President : James Bergdoll , CSFM , CPRP

Immediate Past President : Nick McKenna , CSFM

President Elect : Sun Roesslein , CSFM

Secretary-Treasurer : Dan Bergstrom , CSFM

Commercial Vice President : Paula Sliefert

Professional Facilities : Nicole Sherry

Academic : Adam Thoms , Ph . D .

Higher Education : Jason DeMink , CSFM

Parks and Recreation : Jason Bowers , CSFM

Schools K-12 : Jeremy Driscoll , CSFM At-Large : Alpha Jones , CSFM

Commercial ( Appointed ): Jamie Mehringer

Parks and Rec ( Appointed ): Brad Thedens , CSFM

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

SFMA EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Chair : Brad Thedens , CSFM Technical Editor : Adam Thoms , Ph . D .

Rebecca Auchter , CSFM ; TJ Brewer , CSFM ; Joe Churchill ; Arthur Eddy ; Charles Goode ; Eric Harshman ; John Kmitta ; Cody McKee ; Kelly Rensel , CSFM ; Eric Roberts , CSFM ; David Schwandt ; Chase Straw , Ph . D .

Happy New Year fellow sports field managers ! I sincerely hope that everyone had a merry and restful holiday season and was able to spend quality time with family and loved ones .

It is hard to believe that nearly a year has gone by since announcing the rebranding of the association and being introduced as the incoming president at our annual conference in Savannah , Ga . This past year was certainly challenging , as we dealt with a few unexpected turns of events . However , we had many successes throughout the year and learned a great deal .

We are now in a new year , and are just a few weeks away from another exciting annual conference in Salt Lake City ! I am very pleased to have the opportunity to hand off my role as president to Sun Roesslein , CSFM , who is an excellent leader and advocate for our industry . I take comfort in knowing she will be at the helm this year , and I cannot wait for all of our readers to get to know her better in next month ’ s issue .

We will miss the board members who are rolling off this year , especially Past President Nick McKenna , CSFM , but we are excited to welcome our newly elected board members coming in this year . Another great success coming out of last year is hiring our new CEO , Laura Simmons , CAE . Laura brings a lot of professional association leadership experience and is very energetic about the opportunity to serve our membership and industry . It has been fantastic working with , and getting to know ,

Laura over the last few months , and I look forward to seeing the great things she will do as CEO .

Another reflective moment I would like to make regarding 2022 ; during the transition period from when Kim Heck left the association until Laura was hired as CEO , board leadership got to work directly with SFMA staff – an opportunity they had not previously had . Although we had a plan in place and everyone had to pick up additional responsibilities , we certainly had to manage the unexpected and , at times , unknown . However , the SFMA staff members were amazing , took it all in stride , and rose to the occasion to be leaders when we needed them . Most of them are long-tenured employees and bring so much value to the association .

I do not think we acknowledge their work enough . They are the glue that holds this thing together . I personally want to thank Leah Craig , Nora Dunnaway , Kristen Althouse , and Whitney Webber . It has been a pleasure working with you all . Thank you for everything you do .

Lastly , thank you SFMA for the opportunity this year , and thank you readers who read this column each month . Have a great 2023 and see you all in Salt Lake City !

James Bergdoll , CSFM , CPRP SFMA President jbergdoll @ chattanooga . gov

SFM

James Bergdoll , CSFM , CPRP sportsfieldmanagementonline . com January 2023 | SportsField Management

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