The United States Parachute Association Board of Director terms are 3 years and 2021 ends this term. The board is made up of 8 National Directors and 14 Regional Directors. A Full Board will be up for elections this October 1st-31st, 2021.

There are 16 National Director candidates running and 8 seats to fill. You will have an opportunity to vote for UP TO 8 candidates.

What Does A National Director do?

Good question. I asked it as well when I considered running. What I was told by many is, “A National Director doesn’t do much.”  I figured I’d probably do more than “not much” and in fact, my first term I averaged about 15 hours/week going in to the first meeting. Then I logged about 100 hours going into the second meeting. So – I wrote THIS blog to uncover what I’ve learned about this position.  And I’ve learned much more since then but it will give you a snapshot to understand a bit better.

HERE’s a list of National Director candidates for this term:

The Regional Director

Then you will vote for 1 Regional Director. Regional Directors are responsible for much more than National Directors. Here’s a snapshot:

• Approves or denies Group Membership applications
• Assists in disputes with members
• Ensure BSR’s are being followed
• Ensure Group Members are following pledge
• Conduct 1-6 investigations if necessary
• Appoint qualified S&TA’s
• Assist staff with administration of licenses, awards, ratings

The Governance Manual outlines the full duties and responsibilities for the Regional Director. Here is the list of Regional Director candidates. You can see that many are running unopposed.

Who To Vote For?

Parachutist will run an ad with all Director candidate’s campaign pitches, but you may also check out my Facebook Group to engage with them, ask them questions, and be more informed about your choices.

Here are some great questions to think of as you consider these candidates:

• Do they represent the disciplines I like in this sport?
• If you’ve never heard of the candidates, ask yourself (or them) why?
• If they’ve been on the board for a long period of time, find out what they’ve accomplished and if that aligns with your interests as a member.
• If being an active skydiver matters to you, see if the member’s are active or note how many jumps they’ve made in the past year

Although you have the opportunity to select up to 8 National Directors, you don’t have to use all of your votes. In fact, I recommend you only vote for your top 3 or 4 candidates.

Here is a snapshot of the voting results for the last Special Election held last year – the one I ran in:

Here is the 2019-2021 full board results for National Directors:

Where to Vote?

You can vote by logging in to your USPA account or via the link below. Only current USPA members are allowed to participate. And YES – your vote matters! Please take the time and get involved!