BOARD SLATE 2024-2025

Members seeking to challenge a nominee proposed by the nominating committee must have notified the national office by July 1 of their intention to challenge and specifically designate whom they are challenging for the board. In soliciting signatures from the membership, the challenger must use the official notification process prescribed by the national office.

If there were no challenges by July 1, then the proposed slate would be accepted for commencement of the new term beginning on January 1, 2024. If an election is necessary, it will be held for a three-week period starting Monday, October 2, and ending Monday, October 23. The new slate would be announced by November 1.

For a member to be eligible to challenge a candidate nominated by the nominating committee, the member must have applied to the nominating committee for a board position during the current election cycle.

The challenger must present their credentials confirming that they have secured the “requisite support” from the membership before August 16 of the election year. Only one nominee per office will be added to those persons nominated by the nominating committee — and the one name added will have received the greatest number of nominations from the membership (“Membership Nominee”).

To qualify as a Membership Nominee, the candidate must be endorsed by at least 120 members (which shall be deemed the “requisite support”). In the event there is a tie in the number of nominations obtained by the Membership Nominees, the Membership Nominee with the highest number of continuing education points during the 10-year period prior to and through July 1 of the current election year shall be added to the ballot. In the event the Membership Nominees remain tied after counting the number of continuing education points, the board shall select the name of the Membership Nominee to be added to the ballot. A Membership Nominee may not run against the person nominated by the nominating committee for president or first vice president.

Once the slate and Membership Nominees, if any, have been determined, each candidate shall be permitted to submit an approved video in support of their candidacy, which shall be made available to the membership of the association. All videos will be two minutes total and will be filmed during the general membership meeting in Orlando. All videos will be prepared utilizing the exact production requirements to be promulgated by the national office.

Members shall cast their votes electronically. In the event a member cannot cast their vote electronically, the member may request a paper ballot from the national office. In the event the candidates receive the same number of votes, the proposed nominee who has the highest number of continuing education points shall prevail. In the event the nominees remain tied after counting the number of continuing education points, the nominee presented by the nominating committee shall be declared the winner.

Any slight variances from the above deadlines or procedures may be authorized by the board and will be based on reasonableness and fairness to all candidates. Thanks for supporting the USPTA’s democratic process for the selection of our future leadership.*

Rich Slivocka USPTA President

Greetings to our USPTA membership. With the retirement of our current CEO, John Embree, we are going through an extensive process to select a new CEO. With this writing, I thought it would be helpful to update you on where things stand and fill you in on how the process will play out during the rest of this calendar year.

In late April/early May, I established a CEO Task Force made up of five past presidents plus Trish Faulkner—our incoming president—and myself. We developed a job description that embodies all the responsibilities required of this position and a character profile of the person who we seek.

Secondly, we created a proposal request that was circulated to a variety of executive search firms to see what interest they would have in engaging in this project. Any firm that wished to submit a proposal for this engagement had to submit their documentation by June 1. It is gratifying to know that this high-profile project garnered a variety of applications from quality professional entities.

During the month of June, the CEO Task Force reviewed the applications and vetted those agencies that seemed to be the best fit. Zoom interviews were conducted with several firms and a selection was made by June 30.

With the agency on board, an announcement was made to our membership in general and to the tennis industry at large asking for applicants to submit their resume during the month of July. Once the application window closes, the agency will vet candidates and come up with a preliminary list for the CEO Task Force to review. It is expected that will take place in mid-late August.

The goal is to identify the top two or