I’m running for the board because I think it’s time someone on the board represented the average weekend jumper. I am the average weekend jumper. I have no financial interest in the sport. I pay for all my own jumps. I do about 100 jumps a year. I have a day job. I do this for fun.
I’m running for the board because I think it’s time more jumpers stopped bitching and started stepping up. So I’m stepping up. USPA is not them. USPA is us.
I’m running for the board because I think it’s time someone who is newer to the sport got involved. I’m not a wide-eyed innocent noob, but I’m also not a crusty old veteran. Look at me relative to the rest of the candidates. My jump numbers are in the triple digits, not quadruple or quintuple. I don’t have a mile-long list of ratings after my name. In many ways, that makes me an ideal candidate because the majority of USPA members are members like me.
I’m running for the board because I think I can make a difference. Yes, that probably sounds hopelessly naive, and I’m not going to make a lot of big promises that I can’t guarantee to keep as a single individual among 22. But what I will promise to bring is a fresh perspective, intelligence, education, and business savvy. New thinking and new ideas for a new board.
I’m running for the board because I think it’s time that fewer board members had financial interests in the sport. Look at the list of current board members. How many of them own dropzones or rigging lofts or work for wind tunnels or dropzones? Quite a few.
I’m running for the board because I think it’s time the board gets back in touch with its membership. It’s clear from some of the actions of this past board, in particular the Executive Committee, that the USPA board needs to get back in touch with skydivers. Now, I will also say this is a two-way street. 10% voter turnout indicates that members are out of touch with the board, too. Step up and vote – let the board know you’re in touch.
I’m running because I’m probably a little nuts and a bit of a glutton for punishment. Just checking to see if you’re still reading (but it’s also a little bit true). I attended the February 2008 meeting in Orlando, FL, to get an idea of what I might be getting myself into. It’s not easy to run a membership organization on a volunteer basis, particularly with such a drama-prone bunch as skydivers (don’t deny it, we all know it’s true).
Krisanne's USPA Weblog 
OK, I read it.
Jerry
The very best of luck to you Krisanne – was surprised and very happy to see your name on the list. You will make a fine board member, thanks for running!
Great blog, thanks for running!
You have my support. I think you are exactly what we need on the Board of Directors.
Hi Krisanne,
I respect that you are trying to be a woman of action and not just words. I was just wondering why you decided to go right to National Director. Might it be better to start out as a Regional Director?
I have not voted in the past but I am now considering it, so you have made that difference already.
Good luck.
Great question, Beth – why National Director specifically? I have two main reasons.
1) Pure logistics and timing. I’m planning to move later this summer from one region to another, and though I could artificially establish residency in the new region by changing my address to a friend’s address and declare my intent to run in that region, that seemed to me to be rather fishy – to declare my intent to represent a region before I even live there? I could still run as a write-in for that region, but I would happily support another term for the current RD in that region as well should he choose to run again.
2) National directors and regional directors have equal voice and vote on the board, so I don’t think of one as being more “important” than the other. As a skydiver who travels often, I actually know as many skydivers in other parts of the country as I do in my own current and future region, if not more. I feel that even as a newer jumper I can comfortably represent skydivers nationwide.
That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
I think this is wonderful! In the past I didn’t vote in the elections, I figured it was really important for the 100000+ jumpers and the people who had 15+ years in the sport who really know and understand how and what goes into running this sport. During the past 3 seasons I spent time reading and getting familiar with the USPA board and what it does for ‘Us” as fun-jumpers and realize that USPA isin’t just a membership. It’s a relationship. One that eveyone has to work on and with to be successful.
Best of luck in your venture and you are an inspiration to new comers!
Just awesome! I’m glad someone like you is running to represent the average funjumper. Good luck Krisanne.
-SPAWNmaster on DZ.com
~Specifics Bob…
From what I know of you, you would make a refreshing addition to the organization.
That being said, you are painting with some pretty broad strokes in regard to the changes you contend our governing body needs to undergo.
I’m not by any means disagreeing with you, but in what ‘specific’ areas of the current leadership’s direction do you find troubling?
What would you do to change that direction?
Gimme something to hang my hat on as far as your ‘platform’.
What do YOU see, from the ‘weekend jumper’s’ point of view, as the most pressing issues the organization needs to address..or should I say, address in a different way?
How would YOU approach those issues?
Let’s face it, the USPA is an organization that if not now in trouble, is certainly headed that way…and yes, the USPA ‘IS’ us.
IMHO the greatest challenge facing ‘us’ is the continued growth of our the membership.
The problem is, pursuing that goal encompasses with few exceptions, every issue the board deals with day to day.
So let’s prioritize, and address those issues most pressing with a new / fresh outlook and ‘battle plan’.
Yes, the organization needs to be brought into the 21st century utilizing the tools at hand.
Electronic voting is a must, but how about taking that a step or two farther…electronically mass marketing the sport / organization.
sLyride has shown that it can be done, ‘we’ should be doing
something that markets our sport to the general public in an ‘honorable’ and efficient way…there is a % of that pool of ‘thrill ride’ customers that if properly targeted would become solid additions to the sport, and we NEED everyone we can get…we need more student retention.
What ‘more’ can be done to increase instructor retention, while at the same time maintaining or improving the ‘quality’ of instruction and ‘quantity’ student advancement?
The economy is free-falling, successful organizations are, as you well know, downsizing and streamlining…in what areas (if any) of the day to day business can the USPA be made to work more efficiently?
The basis for having the organization in the first place is the collective voice the federal government can’t ignore.
Yes it also serves it members by organizing and standardizing the sport in general, but without new / more money and people to grow the organization, and I mean SOON…
~Things like who should be an S&TA could be of little consequence.
Tell me through YOUR eyes, where we are as an organization, where we’re headed, where we SHOULD be headed…and how we gonna get there?
You are well traveled, smart, motivated and possibly a little naive in the ways things are being done ‘on that level’… exactly what we need to promote positive change.
I for one wouldn’t mind seeing another woman ‘with some balls’ at the table!
But then, I’m not just one of those ‘crusty old’ status quo farts. . . I just play one on the Internet.
Blue Skies!