1. Why do you want to be a member of the NAFA Board of Directors?
Leerie Jenkins
I served on the NAFA board previously for 13 years. After sitting out the required year, I find I miss it and would love to help again by donating my time and effort. It’s a lot of work, but it can be very rewarding too. I feel it’s super important to consider the needs of all the different types of clubs, competitors, and regions; and to consider the impact to each of these groups when making rules and policies. I feel I have something positive to contribute in this area.
Jayne McQuillen
I truly believe if you want to make a positive impact within any volunteer organization, you need to be willing to not just talk, but to be willing to help out. Three years ago, when someone suggested I run for the BOD, I thought this was a great opportunity to give back to the sport I love. Working on a volunteer BOD takes compromise, listening skills and patience. I fully understood that the majority of the work of the NAFA BOD is not glamourous. No one will applaud your efforts, and you’ll need a tough skin. In fact, if you do the work really well, people are unlikely to even know you did anything. That’s exactly why I volunteered. It was my chance to be one of the people who make NAFA hum along smoothly. I want to make sure that the average participant can just enjoy playing this sport with their dog, teammates and the greater flyball community.
Paula Johnson
I ran for the Board last year and was not successful, but that didn’t deter me from wanting to run once again. I was fortunate enough to be asked to fulfil the remainder of Emma Mak’s terms when family obligations necessitated that she step away. My experience with the board over the last several months has only served to make me want to continue to work for the organization at this level.
It isn’t easy and it is very time consuming but so rewarding. I have a greater appreciation for what goes into making NAFA run smoothly and seamlessly so that we can all go play with our dogs and our teammates. We don’t always get everything right, but I can guarantee that we all come to the table with the best of intentions and a willingness to work together to make NAFA the best it can be as an organization.
I feel I have the skills and the time to put into the role. I have only scratched the surface of what is possible and would love the opportunity to continue to work on behalf of all of you on the Board.
Kayla Inman
I applied to be a member of the NAFA board of directors because I want to help inspire more new flyballers to join us and be more involved. I have been a part of the flyball community since 2018 and competing since 2019. I am a member of the Westside Woofers out of Grand Junction, CO, and always enjoy competing and traveling with my team. In my day job, I travel often and encounter more people who don’t know what flyball is than know what it is. I want to bring passion, knowledge, and excitement to the board to help expand the resources for teams, new members, and bring more small town teams to the conversation.
Russ Bob
I think some small clubs that attend a lot of tournaments, should have some representation and a voice on the BOD.
2. NAFA has these Standing Committees – Disciplinary, Election, Finance, Judges, Marketing, Rules and these Special Committees – NAFA Blog, Technology, Communications. Which board committee(s) would you make the best contributions to and why?
Jayne McQuillen
I currently am the Chairperson of the BOD, so I oversee every committee. As a member of the Disciplinary Committee, I do my best to treat everyone fairly and with understanding. None of us want to be in this situation, so I think it’s a particularly hard committee assignment, as you deal with very emotionally charged situations. I have the utmost sympathy, I have been there myself, with my first dog who bit a teammate’s dog. I think I bring the understanding that we can love our dogs, but also acknowledge that they did something wrong. Before becoming Chair my favorite committees were Rules, Communication, and the Blog committees. I personally like writing and sharing information. I also find the Rules Committee enjoyable. It’s very detail oriented. As a former Regional Director, I already attempted to know the NAFA rulebook front to back. It can always be improved. It’s a large document with a lot of overlapping information. There have been many edits and editors over the years. We don’t always get T crossed of I dotted exactly right with each change. As such I just approved a project to have further formatting updates done to the Rulebook formatting. Hopefully this will make the document searchable, universally formatted and with better cross referencing.
Kayla Inman
I would do well with the marketing, technology, and communications committees. I work professionally as a marketer and public relations specialist. I would be able to bring my expertise in sales, marketing, and networking to these committees. I also work with many software programs and would also be an asset to the technology committee.
Russ Bobb
I believe that I could make some small contributions to Rules, Finance and maybe Communications.
Paula Johnson
Most recently, I have taken the lead on creating a Junior Participant special Committee (more on that to come so stay tuned). They are our future and the special Junior Division at CanAm was proof that we can and should do more to include and encourage our juniors.
Committees are essential to getting things done for NAFA. I have been able to be part of the Marketing and Communications committee as well a taking over the Blog committee chair role. I really enjoy using some of my background in public relations and marketing to help get the word out about NAFA to the broader community. Building a better SM presence would be on my wish list if I was to continue on the Board.
I would also be interested in being on the Judge’s committee to work towards building consistency across regions, as well as encouraging and developing new judges.
Leerie Jenkins
During my previous tenures with the NAFA board, I served on all the committees. As a non-board member, I’m currently serving on the rules, judges, technology, and blog committees. I can help out on any committees the Chair would assign to me, but I think these best utilize my skill set and interests.