Election Results

The ACA is pleased to announce that the membership voted to elect the following individuals to serve two year terms on the ACA Board of Directors:

• Bill Banholzer - Seneca, SC
• Gordon Dayton - Woodbridge, CT
• Sam Fowlkes - Sylva, NC
• Anne Maleady - Sandwich, MA
• Bill Micks - Fredericksburg, VA
• Judge Charles Strauss - Chatham, VA
• Tom Pitt - Albion, MI (Competition Council)
• Steve Hutton - Charleston, SC (SEIC)

The following two members were also elected to serve as Trustee's of Sugar Island:

• Mike Leith - Falls Church, VA
• John Nowicky - West Milford, NJ

To learn more about the governance of your association or to become involved, please click here.

 


Biographies:

Bill Banholzer - Seneca, SC

I'm currently celebrating my 50th. year as a ACA member. I joined the organization as a flat water racing paddler in 1962. I was a member of the Yonkers Canoe Club and was Fleet Captain during the 1960's. I spent many years traveling to races from Yonkers to Philadelphia, to Washington, DC, and also traveled to races in Canada. I also participated in events at National Boat shows during the time that the ACA represented the Paddling Group for the US Olympics. My Canada travels introduced me to ACA's Sugar Island. Over the last thirty, years or more, I have invested my time and efforts in developing programs for the Sugar Island Camp. I was Chairman of the Sugar Island Trustees for six years when the ACA Board of Directors was developed, as a new way of running the organization. At that time I attended and was seated at the new Board of Director's meetings and participated when the Properties Committee was established. In 1994, I started a Paddle America Club - the Sugar Island Canoe Club - of which I am still President and I am currently the representative between the Sugar Island Trustees and the ACA Board of Directors, attending the ACA meetings. Finally, I am now involved with developing a proposed Business Plan for Sugar Island and I am working closely with Wade Blackwood to accomplish this plan.

Gordon Dayton - Woodbridge, CT

Gordon Dayton, Ph.D. has served on the ACA Board since 2008. He joined the board to bring a perspective on paddling clubs to the National decision making process. He currently heads the Board Recreation Committee, serves on the Board Bylaws and Finance Committees and holds an appointment to the ACA SEI Council as Clubs Liaison. Gordon is a founding Director of North Atlantic Canoe and Kayak, an Incorporated (Not-For-Profit), skills-based ACA-PAC club on Long Island, NY where he currently serves as Senior Advisor. He is also active at the ACA Atlantic Division where he heads Coastal Kayak and Canoe committees. Gordon is also an active ACA Instructor in Coastal Kayak (L4), River Kayak (L2), Touring Canoe (L2) and River Canoe (L2). He instructs commercially with Changing Tides PaddleCraft, a New Haven, CT based company owned by his wife, Elizabeth O'Connor-Dayton. Gordon has a BS in Geology and past experience in Speleology, exploring and mapping caves and cave rescue. He is an honorary Life Member of the Nittany Grotto of the National Speleological Society. Dr Dayton, a graduate of PSU has a separate 30-year career in Electronics R&D during which he has managed or directed R&D and Engineering teams at 4 major US companies. Prior to that he was a Professor of Solid State Science at Penn State University where he also directed the NSF Center for Dielectric Studies. He currently works as a Principle Consultant for Foster Rush, is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and serves on the Organizing Committee for the EIA Capacitor and Resistor Technology Symposium. His business career along with his experience with NFP Corporations and other outdoor organizations along with his current activities in paddling instruction allow him to bring valuable perspective to guiding the ACA in its growth and development.

Sam Fowlkes - Sylva, NC

Sam has been involved in paddlesport for 35 years. His connection with the American Canoe Association began in 1977 when he certified as an ACA Whitewater Kayak Instructor while working at the Nantahala Outdoor Center as a guide and instructor. He has been an ACA Whitewater Canoe Instructor Trainer since 1981. He is presently an Instructor Trainer Educator in Swiftwater Rescue and Whitewater Canoe for the ACA. For the last 10 years his focus has been on swiftwater rescue instruction and instructor training. Sam's interests lie in making rescue techniques adaptable and relevant to paddlers. Sam has also been on the teaching faculty of Western Carolina University for the past eleven years schooling students in water-based sports education. Sam's other ACA leadership positions include: 12 years as Dixie Division Divisional Instruction Facilitator, 4 years as SEIC Vice Chair (1996-2000). He served as Chair of the Safety, Education and Instruction Council from 2004-2007 and is a 5-year member of the Board of Directors of the ACA. In addition to receiving the Excellence in Instruction Award in 2005, he was a recipient of the ACA Joe Pena Volunteer of the YearAward in 2002. Sam is also a Rescue 3 International Instructor Trainer, a WMI WFR and a NC EMT-B. Sam gives special attention to providing a multi-level educational experience. Providing professional level training for colleges, universities, agencies, outfitters, summer camps and clubs for 30 years.

Anne Maleady - Sandwich, MA

Just out of high school Anne purchased a used fiberglass kayak and started floating around on New England ponds, rivers, and shore. It was the start of a life long connection with watersports. My rafting resume includes the Green (multiple sections), the Colorado, San Juan, Dolores, Chamas, Animas. My kayaking has taken me to the Texas coast, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, California and Washington. 33 years of outdoor retail has helped me introduce hundreds of people to my favortie activity. During my career Anne has developed and sponsored multiple on-water events in Texas, California, and in the Northeast states. In 2006 she brought her passion for watersports to the ACA Board of Directors. Its mission of education, stewardship, and programs for paddlers resonates strongly with her personal interests. She continues to serve on the ACA Board providing support and expertise in events and personnel. Her current water goals are to pursue ACA certification in instruction.

