The SBIA Annual General Meeting was held at the Crowne Plaza in Coogee on Oct 25, the main result being ratifying new board positions for the next 12 months. Since the last AGM two board members, Michael Neil (formerly O’Neil Aust CEO) and Ian “Wooly” MacPherson (retail board member) resigned from the board mid-term, their positions being temporarily filled by Glenn Callegari (owner of Hillzeez and Sub Culture stores in WA) and Mark Hudson (Dragon General manager) until this year’s AGM.
Both Glenn and Mark have made significant contributions to the board as temporary board members, so it was great to see both voted onto the board at the AGM.
A board meeting was convened after the AGM to confirm the office bearers for the next 12 months are:
– Anthony Wilson, President.
– Damian Campbell, Treasurer.
– Andy Ireland, Secretary.
– Paul Burdekin, Vice President.
– Russell Zimmerman, Independent Board Member.
– Mark Hudson, Board Member
– Glenn Callegari, Board Member.
In his president’s report to the AGM, Anthony “Macka” Wilson thanked both Michael Neil and Ian MacPherson for their contribution to the SBIA, particularly Wooly who has been there from the beginning.
“Wooly was one of our founding Board members and without his support and passion SBIA may not have come to fruition,” Macka said.
Macka went on to point out some specific developments and programs undertaken by the SBIA over the past year. These include the introduction of Softgoods and Hardgoods roundtables and a fine tuning of the SBIA Awards.
One of the pillars of the SBIA is to upskill and educate our members and Macka highlighted the online training offered via the website, including the industry specific Online Customer Service Training launched last June.
To keep you informed of board decisions, regular board updates will continue to be published in the monthly newsletter and on the website.
To give you a run down on what’s been happening with the SBIA over the past 12 months, here is the President’s report:
President’s Report
Good afternoon and welcome to the Annual General Meeting of the Surf & Boardsports Industry Association for 2016 / 2017, the fifth year of the SBIA.
Over the past 12 months we have continued to refine SBIA’s activities based on the needs and feedback of our members. We have bedded down our newsletter and website as a go to resource for news and information. In partnership with John Blake Sales Breakthrough Solutions and Velpic we recently launched our industry specific “Online Customer Service Training” further enhancing our online platform. Looking ahead we see great opportunities to further develop additional modules on theft and loss prevention training and possibly product specific training.
We have evolved our Industry Roundtables to address sector specific needs with the introduction of Softgoods and Hardgoods Roundtables. The SBIA Awards categories and processes continue to evolve and the Awards Night is a true gathering of the tribe and a focal point on the industry calendar. With the Awards night moving to Coogee this year we farewelled two industry stalwarts in Billabong’s Mike Savage and Rip Curl’s Steve Kay. A personal highlight was Tom Carroll and Dougall Walker presenting Mark Richards the “Service to Industry” Award to a standing ovation.
Possibly the most important SBIA event of the year was our annual Retailer v Brands tag team event. In what could be considered contentious circumstances the “Brands United” team took out this year’s event. Thankfully justice still prevails with the “Retail Allstars” still holding a 3 to 2 lead!
For the record the Board of Management and office bearers for the past year of the Association were;
– Russell Zimmerman, Independent Board Member.
– Michael Neil, Treasurer. (Resigned February 2016)
– Ian MacPherson, Board Member. (Resigned July 2016)
– Mark Hudson, Board Member. (Appointed February 2016)
– Glenn Callegari, Board Member. (Appointed July 2016)
– Damian Campbell, Treasurer.
– Andy Ireland, Secretary.
– Paul Burdekin, Vice President.
– myself, Anthony Wilson, President.
As noted, Michael Neill resigned from the Board in February. Michael’s departure created a casual vacancy which at the Board’s invitation Mark Hudson agreed to fill. Ian “Wooly” MacPherson also stepped down from the Board during the term. Wooly was one of our founding Board members and without his support and passion SBIA may not have come to fruition. On behalf of the Board and SBIA members I wish to thank and acknowledge Wooly for his time, effort and contribution to the SBIA and our industry. In turn Wooly’s departure created another casual vacancy which the Board invited Glenn Calligeri to fill.
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the work and efforts of the Board of Management who all give freely of their time for the betterment of our industry. Thank you to Reggae Elliss our Communications Officer and thank you to Amber Mann our Administrative Officer. I firmly believe our industry is in a better shape because of SBIA and our activities.
Anthony Wilson
President – 25th October, 2016
