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

January is already here and I’ m writing you all one final time as your president. I want to start by thanking all of you for the opportunity to serve as the President of SFMA for the past year.

We have seen several changes over the past year, with the most obvious being our new CEO, Paula Sliefert, taking over and immediately conducting a listening tour of our membership. We are also gathering in Fort Worth for our Annual Conference and Trade Show, which to many is like a family gathering. Instead of a keynote this year, we will have a presentation of some of the findings of the listening tour. As a part of that presentation, the SFMA Board will share how we are starting to act on those results and how we can make SFMA even better. If you miss the session right before the Annual Meeting, you can catch it as part of the podcast.

Education will be front and center with so many great sessions, and the Seminar on Wheels has great stops for both the half- and full-day tours. We also have a sold-out trade show, full of innovation and solutions; there is always so much to see and learn by walking the show floor. There will also be several SAFE events to help support scholarships.

Finally, we will celebrate our newest Certified Sports Field Managers, Field of the Year winners, and Founders Award winners. These events make the SFMA Annual Conference and Exhibition so special. We also owe the TXSFMA Chapter a huge thank you for taking on the Volunteer Field Rebuild in December.

In closing, I want to thank everyone who helped me over the past several years while I have been on the board. I will try to avoid naming anyone here, because that would use up all of my words and I would still miss someone. From the board of directors to committee chairs, you all stepped up to help move SFMA ahead, and invested time behind the scenes, which was greatly appreciated. I also appreciate the service of all the members who agreed to invest time in committees; you helped in so many ways.

Additionally, I need to thank Iowa State University for allowing me to spend the time I was able to on SFMA over the past year. Finally, I want to thank my family for putting up with the calls and text messages that came in during dinners and on weekends.

You all make this organization a pleasure to work with and I’ m excited to see the future.

– Adam Thoms, Ph. D.

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

8 SportsField Management | January 2026 sportsfieldmanagementonline. com