IGFA Announces Election of New Officers and Committee Chairs

Association Articles of Incorporation and By-laws Revised to Modernize Governance

 The International Game Fish Association (IGFA)  announced the election of new officers and committee chairs as well as revisions to the association’s Articles of Incorporation and By-laws aimed at modernizing the governance of the eighty-year-old, conservation-based, recreational-angling organization.

“As we enter our 80^th year as an association, we’ve taken bold steps to ensure that our Board of Trustees is as dynamic and diverse as the game fish we seek to conserve and the sport we work to promote,” said IGFA Chairman Charles W. Duncan III.  “We’ve elected a strong new slate of officers and committee chairs and made significant changes to our governance structures that will ensure the IGFA’s continued leadership and vitality in recreational angling for years to come.”

Duncan was re-elected as IGFA Chair along with Roy W. Cronacher Jr. as the new Vice Chair & Treasurer, Nehl Horton as President, IGFA Trustee Emeritus Michael L. Farrior as Historian, and IGFA Finance & Administration Director Jill Tapia as Secretary.  The IGFA Executive Committee will now consist of Duncan, Cronacher and Horton, in addition to Rules Committee Chair Gary Carter, Conservation Committee Member Tim Choate, and IGFA European & Mediterranean Regional Council Chair Massimo Brogna.

As part of the update to its governance structures, the IGFA has reduced the number of standing committees by consolidating the work of some committees and eliminating others.  The new slate of committees and chairs is as follows: 1) Conservation Committee – Bill Shedd, Chair; 2) Development Committee – Charles W. Duncan III, Chair; 3) Education Committee – Martin Arostegui MD, Chair;  4) Finance Committee – Roy W. Cronacher Jr., Chair; 5) Membership Marketing Committee – Roy W. Cronacher Jr., Chair; 6) Recognition Committee – Chase Offield, Chair; and 7) Rules Committee – Gary Carter, Chair.  (For biographies of all IGFA’s Officers, Trustees and Staff, please visit www.igfa.org)

“As the IGFA staff continues to focus on executing our three-year strategy, our new committee chairs and members will play a vital role as advisors and consultants on this important work and ensure that the IGFA is meeting the needs and expectations of a broad range of recreational angling and game fish conservation interests,” Duncan added.  “I want to thank all of our officers, committee chairs and members for agreeing to take on these key responsibilities.”

Following discussion at its annual meeting last January, the IGFA approved the first changes to its Articles of Incorporation since 1996 and the first changes to its By-laws since 2012.  These changes were deemed necessary to ensure that the association’s foundational charter is consistent with its current mission and focus, and to comply with current laws and regulations governing U.S.-based nonprofit organizations.  (To review the revised Articles of Incorporation and By-laws, please visit igfa.org/governance)

“The revised Articles of Incorporation make it clear that our primary focus is on game fish conservation and the promotion of ethical angling practices,” said IGFA President Nehl Horton.  “We’ve also introduced term limits for IGFA Trustees and Officers, expanded the maximum size of the Board and clarified our process for leadership succession, all of which are aimed at ensuring that the IGFA Board of Trustees is constantly regenerating itself and bringing fresh new faces and ideas into the organization to support our global growth strategy.”

The IGFA Board may now consist of a maximum 35 and no less than 15 trustees with each trustee limited to three, four-year terms for 12 years maximum service.  The IGFA Vice Chair will now be formally recognized as next in line to succeed the current Chair, ensuring a smooth transition of leadership.  The Chair may now serve a maximum of two, four-year terms, except in extraordinary circumstances, in which case the Chair can serve one additional term.

To ensure their ongoing engagement with the association, IGFA Trustees serving at least six years in good standing with the organization will automatically be elected to Trustee Emeritus status for life, as will former IGFA Presidents who held that position for at least ten years.

Under these new provisions, recently retired IGFA Trustee George G. Matthews will become Chairman Emeritus of the association.  Former IGFA Trustees Michael J. Levitt and Carlos F. Pellas and former IGFA Presidents Michael Leech and Rob Kramer will become Trustees Emeriti.

“With an eighty-year history of very strong leadership at the IGFA, we know that we are standing on the shoulders of conservation giants and angling greats,” Horton concluded.  “Recognizing our former Trustees and Presidents with Emeritus status provides an important link to our past even as we look to the future.”