Hello!
I can assure all of you that someone is home and that ITEA will not "flatline" any time in the near future.
As President of the organization, I ultimately bear the responsibility for the shortcomings that some of our members are experiencing. I am sorry that you have had difficulties with membership processing and/or receiving the Journal. We need to do better and we will.
A bit of history is in order, in the hopes that it will paint an accurate picture (as I see it) and help you to understand how some of these lapses may have occurred. The following is not an excuse, nor is it any way to be perceived as throwing anyone under the bus, just an illustration of circumstances.
Right about the time that I came on as VP in 2007, ITEA moved toward a business model where we appointed Executive Director to handle the daily business of the organization. These operations included paying bills, processing memberships, mailing journals and helping to administer the Tuba Euphonium Press, not to mention the myriad amount of daily tasks that needed to happen to make sure we were functioning up to our best potential. The Board was enthusiastic about this development, as those of us who are elected to positions in the organization tend to be pretty busy people. We were getting by for years on the generosity of people like Kathy Brantigan and a host of others before her who gave selflessly and tirelessly to handle the business of ITEA. Eventually, these very valuable players love and give until they can love and give no more, at which point we would find the next Saint on the list. The model of having a paid employee ultimately made much more sense.
We hired Jennifer Jester, who is a bright and capable person who had a lot of energy and vision for the organization. Jennifer did an admirable job and got many of our daily business processes in a good place. As time marched on, Jennifer encountered some pretty sudden and difficult obstacles in her life, to include a terminal illness of an immediate family member. This, combined with several other circumstances, created a deficit of time for her to handle her many responsibilities in a way that she had become accustomed. At this time, Jennifer used her XD salary to sub-contract out the daily responsibilities that needed to take place (memberships, tuba-euphonium press, mailing of journals). This action on Jennifer’s part was both prudent and necessary to ensure that the wheels kept turning, and the people that she appointed to handle these responsibilities are indeed good people. The problem, as I see it, was my failure to ensure that these new moving parts were working in a coordinated manner that had the mission of “members first” as a clear and concise priority. For this, I take responsibility and offer you my sincere condolences that all things were not handled as efficiently as they could have been.
While Jennifer would have liked to stay on, the complications reached a point of critical mass and she made the decision to resign her position. In June of this year, the board interviewed several people for the position of Executive Director and hired Adam McFarlin. Adam has a breadth of non-profit knowledge, is a tuba player, and has a wealth of experiences in arts administration. The ideas that he has presented to this point all point to a healthier and more productive organization, and we are lucky to have him on board. There was a “handoff” of responsibilities and the business offices of the organization moved from Baltimore to Kalamazoo, Michigan. There have been a few hiccups as a result of the physical move of the office and the transition of accounts, and it is likely that the ones that may have occurred could well be the result of the transfer of banks and the establishment of new processes external of the XD’s office. This too may have contributed to some balls being dropped, but hopefully this was kept to a minimum.
The Board meets via phone every six weeks and we always have a full agenda and lively conversation about improving the membership experience of ITEA. Work is being done, I can assure you. One of the items that we will continue to discuss is tightening up the processes involved in memberships and the mailing of the journal. My own sense is that we can do better here by streamlining the number of people involved in assuring that these matters are handled to their successful completion. I will say, for the record, that the current Board of Directors is one of the smartest and thoughtful groups of people with whom I have had the privilege of working. Every person on the board is committed to a positive member experience. I will personally take responsibility for the lapses that have occurred within the past year and deliver to you the promise that we will strive to do better.
If at any point you are not satisfied with the way that you have been treated by a staff member of ITEA, please let me know. I will work with you until we reach a satisfactory conclusion to your problem. My (correct) e-mail address is
dzerkel@uga.edu" target="_blank" target="_blank. The website (embarrassingly enough) lists an incorrect address. If you have written to me at the link on the site, I have never received your message, hence the lack of reply. If you are on the sidelines and feel that you are willing and able to make a meaningful contribution to the organization as an active participant, we want to hear from you. We will only reach our potential as an organization with the ideas and actions of our membership.
Thank you for your patience during our transition of administrative leadership. Things will get better.
Sincerely,
David Zerkel
President, ITEA
dzerkel@uga.edu" target="_blank" target="_blank
