2017 USBF Board of Directors

There were no petition candidates in the election for new members of the USBF Board of Directors in 2017, so the two candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee have been elected to fill the two spots that will become vacant on January 1st. Congratulations to Marty Fleisher, who will be serving his second year on the USBF Board, and to Dave Caprera, starting his first term. The full Board for 2017, in alphabetic order is:

 

Dave Caprera

Marty Fleisher

Greg Humphreys

Bob Katz

Brad Moss

Beth Palmer

Josh Parker

Details

2016 USBF Election - Mea Culpa & Nominating Committee Slate

When I (Jan) listed the USBF Board members on the website at the beginning of 2016, I erroneously listed Bob Katz' term as expiring 12/31/2016, although he had just been reelected to the Board for a 3 year term ending in 2018. Unfortunately, no one noticed the error and therefore when the  time came for this year's election, we thought there were 3 vacancies on the Board for the 3 year term commencing 1/1/2017, although there were in fact only 2.

The Nominating Committee met, interviewed candidates for the Board and nominated three of them.

When the error was discovered, one of the three nominees graciously withdrew his name so there would be no need for a contested election unless a  candidate filed a petition to be on the ballot.

The two Nominating Committee candidates for the USBF Board of Directors' terms commencing on 1/1/2017 are Dave Caprera & Marty Fleisher.

                          Caprera fleisher
                                       Dave Caprera Marty Fleisher (Currently on Board)

Brief Statements from the Candidates:

Dave Caprera:

I am a semi-retired tax lawyer living in Denver Colorado. I have14,000+ masterpoints, serve as the District 17 disciplinary chair, previously served on the National Appeals Committee (when they had such a thing), and write a monthly column for the ACBL Western Conference Newsletter entitled "Sleeping on the Couch." Two years ago in Istanbul and this summer in Salsomagiorre, I was a coach for the US Junior under 21 team, and am actively involved with the junior program. If elected, my principal interests are the junior program (else, "the game will die when we do") and (given my tax law background) the laws and their revision.

Marty Fleisher:

I've been an attorney for more than 30 years and a bridge player (much) longer than that.  I've also been active in the investment/financial world for about 10 years , which is about the same amount of time I've been playing very seriously  I am just completing my first 3-year term on the board and am looking forward to my second.

 

In accordance with the USBF Bylaws as clarified in the Election Procedures, additional candidates, who should review the Board Member Expectations document, may be added to the slate by petition, as follows:

  • 4.    Petition Candidates
    Active Members in good standing may be added to ballots by petition. A valid petition application form requires twenty-five (25) Active Member signatures. Petitions must be received at USBF headquarters no later than twenty (20) days prior to the ballot mailing date.

 

The ballot mailing date is November 24th so the last day to submit a nomination Petition is November 4th.

If there are no petition candidates, the two candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee will be elected without need for voting. 

Details

2016 USBF Election

This Fall the USBF will conduct an election to fill 2 seats on its Board of Directors. The seats are for a three-year term commencing January 1, 2017. 

USBF Board members must be currently active USBF members, having paid the  2016 annual active or resident member dues of $50.

This year we sought nominations through Bridge Winners and the USBF Nominating Committee has met and interviewed potential Board candidates. The Nominating Committee slate will be posted shortly.

In addition to those candidates nominated by the nominating committee, candidates may be nominated by petition. Twenty-five or more Active or Resident Members of USBF may nominate an Active or Resident Member for a Board position. To file a petition nominating a candidate, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the name of the candidate and the names and email addresses of the people making the nomination on or before October 25, 2016. If there are no petition candidates, the candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee will either be elected without the need for an election (if there are only two nominees), or will be the entire slate of nominees for the election.

See the election timeline below for when things happen. Download the Election Procedures and Board Member Expectiations for more complete information about the election

Any Active USBF member interested in being on the ballot who has not been nominated by the Nominating Committee should go to  About USBF and read the final paragraph on the page (Election Information), which directs you to the relevant documents. 

ACTION Relation to BMD* Date Week Day
 Nominating Committee reports to
  Elections Committee		  31 Days before BMD  10/24/16  Monday
 Nominations Close  30 Days before BMD  10/25/16  Tuesday
 Last Day for Petition Candidates  20 days before BMD  11/4/16  Friday
 Eligible Voter List Posted on Web site**  15 days before BMD  11/9/16  Wednesday
 Last day to protest voter list**  7 days before BMD  11/17/16  Thursday
 Ballot Mailing Date (BMD)**    11/24/16  Thursday
 End of voting period**    12/24/16  Saturday
Announce Results    1/1/17  Sunday
 Last Day for protest of election

 10 days after results  announced

  1/11/17  Wednesday

 * BMD = Ballot Mailing Date

** Necessary only if more candidates are nominated than there are positions open.

Details

World Bridge Games Gold for US Women & Seniors

Congratulations to the USBF Women's & Senior teams who won gold medals in the 2016 World Bridge Games in Wroclaw, Poland.

The Women's team: Lynn Deas, Beth Palmer, Kerri Sanborn, Janice Seamon-Molson, Sylvia Shi, and Tobi Sokolow, with David Sokolow as NPC, finished the Round Robin in second place in their group, and went on to win all of their KO matches by substantial margins (91 IMPs in the Round of 16, 35 in the Quarterfinals, 29 in the Semifinals and an impressive 74 over France in the Finals). The team dedicated their win to Juanita Chambers, who was on the team for the Women's USBC, but died before this event took place.

2016 Women team

Receiving their medals: Kerri Sanborn, Tobi Sokolow, Janice Seamon-Molson, Lynn Deas, Beth Palmer, Sylvia Shi

The Senior team: Bob Hamman, Hemant Lall, Zia Mahmood, Chip Martel, Jeff Meckstroth, and Reese Milner, with Petra Hamman as NPC and Jacek ("Pepsi") Pszczola as coach, finished the Round Robin in first place, won their Round of 16 match by 172, their Quarterfinal match by 30, their Semifinal match by 92 and their Final match (also against France) by 38.

2016 Senior Team

Receiving their medals: Reese Milner, Jeff Meckstroth, Petra Hamman, Hemant Lall, Bob Hamman, Chip Martel, Pepsi Pszczcola, Zia Mahmood

The USBF Mixed team (Brad Moss, Sylvia Moss, Alex Ornstein, Sue Picus, Michael Seamon, and Sheri Winestock, with Philip Alder as NPC, finished in fourth place.

The USBF Open team (Kevin Bathurst, John Diamond, Eric Greco, Geoff Hampson, Justin Lall, and Brian Platnick, with NPC Oren Kriegel) lost a contentious match to Spain in the Round of sixteen.

Congratulations to all of our teams in Wroclaw!

If you're wondering about the shopping bags in the player's hands, those contain a gift of Polish sausage :-)

Details
  1. Martel to Replace Lair on Senior Team for 2016 World Bridge Games
  2. Nominating Committee Seeks Applicants for USBF Board
  3. Moss Wins First Ever Mixed USBC
  4. Kerri Sanborn Will Replace Juanita Chambers on USBF Wroclaw Women's Team