Do you know there are 26 board members in AERC? Do you know any them by name? (You should!)

Each of the nine regions within AERC has two directors that are elected by members from their own particular region. One of the regional directors will be designated as the sanctioning director. This person coordinates the ride schedule along with the ride managers within their region. Both regional directors are available to you to discuss endurance issues.

We also have eight directors-at-large. These members can be from any of the nine regions and are elected by the entire membership from all the regions.

All members are encouraged to discuss endurance-related concerns with any of the directors.

The President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are elected by AERC board of directors members during the convention's general session every year.

The BoD meets by telephone conference the first Monday of every month. The agenda is sent out by our president to our members on the Internet using the AERC Members Forum site.

While we may not agree with each other on every subject you should know that all the BoD members are striving towards a goal to make AERC the best it can be. Most of us spend a lot of time researching, reading and preparing for the meetings as well as a lot of time in committee discussions.

We need your help in order to do the kind of job you want and expect out of us. We want input and ideas from our members on all the issues and have a hard time making informed decisions concerning our members if we don't hear from you. Become involved and make us aware of your thoughts.

Most board members are reading your ideas that are written on the AERC Members Forum (http://sports.groups.yahoo. com/group/AERCMembersForum) as well as each letter that has been sent to out to us in private. We are always willing to listen to our members when called, and while attending rides most of us look forward to discussions with our members.

Please come up and introduce yourself to a BoD member at the next ride you attend. We want to know our membersÑwe want to know who you are and how you feel about issues affecting AERC and endurance riding. Let us know how you want AERC to grow.