Bill Micks - Fredericksburg, VA

Since the 1950's, the Rappahannock River has floated Micks' boat. Fredericksburg's first river outfitter, river safety advocate and conservationist looks back over a lifetime on the Rappahannock. Bill Micks took his first paddling trip on the Rappahannock River with the Boy Scouts in 1958. It was a life-changing moment, says Micks, who lived up the hill from the river at the time, off College Avenue. His boyhood paddling trips with George Brumble, a local veterinarian and Scout leader, led to a lifelong love of the Rappahannock, decades of service to Friends of the Rappahannock, and a business that has catered to river-lovers for 40 years. The two-day paddling and camping trip "stuck with me," says Micks, 64, a retired school teacher and co-owner of the Virginia Outdoor Center on Fall Hill Avenue. Soon, he was a physical education teacher and coach in Stafford County--his day job for the next 31 years. But he couldn't shake a connection with the river. "When I got out of college, that was what I wanted to do," he says. In the summer of 1972, he borrowed $1,000, bought three Grumman canoes, paddles, life jackets and started teaching American Red Cross canoeing classes."I kept that equipment in the backyard on Powhatan Street," he recalls. At the time, a local boat dealer was selling canoes, but no one was renting them. Micks saw a business opportunity, forming Rappahannock Canoe Rentals. "The spinoff from that was [that] I thought people might be interested in river trips," he says. So he began offering them that year, becoming the area's first outfitter.The following season, he bought another couple of canoes, and the business slowly began to grow. He ran the business after his school day, on evenings and weekends. In 1975, Micks incorporated the company, and married his wife, Denise, a teacher and Spotsylvania County native. Bill has been associated withthe Great Rappahannock Whitewter Canoe Race (GRWCR)since it began 32 years ago. Kirk Havens, past president of the American Canoe Association and director of the Coastal Watersheds Program at the College of William & Mary, hasn't missed one. The race typically raises about $1,000 a year for local swift water rescue programs. "Bill is probably the primary reason that our entire clan of Havens paddlers come back to the Rappahannock River every year," Havens said. "It became a family reunion for us, largely due to the generous, welcoming nature of Bill Micks." And Micks had a role in bringing the ACA, the nation's largest paddling organization, from Springfield to Fredericksburg in 2008, Havens said. The organization "had a number of different suitors" all over the country. When it considered locating in the city, one of its first contacts was Micks. The organization sponsors some of the competitions that are part of the race here, and sanctions competitions and educational and safety programs around the country. "He had a relationship with [city officials] and the community, and that here was a place that should be the home of the ACA."Havens added, "Our first impression of Fredericksburg was Bill Micks, and the city couldn't have done any better." Date published: 7/8/2012 By Rusty Dennen of the FreeLanceStar.


Judge Charles Strauss - Chatham, VA

Judge Strauss is a current member of the board of directors for the ACA. he is a former member of the Mid-Atlantic Paddlers Association, paddling/racing C-2 and C-1 flat water, Dragon boat and Outrigger canoe. He raced in the Molokai in 1988 and 1990. Currently he is a recreational canoeist and a member of the Dan River Basin Association. he is interested in recreational canoeing and kayaking flat water and white water and the adaptive paddling program. He is currently a Circuit Court Judge for the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Virginia living with his wife on a small farm east of Chatham, Va.

National Activity Council Representatives to the Board of Directors:

Competition Council:
Tom Pitt - Albion, MI

Safety Education & Instruction Council (SEIC):

Steve Hutton - Charleston, SC

Steve is an Instructor Trainer Educator for the American Canoe Association, and a multi-term Vice-Chair of the ACA's Safety Education and Instruction Council. He currently serves as the Director of Recreation for the Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission and has been teaching paddling of all disciplines since 1988.


Sugar Island Trustees:

Mike Leith - Falls Church, VA

 
John Nowicky - West Milford, NJ

My experience serving as a Trustee of Sugar Island has been constructive and positive. Although there are many tasks, issues and initiatives that are still outstanding, I feel, with my continued service, that these tasks can be addressed and completed seamlessly. At the same time, I can make positive contributions in moving Sugar Island forward. 2008-Present: Trustee of Sugar Island; 2012 – Served as Chairman of Maintenance Committee responsible for:Evaluating the immediate and future maintenance needs of Sugar Island, Organizing and creating a workable task plan to meet the defined maintenance needs, Researching the cost of the projects, and ordering needed materials, Organizing work weekends as well as work days during the annual encampment to meet the maintenance tasks, Leading the work parties during these work weekends and work days and advising as necessary. 2012 Served on the Sugar Island Rules and Regulations Committee: Reviewed and evaluated the current rules of Sugar Island to understand present rules, and make recommendations as to needed updates in regard to present day Sugar Island needs and lifestyle. 1987 – Present: ACA Member and Active member of Sugar Island. Employment: 2005 – Present - Technology Teacher, Monroe-Woodbury High School, Monroe NY. Education: 2009 - Master of Science Degree: Administration/Building Leadership. Long Island University, Orangeburg, New York. 2004 - Bachelor of Science Degree: Technology Education, State University of New York Oswego, Oswego, New York