NCACAA

President - Lenny Rogers
President Elect - Ray Harris
Vice President - Gary Pierce
Secretary - Ben Chase
Treasurer - Barry Foushee
Past President - Mark Tucker

Hello all, I've been very busy as half of our NACAA year has just flown by. Some great things are happening with our State Association. Ray Harris and I have just recently returned from Nashville, TN where we attended the JCEP Southern Region Leaders Conference. From this gathering and from other means we have much to share with you. First of all, our membership has grown to 263 members. As far as I can tell this is an all time high for our membership. From these membership numbers, we are easily maintaining our 9 voting delegates and 5 DSA recipients. With a little more growth we might see 6 DSA's in the near future.

Don't forget our upcoming State Meeting - June 27-29 in Wilmington, NC. Our website should become live for registration sometime in April. The Southeast District is doing a great job and they have several special treats in store for those attending.

Also, the upcoming National Meeting (2006 NACAA AMPIC) will be held July 23-27 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our Early Career Development Committee is lining up some vans to provide free travel to and from the National Meeting for those especially young agents wishing to attend a National Meeting for the first time. For "First Timers", remember that your registration is free the first time you attend the National Meeting. More information will be provided at a later date.

Also at this upcoming 2006 NACAA AMPIC we will be supporting our own Fred Miller, current NACAA Vice President, for the office of NACAA President-Elect. We have no doubts that Fred has the experience, abilities and desire to make an excellent President-Elect this year and future President in 2007-2008.

Our 2008 NACAA AMPIC plans for hosting the National Meeting in Greensboro are well underway. Here is a short recap of the Executive Committees' progress so far:

Planning for the 2008 AMPIC scheduled to be held July 13-17 of 2008 in Greensboro, North Carolina is underway. We are hopeful that we will have a large contingent from the Southern Region who plan to attend the AM/PIC in Greensboro and would appreciate any commitments of financial support for the 2008 meeting. The Executive Committee is currently devoting its time to the following activities.

Fundraising Fundraising for the 2008 meeting is underway. We have a goal of 4 signature sponsors at $50 thousand each. Three have committed, and discussions continue with 4th signature sponsor. There are also verbal commitments for about $35 thousand more. Agents are participating in pay role deduction with a goal of 100% participation.

Publicity Logo has been determined. The theme is: North Carolina - A Place to Grow.

Facilities Contracts with the hotel Koury Convention Center have been signed. The facility should allow for all activities to take place on one site.

Committees Structure Committees are all in place with chairs and co-chairs. They can be accessed off the NCACAA website. The executive committee is meeting quarterly and all committee chairs will meet twice this year.

Evaluation N.C. is aware they will do the evaluation in 2006 and plans to use an electronic version. This will be handled by John Dorner, our computer/technology chair.

Meals The site for the Wednesday barbecue has been determined and a caterer contacted. Major consideration besides convenience was air conditioning. Site also has an area called Yester Year Village that we will have staffed for folks to visit.

Tours Tour committee is actively working at coordinating tour suggestions for a diversified number of 4 agriculture tours. Form was developed to allow agents to make recommendations for stops.

On another note, there are several NACAA Vice Chair Positions currently open for the Southern Region. I know we have many qualified agents that would serve well on these National Committees. If you feel qualified and wish to apply or if you wish to nominate someone from your district, please notify me before the end of this month. Applicants are due by March 1. All applicants from each region will be reviewed and selected at the National Spring Board Meeting. All of these Vice Chair Positions have a 2 year term.

Also, the Hall of Fame Award is due by March 15th. This new award takes the place of the old Pinnacle Award. There will be one recipient in each Region. Nominations must be 500 words or less, accompanied by the Application page and a letter from the State President. This award is judged based on:

I thank each of you for what you do in Extension and if you know of ways we the NCACAA State Board can improve your state association, please let us know.

For more information on the 2006 meeting, NACAA, and "e" County Agent: http://www.nacaa.com/

Winter 2006 Newsletter