STMA Election Information
2012 STMA Ballot and Proxy
Download the 2012 STMA Ballot and follow the instructions to submit your vote for your 2012 STMA Board of Directors.
You can also download the 2012 Proxy to submit if you will be unable to attend the Annual Meeting at the STMA Conference in Long Beach, CA. note: you do not need to submit a proxy if you will attend the annual meeting.
2012 Slate of Candidates
Officers
For President - James Michael Goatley, Jr., Ph.D.
For Immediate Past President - Troy Smith, CSFM
For President Elect - Martin Kaufman, CSFM
For Commercial Vice President - Rene Asprion
For Secretary/Treasurer - Ron Hostick, CSFM or David Pinsonneault, CSFM, CPRP
Directors
For Higher Education - Jeff Salmond, CSFM or David Schlotthauer
Jeff Salmond, CSFM,University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
David Schlotthauer- Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
David Schlotthauer joined the Brigham Young University’s Grounds Department in 1979. He has been working as the Sports Turf Manager since 2000. David’s responsibilities include all of BYU’s turfgrass; this covers 50 acres of sport fields, 5 acres of Synthetic Turf, and over 500 acres of turf on BYU’s academic campus. Other responsibilities include tractor operation training for all grounds employees and grass/weed control of the vacant lots owned by BYU. Before becoming the Sports Turf Manager, David worked for 21 years as one of two Arborist BYU employs. While working at BYU’s Grounds Department David continued to work towards his Bachelors Degree, which he obtained in 1992.
David has been a member of the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) since 2002. He has served twice on the Bylaws and Chapter Relations Committees, on the Natural Synthetic Turf Taskforce, the Information Outreach Committee, The Playing Conditions Taskforce, and Conference Education Subcommittee. David has also presented on various topics at the National Conference and will be presenting on safety and potential liabilities at the upcoming 2012 conference in Long Beach. On the chapter level David currently serves as the president of the Intermountain Chapter of the STMA (IMSTMA), a position he has held for four years. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Utah Nursery and Landscape Association and organizes the turf track for the Utah Green Conference.
Vision for STMA
I believe that STMA should be the number one, go-to source of information for the Sports Turf Manager. This can be accomplished in three ways. First, continue to enhance our strong internet presence; providing access to TGIF, expanding our online Article Archive available through STMA’s website. By continual work on the Article Archive, the archive will become the largest source of information for the Sports Turf Manager on the internet. Second, continue to give more comprehensive training to the chapters, helping officers to make their chapters stronger, also make available more educational resources to our chapters which, in turn, the chapters can provide more educational opportunities to their members and be able to reach out to more non-STMA members involved in the Turf Management Industry. Third, continue holding Regional Conferences and where possible expand the educational offerings at these Regional Conferences. It’s all about continually offering educational opportunities to our members.
For Academic - Jeffrey Fowler or Brad Jakubowski
Jeffrey Fowler, Penn State University Cooperative Extension, Franklin, PA
Brad Jakubowski- Instructor, Doane College
Brad has been involved with the Green Industry for over 25 years, working within the residential/commercial, golf course and sport field areas. He is currently an instructor of Environmental Sciences for Doane College in Crete, NE. Previously, he directed the two-year Sports Turf Management Program for the University of Nebraska and helped them develop their new Turfgrass and Landscape Management Degree Program. He is a 10-year member of the STMA and co-founder of the STMA Student Challenge. He serves on the Conference Education, Student Challenge and Information Outreach Committees. He is a Board Member of the Nebraska STMA, and a member of the Nebraska Turfgrass Association and the Nebraska Golf Course Superintendents Association. He also helped plan and execute the Sports Turf Extreme Makeover for St. Paul, NE High School. Brad especially enjoys working with industry and conducting educational outreach programs.
Vision for STMA
One of the greatest responsibilities of the STMA is helping sports field managers become experts and respected professionals. I envision a creative and flexible STMA that is dedicated to educating the full spectrum of our members--from the high school custodians who care for the football fields, to the student members, to the managers of professional sports facilities. As we strengthen our members by helping them develop greater knowledge and better skills, we promote our profession and our organization.
For Parks & Recreation - Debra Kneeshaw or Brian Winka, CSFM
Debra Kneeshaw - Portland Parks & Recreation, OR
Debra Kneeshaw has been the Lead Park Technician for Portland Parks and Recreation at the Delta Sports Complex since 1998. She has expertise in synthetic turf maintenance and management and is experienced in converting the 86-acre Sports Complex to host 100 different field combinations.
She served as President for two years of the newly formed Oregon Chapter of Sports Turf Managers Association in 2009 and 2010, and is currently involved as Past President. She served on STMA’s Regional Conference Steering Committee last year and has been a presenter at the national STMA conference. She serves on a Sustainability Committee for the City of Portland Parks and Recreation to broaden its recycling efforts throughout the parks system in sports stadiums, maintenance disposal areas, community centers and open park settings. Debra also serves on a Portland Public Schools Committee to create a minimum standards contract for all third party contributions of synthetic turf systems. She and her husband, Joshua, are actively involved in their two children's busy sports schedules and see Sports Turf Management from the eyes of Maintenance Manager, Coach, Player and Parent. She has a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from George Fox University.
