PSIA-AASI

8.3.2010

New PSIA-AASI Board in Place

In elections held during its annual summer meeting, the PSIA-AASI Board of Directors chose Eric Sheckleton to serve as its new chairman.

Sheckleton, who has served on the board since 2001 as the Northern Rocky Mountain Division representative, ran unopposed for a two-year term as chairman. He most recently served as the association’s executive vice president. An instructor trainer for Bridger Bowl Resort in Bozeman, Montana, Sheckleton was a member of the AASI Snowboard Team from 1997–2000 and currently serves as a snowboard examiner, alpine clinician, and children’s clinician for Northern Rocky Mountain Division. He is the first PSIA-AASI chairman to have started his career as a snowboard instructor. Sheckleton is also a Level I-certified nordic instructor.

The summer election also saw new selections made to the association’s executive committee, with John Peppler winning his bid to serve as vice chairman, Peter Donahue winning the secretary post, and Ed Younglove chosen to serve as treasurer. Three board terms were up for ratification during the summer meeting, that of board representatives for Northern Intermountain Division, Northern Rocky Mountain Division, and Western Division. Walt Coiner returns for another term as Northern Intermountain board representative, Eliza Kuntz will serve as board representative for Northern Rocky Mountain Division, and Neil Bussiere will serve as board representative for Western Division.

All terms took effect July 1, 2010.

8.3.2010

Allard, Albright Retire from Board

The June 2010 board meeting served as a coda, of sorts, for two board members who have served the association with distinction for many years: Ray Allard and Craig Albright.

After two terms as PSIA-AASI president and chairman of the board, Allard chose not to run for reelection and will be succeeded by former executive vice president Eric Sheckleton. From 1985 to 1999—and again in 2001—Allard was executive director of Eastern Division, becoming that division’s representative to the PSIA-AASI Board of Directors in 1997. During his 13 years on the board, he served on the Executive Committee as communications vice president and operations vice president before becoming president and chairman in 2006.Over the years Allard also led several committees and task forces, including the PSIA Certification Committee (1979–84), the PSIA-AASI Publications and Technology Task Force (1999–2003), and the PSIA-AASI Education Advisory Council (2003).
Allard, who has been skiing since the age of four, began teaching the sport in 1960. Within eight years he’d attained Level III certification, then became a PSIA Eastern Division examiner in 1973. Now claiming to be “semi-retired,” Allard works as an instructor/trainer at Vermont’s Killington Resort.  Although no longer in a presiding position on the board, Allard will continue to serve for two years in the role of past president. 

The June 2010 board meeting marked Craig Albright’s last official meeting as the association’s operations vice president, a position he has held since 2006. Albright has been a member of the board, serving as Western Division’s representative, since 2002. At the national level he has also served on the association’s education and certification  committees, the Presidents’ Council, the Teams Task Force, and the Educational Advisory Committee. His service at the division level has included roles as president, certification vice president, and education vice president. The managing director of California’s Mammoth Mountain Ski Area since 2007, Albright began teaching in 1982 and has attained Level III instructor certification in alpine, snowboard, and telemark. During his long career in snowsports instruction, he has served Western Division as an alpine and snowboard examiner, and from 1991–93 was the division’s chief snowboard examiner.