Adam Thoms, Ph. D. SFMA President athoms @ iastate. edu

OFFICERS

President: Adam Thoms, Ph. D.

Immediate Past President: Sun Roesslein, CSFM

President Elect: Alpha Jones, CSFM

Secretary-Treasurer: Casey Carrick, CSFM

Vice President Commercial: Erin Wilder

Directors

Academic: Chase Straw, Ph. D.

At-Large( elected): Weston Floyd, CSFM

At-Large( appointed): Lee Van Meeteren

Commercial: Matthew Duncan, CSFM

Higher Education: Jason DeMink, CSFM

Parks and Recreation: Zack Holm, CSFM

Professional Facilities: Mitch Hooten

Schools K-12: Jake Mays

SFMA OFFICE P. O. Box 1673 Lawrence, KS 66044 Phone: 800-323-3875 Email: SFMAInfo @ SportsFieldManagement. org www. sportsfieldmanagement. org

SFMA EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Chair: Joe Churchill Vice Chair: Brad Thedens, CSFM Board Liaison: Chase Straw, Ph. D. Members: C. J. Buck; Paul Hollis; Rebecca Knapp, CSFM; Eric Roberts, CSFM; Jack Stelter; and Aaron Tipton

I can’ t believe you will only be hearing from me once more in this magazine as SFMA President before Alpha Jones, CSFM, takes the lead of SFMA and the President’ s Message. I truly enjoyed meeting many of you this year at events around the country, and the last month has been a blur attending various chapter events from the Atlantic to the Rockies.

As I have done in the past couple of articles, I will provide an update of our organization. The fall SFMA Board of Directors meeting took place in mid-October, during which the board approved the 2026 SFMA operating budget with a recommendation to approve the budget from the Finance and Audit Committee. This year’ s budget gives us financial strength to continue to follow the SFMA mission and vision. We also received feedback from the listening tour that CEO Paula Sliefert conducted. Results from this have already started to help the board with decisions being made for the SFMA. We will share results of this listening tour with membership immediately prior to our annual meeting at the conference and as part of a podcast. I hope to see many of you in the audience for that.

The board also spent time discussing events and education as a part of the SFMA Annual Conference and Exhibition. We have a great lineup of speakers, as well as networking events— including a new Chapter Officers Reception and recognizing our members at our awards banquet. We have exciting full- and half-day Seminar on Wheels planned and we will again host the Student Challenge.

New in 2026, we will be hosting the Second Annual National Turfgrass Science Invitational in partnership with the USGA, GCSAA and FAA. During the event, high school students will compete in a knowledge contest, with the winners recognized during the trade show.

We also have a sold-out trade show that we hope you will take time visit. Our suppliers’ support makes it all possible.

Due to weather concerns, you will not see a couple of events during conference week— the Volunteer Field Rebuild and the SAFE Golf Tournament. The field rebuild will take place as part of a Texas SFMA Chapter meeting in early December. Thanks to Texas SFMA and Project Evergeen for leading this year’ s field rebuild efforts. The SAFE Golf Tournament will not be held due to concerns with cool temperatures, but there will be plenty of other activities to be a part of, including bowling and cornhole.

I’ m excited to attend the conference and catch up with many of you.

— Adam Thoms, Ph. D. sportsfieldmanagementonline. com December 2025 | SportsField Management

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