Letter from the Chair-Elect
On February 6, 2008, I attended the local Houston Delegate’s luncheon and was pleased to hear some comments about the Association from our President Will Green. I take this opportunity to pass on some of this information, made possible because Denise Stone, our Houston Delegate Forman, took some excellent notes.
AAPG is doing well. Our membership is up by 2100 (from December 2006 to December 2007) with a “now” total of more than 33,000. For the same time period, the number of Active Members went down by 260, while the number of Associate Members increased by 1780.
Graduated dues took effect on July 1, 2007, and HQ is waiting to see what effect this will have on increasing international, as well as, domestic membership. I’m optimistic that graduated dues will help our membership grow.
Some support for membership growth is coming from corporations. For example, Petrochina has offered to sponsor 200 qualified new members. About 160 applications have been received for processing. Other potential corporate sponsors include Petronas, Indian National Oil Company, PetRom of Romania and Turkish Petroleum (TPAO). Kudos go to these corporations for supporting Association membership growth.
Chair-Elect George Bole, Chair Marty Hewitt, and Secretary/Editor Bob Webster at the podium at the annual meeting.In April, many of us will be in San Antonio attending the annual AAPG Convention. Thus far, early registration is quite strong with ca. 3800+ registrants. One year ago at this time, we had about 800+ registered for the Long Beach meeting. Two years ago at this time, there were 975 registered for the Houston meeting. I encourage you to take the time to attend the annual meeting if you are at all able, or to try to find an alternate delegate from your respective society to attend the convention, and attend the House of Delegates (HoD) meeting on Sunday, April 20th. We need strong representation from both the Sections and Regions. At the HoD meeting we will consider a bylaws change that will give the Executive Committee the authority to expel members who falsify their membership applications.
This would relieve the ethics committee of having to go through the arduous process of an inquiry and investigation. There will also be some proposed, yet minor, changes to the HoD Rules and Procedures that will keep it in lock-step with the AAPG Constitution and By-Laws. Please come prepared to review, comment and then vote on the proposed changes.
I look forward to seeing many of you in San Antonio.