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

It is hard to imagine that fall has gone by this quickly and it is already November. My time leading SFMA is winding down, and I have been thankful to work with so many of you. I appreciate all the time members have spent on committee calls, boardroom discussions, task force efforts, and other services to our organization. Your efforts have helped us move this organization in the past year. I also want to thank our headquarters staff for their efforts during the past year, they have helped to keep our organization moving in the background.

October was a busy month for SFMA headquarters staff, as well as the SFMA Board of Directors.

Paula Sliefert and Jennifer McLendon represented SFMA at the National Recreation Park Association( NRPA) Annual Conference. They met with the NRPA’ s education team to explore potential collaboration opportunities, discuss strategies to increase member engagement through education, and identify ways to engage with members through webinars and other offerings. Paula and SFMA Past President Abby McNeal coordinated several networking opportunities with industry partners, including the NRPA Chair’ s Reception. Jennifer had the chance to connect with members of their education committee to learn more about the metrics they use for presentation selection. This was a great week to build future collaboration between the SFMA and NRPA.

A couple weeks later, Paula, in her role as an Executive Board Member of the City Parks Alliance( CPA), represented SFMA at the CPA gathering in Detroit. The CPA is a leading national organization dedicated to advancing urban parks, with representation from metropolitan areas throughout the United States, Canada and Saudi Arabia. The event provided an excellent platform to elevate SFMA’ s presence on the national stage. Paula’ s engagement reinforced our commitment to building meaningful partnerships, and reintroduced SFMA to key metropolitan organizations that play a vital role in the future of public green spaces.

Looking ahead, these relationships will be instrumental in advancing SFMA’ s strategic priorities— expanding our reach, showcasing the essential role of sports field management in urban environments, and ensuring our profession has a strong voice in shaping the next generation of community green spaces.

In addition to this very busy schedule, our headquarters staff is hard at work enthusiastically planning for the upcoming SFMA Conference and Exhibition, and I look forward to seeing many of you in Fort Worth.

– Adam Thoms, Ph. D. sportsfieldmanagementonline. com November 2025 | SportsField Management

7