Hello everyone. Let me start with an apology. I just read my report from our previous meeting in May 2023, where I promised the financial statements before the AGM. I just wrapped up that task late yesterday after 3 intense days. Vlad has posted them on discussion thread 5A2.

Life returning to normal today. I want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as the CFC office struggled to manage the growth in membership, implementation of our new Just Go membership system, and revamping our accounting system. Much credit goes to the three amigos: Don Parakin (IT), George Stajov (memberships), and Brian Floyd (accounting).

Special appreciation goes to Christina Tao. Christina manages all the details very effectively with the Juniors and the numerous international events. She really does lighten the load on the CFC office. Also, thank you to Vlad Drkulec for setting up a new bank facility so we can handle bank wire and e-transfers more effectively.

My new goal is for quarterly financial updates before each quarterly meeting.

On my wish list is a new CFC rating program. Don and I having been discussing this for some time now, but we have not taken it to the executive yet. It has served us very well for 27 years now, but it does now limit our progress. We should add it to the agenda for next meeting.

The whole issue of ratings deflation fascinates me, being a bit of a math nerd. We have done some statistical analysis and some proposals discussed, but we are waiting now to see what FIDE does. A new CFC rating program, if properly designed, could be game changing.

When we reported our 60% jump in memberships in May 2023, we got mostly thumbs up. But a few questioned if we should be celebrating. It is a good question. I took notice and emailed the USCF ED Carol Meyer. She was good enough to reply promptly with membership stats. The two membership structures do have some differences, so an “apples to apples” analysis is needed.

Bob