I am pleased to announce our 2011 board changes for Georgia Tracker’s Alliance. Additional GTA leadership is needed and will be solicited from the most involved and capable persons. Please consider how your own leadership skills and experience may be put to use in GTA, beyond the obvious passion for finding those who are lost.

Please congratulate Jimi Ellis, who is our newest Director.

Jimi is responsible for membership, including maintaining our existing membership, working with Mona to help our existing members advance, and he will work on recruiting new members; focusing on developing a strong core team of callout-ready and committed volunteers, but welcoming all who desire to learn the skill.

Jimi comes to us with a very successful history of building a key Red Cross volunteer disaster team and he has a real passion to help and learn. If you haven’t had the chance to meet Jimi yet, I certainly hope you get the chance soon. We are lucky to have him with us.

Mona Hand is thanked for her help working on membership in the past, and for renewing her commitment as our Training Officer, which is an incredibly important role for all of us. Her personal efforts have led to her being trained as a JHPTS Tracking instructor and her continued commitment to GTA will ensure we follow the best possible method to acquire skills, meet certification requirements, and document our progress fully. This is a huge role and Mona continues to have my support as well as specific commitments from Joel Barrett and Jimi to assist her in this effort.

While it has been my pleasure to help with GTA and to serve in a leadership capacity up to this point, I have stepped down as President at this time. I will continue to train, and participate as the JHPTS Lead Tracker for GTA, while serving you and our board to the best of my ability.

We have a growing base of certified trackers in GTA and an apparent growing awareness of the need for tracking resources in the state. I encourage those of you who have been active in the past to dust off your tracking stick, watch this message board and our website, and consider re-engaging with us.

Thank you,

Mark