and hopefully always will believe this way. Giving back to an organization such as AIPG and its members is something I enjoyed doing and hope to continue doing in the future. Serving is not something new to me. I have served on our local YMCA Board of Management over 15 years, as Board Chairman, chairman of various commit- tees, and chairman of our annual giving campaign three times. I have served on the local soccer association board as secretary for four years and numerous times on our church boards and committees. In addition to serving as a volunteer, I have also managed a $7 million operation with more than 90 employees. This experience has provided me with business sense and people management skills. All which are beneficial when work- ing with the Sections and their leaders and members.
So moving forward, I promise that I will continue to serve AIPG and its membership to the best of my ability. I will attend to my duties in a professional manner, attending all meetings when required and communicate this information to the Sections. In addition to my duties as Vice-President, I will continue to support the ideals of AIPG, both at the national and local level. I am concerned about the plight of struggling sections, I want AIPG to continue a strong student and young professional membership push, but not at the expense of our older members, and I want to see our membership to become more involved in the Foundation and attending the national convention.
Again, thank you to the Nominating Committee for having faith in me and the other nominees. I look forward to serving you, the AIPG membership once again. Please contact me with questions or comments at
jstewart1@ecslimited.com.
Apr.May.Jun 2016 TPG 17
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