Vision for STMA
I fully recognize the challenges that Parks and Recreation face in budget constraints, land acquisition, sport field locations and quality of surfaces, accommodating User Group needs and partnering with groups to help fund construction and on-going maintenance. I would like to see the STMA broaden its membership by reaching out to administrators, athletic directors, permit personnel and coaches. Managing Sports Fields is a multi-faceted machine and the better the communication and partnership the more successful the outcome. The National Conference can promote sessions for team building skills training and invite administrators, athletic directors, permit personnel and coaches to work together with the maintenance personnel. I would also like the STMA to promote sustainability within our industry as well.
Brian Winka, CSFM - City of Chesterfield, MO
Brian Winka, CSFM is the Sports Turf Manager for the City of Chesterfield Missouri, a position he has held since 2005. He oversees the largest sports complex in the St. Louis metro area with 19 baseball fields, 10 soccer fields and 4 football fields. He holds a B.S. in Agronomy from Missouri State University. He attained certification as a Certified Sports Field Manager through STMA in 2008, the first person in Missouri to do so.
He has been a member of STMA since 2005, and has served on the Certification Committee for two years and the Chapter Relations Committee and Web Site Committee for one year. He is currently the President of the Gateway Chapter of STMA, a position he has held since 2009. He also held the position of Secretary for the Chapter. He is also a three time winner of the Pioneer Athletics Field of Excellence award.
Brian’s background includes being an assistant golf course superintendent at Wing Haven Country Club and the Missouri Bluffs Golf Club. Prior becoming a sports turf manager, Brian had been involved in grounds management for almost 20 years, working at a number of local golf courses along with working for landscape and sod companies.
Vision for STMA
My vision for STMA is to be the industry leader in education to all levels of sports field managers and to raise awareness to who we are, what we do, and how we as an association can help. I am often surprised by the amount of managers out there that are unaware of our association and the benefits of being a member. We have a lot of smart and innovative people that make up the STMA and I believe we need to spotlight all the good that they do.
For At-Large - Andrew Gossel or Jay Warnick, CSFM
Andrew Gossel - Covenant Christian High School, Indianapolis, IN
Andrew Gossel is the Director of Athletics and Head Baseball Coach at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis, a position he has held since 2003. Previously he was a teacher, athletic director, head of athletic field maintenance and the basketball and baseball coach for Arlington Baptist School in Baltimore. He has been an STMA member since 2002, the year that he won the STMA Baseball Field of the Year in the schools/parks and recreation category. He served on the STMA Awards Committee from 2008 through 2010. He is currently helping to re-start the Indiana Chapter. Andrew currently as a grounds crew member for the Indianapolis Indians. He holds a BS degree from Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, PA. He and his wife Laura have three kids: Elyssa 4, Jacob 7 and Ty 9.
Vision for STMA
I believe I bring a different perspective in that I am an athletic director as well the guy that maintains the turf. Because of that, I believe I am more aware of the budget challenges of facilities at the high school level. My hope is that STMA is and continues to be an organization that is not just about professional athletics, but seeks to train sports turf managers from all backgrounds and every level of field use. I feel that on the whole, STMA members are eager to help others, whether it be consulting, answering questions, etc., no matter who is asking for help.
Jay Warnick, CSFM - University of Portland Athletics, OR
Jay Warnick, CSFM, is the Sports Turf Manager for the University of Portland Athletics where he manages the Clive Charles Soccer complex. The complex has a sand-based practice and stadium field and a synthetic practice field, which are utilized by both men’s and women’s teams. He also oversees maintenance on the native soil field at Joe Etzel Baseball stadium. Previously he worked for World Class Athletic Surfaces coordinating product research and development and marketing in the Western Region.
Prior to that he oversaw the maintenance and construction of the landscape for BYU-Idaho’s 200-acre central campus, was the Director of Fields for the Seattle Seahawks, the Athletic Field Manager for the University of Utah, and the Assistant Field Manager for the Baltimore Ravens. He became a Certified Sports Field Manager in 2002.
Warnick holds a B.S. in Horticulture from Utah State University. He was a member of the founding groups that started the Pacific Northwest Chapter and the Intermountain Chapter and is a current member of the Oregon STMA. He has been a member of STMA since 1996 and serves as the Chairman of the Editorial Committee. He has served on the STMA Bylaws, Nominations and Chapter Relations Committees. Jay is the current Treasurer of STMA’s charity, The SAFE Foundation.
Vision for STMA
This is a great association that has established a firm foundation in education, networking and professionalism for its members. Public awareness of Sports Turf Management is increasing; however the work of too many Sports Turf Managers is still minimized and misunderstood. My vision as a board member is an initiative to educate the public that 1) Professional Sports Turf Managers are essential and contribute to the success of field -utilized sporting events; 2) Sports Turf Managers are not only aware of environmental concerns but are leaders not adversaries in stewardship of the environment, and 3) Investments made into quality Sports Turf Managers and quality fields will yield quality events.
