MAA President's Message
Wow, What a Conference!
I want to say thank you to everyone who attended the 45th Annual MAA Summer Conference! The biggest Thank You goes to the 2017 Conference Committee lead by this year’s Conference Chairs, Stacey Bassi and Tony Meyaard. Also, a special thank you to the 26 first time attendees. I hope you found the education helpful and the exhibitors informative. I also hope you made new friends and acquaintances and had a little fun along the way.
We also had some excellent educational opportunities with three brand new courses offered. Our guest speakers included Bob Bruner from the Michigan Municipal Services Authority, IAAO Vice President, Tim Boncoskey and State Representative Dave Maturen who also had an open forum session on Wednesday that was very informative.
The last few conferences have been higher in attendance than we have had for quite a while. This year’s conference was attended by 183 of us. That gives me hope that perhaps we can get back to the participation levels that I have heard about “back in the day”.
The 2017 Award Recipients were:
Most Valuable Member:
Dwayne McLachlan
Literary Award:
Joe Turner
Education Award:
Shila Kiander
Subscribing Member Award:
Jack VanCoevering
The 2017 Distinguished Service Awards went to:
Stacey Bassi
Tony Meyaard
Amy DeHaan
From the opening reception at the AirZoo to the closing night after banquet entertainment with Jedi Mind Trip, it was just an amazing conference . . . one that I will never forget. Make plans now to join us next year in Traverse City. 2018 MAA President Amy DeHaan and the Conference Committee are already hard at work to make it the best ever. See you then?
Ruth, President