3. President's Welcome

[Lyle Craver]

We welcome our President, Michael von Keitz

[Michael von Keitz]

Welcome to our final online quarterly meeting of the year!

Our finances look solid and the reports from each of our committees/coordinators seem to speak to progress on many fronts. For my part, I'd like to mention the tireless efforts of Hal Bond and Stijn de Kerpel in assisting me to get us out of our storage unit. As of April 12th, we will officially be rid of it and have arranged for the archives to stay with Gerry at a cost of $20/month. Others that helped in making this possible include Gordon Ritchie, Aris Marghetis, Larry Bevand, John Upper and David Cohen. My thanks to all!

On the topic of thanks, I'd also like to recognize Pierre Dénommée for his continuing efforts in translating the content on our website to French. The ongoing endeavours of various governors, committee members and executive members are also much appreciated. In this vein, perhaps the most exciting opportunity for me was to sit in on a meeting of the long-term planning committee, which left me feeling confident that our future is in good hands.

Yearbook sales are continuing to come in, albeit somewhat slowly. At last tally, I believe we were slightly in excess of 20 copies claimed. The Olympiad process is also moving, although a guarantee of financial support from the CFC is being requested from a few of the players, which, if I'm not mistaken, Hal will speak to upon joining the meeting.

As I mention in a thread below, our RCAAA application is temporarily on hold, but, one way or another, it will be in the government's hands prior to the end of this executive term.

To close, I'd like to remind the governors that our 2013 calendar is nearly fully booked. Outstanding events are the 2013 CYCC and 2013 Canadian Open (our 50th!). I encourage everyone to consider submitting a bid.

Respectfully,

Michael von Keitz
President, Chess Federation of Canada