By British Baseball Federation, www.britishbaseball.org
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the British Baseball Federation (BBF) took place in Leicester on Saturday 26 November, attended by member clubs, lifetime members, representatives from ABUA-GB and BSUK and guests of the British Baseball Federation.
Attendance at this AGM was higher than in recent years.
PRESENTATIONS
Cody Cain chaired the meeting, which began with presentations honouring Matthew Crawshaw (Southern Youth Commissioner), who has served on the BBF Board since 2013, and Daniel Lally (Treasurer), who has served since 2006. Both were well deserving of their awards for their dedicated volunteer service to the Federation.
Next came presentations by Chris Deacon (BBF), John Walmsley (BSUK Chair) and Mike Jennings (BSF) about the proposed merger between the BBF, BSF and BSUK following the recent Structural Review. The presentations outlined the main elements of the proposed merger and were followed by questions and answers from the floor. In early 2017, an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) will be scheduled to ask members from the BBF to vote for or against the merger, while members of the BSF will vote at their AGM in February.
ELECTIONS
The two candidates for BBF President (Gerry Perez and Kevin Macadam) then took the floor for brief nomination statements.
Voting followed by the member baseball clubs and others eligible to vote (98 votes in total), and the following Board members were elected:
- President: Gerry Perez
- Treasurer: Lisa Janson
- Officials Commissioner: Chris Deacon
- Northern Senior Commissioner: Kevin Macadam
- Southern Senior Commissioner: Ben Davis
- Southern Youth Commissioner: Mike Holm
Gerry Perez said, “I would like to thank Kevin Macadam for his strong campaigning and I would like to thank the members for their support in accepting my mandate of disruptive constructive change. My focus is to make the BBF a well-governed and well-managed entity. I plan on forming strategic relationships with skilled volunteers, outside entities, sponsors, donors and other stakeholders that want to invest their time and money into our vision of the BBF and our sport. A network of strong relationships will help to lead, develop, add value to and protect our member clubs’ interests through the challenging times ahead. Add our newly-elected Supervisory Board members and we have the right set of skilled persons with the attributes to execute strategic leadership and to make the future of the BBF filled with purpose and vision.”
FINANCE AND MOTIONS
The elections were followed by a presentation from outgoing Treasurer Daniel Lally, and the members in attendance approved the 2017 budget.
After a lunch break, the members then debated and voted on a number of proposed motions.
Next, Liam Carroll (National Development Official and GB Baseball Head Coach) gave a presentation about the philosophy and approach embodied in The GB Way.
This was followed by an open discussion about the outlook for British baseball in 2017.
The day ended with a few words from newly-elected BBF President Gerry Perez.
The new BBF Supervisory Board would like to thank all who attended for their support in making the 2016 AGM a success.