On behalf of the SBIA Board I am stoked to welcome you to our all new website and newsletter, we’re proud as punch on how it looks and I have no doubt it will be a vital industry resource as more and more articles and content get added! A big thank you to the team at Sense who have given us this amazing platform and for partnering with SBIA.

I’d like to extend our congratulations and best wishes to our recently departed EO Mel Timmins who had a lil baby girl last week! Abbi Nicole Timmins joined us just before midnight last Monday.

Sadly we say goodbye to Geoff Backshall from the SBIA Board. Geoff’s contribution and input as we transitioned from SRF (Surf Retailers Federation) to SBIA has left us in a better position and is truly appreciated. We also say goodbye to Samantha Thompson who was replacing Mel, Sam has had some family circumstances change that require her attention.

As we say goodbye and thank you to Sam we welcome Amber Mann into the Admin Officer role. Amber has a solid understanding of both retail and wholesale with 9 years as the Roxy NSW north coast sales rep and various positions from the shop floor to admin with my business (Saltwater Wine). Amber is also my sister in law (yes, poor Amber) and has kindly agreed to fill the position until July to help us get through the busy awards period without having to go through the advertising and interview process. Big thanks Amber.

The Awards process is in full swing with entries now closed and the voting set to open next week. The key dates are;
Voting Opens – 23rd March (Monday) to 24th April (Friday)
Ticket sales open – 28th April (Monday)
Finalists announced – 11th May (Monday)
Awards Night – 11th June (Thursday)

Happy trading,