09.08.11 MECA president Andy Bryan along with vice-president Margaret Bryan and policy board members Steve Abrahams and Brian Roderick have announced that they will not seek reelection for 2012. Here's the president's statement and his call for new volunteers to step forward.

New Elections and New Volunteers Needed

As we enter the last four months of 2011, the shape and leadership of the Maine Chess Association will be changing. I, along with three others, will no longer be members of the board in 2012. The president and vice-president Bryan team is resigning due to changes in our work lives while policy board members Steve Abrahams and Brian Roderick also have announced their intentions to not seek reelection due to similar reasons.

Below is my letter to the board.

Hi Everybody:

It's been a while since I last posted anything on my blogs or corresponded with you all. I have had a very busy summer, and my school year is looming. This year I will be the teaching principal again at the Airline Community School. I last held that position eight years ago. With the added responsibilities I feel that I will be unable to spend as much time as I would like as MECA president. I also wish that I had been able to accomplish more of the goals that I had set for myself and MECA. (Of course if I had met them all, I should have set more!) I do feel that we had become an active working team that strove to promote chess in Maine. It is not easy to do when the state is so physically large and all of us on the executive board and policy board live full active lives away from chess. We have represented a cross section of chess enthusiasts from Kittery to Fort Kent and have been able to give many different perspectives. Sometimes this has not made consensus that easy, but it has helped us all understand better the vagaries of chess in Maine.

I hope that I can continue to provide a productive voice in Maine chess for many years, but at this time I feel that it is best to allow someone else with more time to commit to the leadership of Maine chess to step forward. I will continue to serve until a new president is voted on in the fall and will preside over our annual meeting in October. In a separate mailing I will put forth my thoughts for the future and the tentative agenda for our annual meeting.
Thank you Maggie, Lee, Steve, Jon, Brian, Andrey, and Phil for your support throughout my term. Let's hope that we can finish this year on a constructive note that will make it a smooth transition to new leadership.
Sincerely, Andy

I will add that I intend to see the course through and work hard to have a MECA Chess Player of the Year competition set for 2012 as well as an announcement regarding the 2012 Closed Championship. We will be having our annual meeting in central Maine either in October or November.

Maggie has started her college career at Bowdoin in Brunswick and plans to continue playing chess when her schedule allows her. She very much appreciates the opportunity that the state membership has given her. Steve will be transitioning from college in 2012 and is not sure where his plans will take him at this point. For sure he will be active in chess, and I suspect you will see him at many Maine events in the coming year. Brian also will be active in Maine chess, but he feels that he does not have the necessary time to commit to serving on the Policy Board.

I hope that MECA will find parties interested in serving Maine chess who will be inclusive and willing to reach a common ground in determining the direction of Maine chess. There are still many, many people in Maine who love chess, and the new leadership will have to find ways to secure their support. It will take time and cooperation. Anyone who is considering a leadership position in MECA is welcome to contact me to talk about the positions. I will stay involved in Maine chess and hope that at some point in the future to have more time to serve MECA again.

A special thanks go to those who have been so supportive during the last twenty months.

Andy