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BGonline.org Forums
Matt Reklaitis and Jack Edelson elected to USBGF Board of Directors
Posted By: Karen Davis
Date: Tuesday, 5 December 2017, at 2:45 p.m.
The U. S. Backgammon Federation (USBGF) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the results of the Board of Directors election. Congratulations to two new Board members Matt Reklaitis and Jack Edelson on their election to the Board, and also to Joe Russell, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Art Benjamin, and Julius High on their re-election. In accordance with the By-Laws, they will serve on the Board for three-year terms from 2018-2020. They join Dennis Culpepper, Karen Davis, Neil Kazaross, Tara Mendicino, Richard Munitz, Bill Riles, Marty Storer, and Frank Talbot to comprise the USBGF Board of Directors.
Matt Reklaitis will serve as Chair of the USBGF Technology Committee. The major charge to the Committee will be to oversee the redesign of the USBGF website usbgf.org and provide support to ABT directors in accessing new tournament management tools. He is a veteran tournament player, currently active both nationally and abroad. Professionally, he works as a software engineer, and has contributed to the backgammon community through a variety of side projects over the past 20 years, including developing bgbrackets.com for reporting live match results, a graphical interface to play on FIBS, a neural net backgammon player named MonteCarlo, and a brief revival of the Kent Goulding ratings list. He is also involved locally, supporting the New England Backgammon Club by maintaining their website, and by organizing the production of streamed matches with commentary for the club's championship playoffs as well as for last year's Boston Open ABT event. He brings to the USBGF his technical expertise with a focus on improving the tools and resources made available to tournament directors.
Jack Edelson will lead a new USBGF Local Club Committee and assist with new social media communications and marketing initiatives in the coming year. He will serve the USBGF well in our communication and growth campaign. He has been one of the most active players on the American Backgammon Tour in the last two years, attending 26 ABT events in 2016-2017. He served as co-director of the 2017 Wisconsin Backgammon Championships, and has provided informal assistance at several other events. This experience allows him to bring a perspective underrepresented on the board. He has provided expert commentary on live-streamed matches for the Voice of Backgammon. Jack is completing his PhD in political science at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison, specializing in American politics.
All USBGF members received multiple e-mail notices of the election ballot which were also posted on the USBGF website. We had 150 votes. The Board is pleased with the level of interest and the participation exhibited by the membership. The results are: Julius High 124 votes 83% Joseph Russell 116 votes 77% Art Benjamin 109 votes 73% Matt Reklaitis 94 votes 63% Jack Edelson 89 votes 59% Ben Friesen 86 votes 57% Dan Dabney 52 votes 35%
We thank retiring Board members Dorn Bishop and Michelle Steinberg for their years of valuable service to the USBGF. We look forward to continuing to seek their wisdom and expertise.
We appreciate the willingness to serve the USBGF demonstrated by all of the candidates. Each of them has the skills and the desire to serve which are valuable to the USBGF. We look forward to engaging their talent and energy in the work of the USBGF.
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