Divisions
Division of Professional Affairs
It’s a privilege to be the President of the Division of Professional Affairs for the 2011-12 term and I appreciate the opportunity to brief my fellow Delegates on the status of DPA.
I’m joined on this year’s Executive Committee by five outstanding AAPG leaders – President-Elect Charles Sternbach (Gulf Coast Section), Past President – Dan Tearpock (Gulf Coast Section), Vice-President – Rick Nagy (Gulf Coast Section), Treasurer – Dan Billman (Eastern Section) and Secretary – Mark Gallagher (SW Section).
To kick-off our 2011-12 term, our EC held a half-day summit in early August along with key committee chairs to brainstorm our objectives for the term.
We continue to build on last year’s Business Plan that was formulated by Dan Tearpock’s EC. Our main themes are:
- International Presence – We now have Councilors representing all of the AAPG’s Regions with the exception of Latin America. Charles Sternbach is actively recruiting Councilor positions for the 2012-2013 term for both the Regions and Sections. I’ve asked Charles to explore ways to get our Councilors more engaged in representing their Sections and Regions going forward.
- Membership – Rick Fritz is the new Chair of our Membership Committee. The DPA needs to build a compelling case for new members. What’s the DPA value proposition? What is our current state and where do we want to be? What is our purpose and has that changed with time? Does our membership process need to be more welcoming? What can we do to enhance our diversity– are we underrepresented in various categories? A subcommittee including Charles Sternbach, Rick Fritz, Dan Billman, and Paul Britt is exploring new “revenue growth engines” and will be reporting their findings at the DPA Mid-Year meeting on November 5. At Leadership Days in Boulder in mid-August, our Young Professionals showed tremendous interest in getting engaged with the DPA. A DPA “member-in-training” concept was discussed and will be explored by a subcommittee lead by Dan Billman and three YP’s who will also report at the November Mid-Year meeting.
- Gathering & Learning – Paul Britt is Chair of Conventions. Programs are planned for the Eastern Section meeting in Washington D.C. (Energy Policy Forum), Mid-Continent meeting in Oklahoma City (short course and luncheon), ICE in Milan, Italy (panel & luncheon), ACE in Long Beach (panel – TBD and luncheon with PROWESS). Unfortunately, no events have been planned for GCAGS due to budget restrictions. The committee is working on programs for the 2012 Southwest Section meeting in Fort Worth, Rocky Mountain Section meeting in Grand Junction, Eastern Section meeting in Cleveland, Gulf Coast Section meeting in Austin, ICE in Singapore and the 2013 ACE in Pittsburgh.
- Governmental Affairs – Our presence in Washington is more important than ever. The AAPG’s Executive Committee re-authorized the GeoDC office in their June meeting. As you know, David Curtiss has recently been appointed as AAPG’s new Executive Director and leaves a big gap in our Washington leadership. Congratulations to David on his appointment! In the interim, the GeoDC Board of Governors will be responsible for the office until we find a replacement for David. The GeoDC office plays a valuable role for the AAPG membership and our goal is to assure that its operating level of excellence persists.
Delegates will recall that at last year’s HoD Annual meeting in Houston legislation regarding the addition of a certified member category was defeated as the required 2/3 Delegate vote was not achieved. Through Terry O’Hare, the Chair of the Survey Sub-Committee of the AAPG Membership Committee, we will be gathering data for the potential re-consideration of the “certified as a member class” Bylaw amendment proposal for the next HoD meeting in Long Beach.
Finally, I would like to challenge my fellow Delegates to become DPA members. DPA represents the professional leadership of AAPG and for years has been the training ground for association and industry leaders. In addition, we provide the best peer certification in the industry. If you are a professional geoscientist then you should join DPA. This will be great for your career!