Randonneurs USA Board of Director Minutes
November 12, 2025
- Call to order: The meeting on November 12, 2025 was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, over Zoom. The following members were present.
- Dawn Piech
- John Lee Ellis
- Bill Bryant
- Charlie Martin
- Chris Argo
- Gardner Duvall
- Dave Thompson
- The minutes of the October 2025 Board meeting were approved.
- The prior Board email vote approving the inclusion of climbing estimates in results for events, team events, and permanents was confirmed.
- The Treasurer submitted a written report through October. Dave confirmed that he had reviewed back-up information.
- Gardner reported that the Financial Audit Committee received the October Treasurer’s Report before the Board meeting, and made no comment about it.
- Chris made the RBA-L report. The RBA for PA:Pittsburgh is stepping down in 2026. A potential replacement was discussed. Chris has talked to approximately 10 RBAs in the last month. Chris is trying to re-establish contact with one RBA.
- A written Web Team report was submitted. Charlie discussed an ongoing major server upgrade, for which a better strategy has been adopted. The need to complete this upgrade is blocking other developments. The 2026 permanent registration process has been updated to reflect the absence of a fee for participation. Jeff Loomis has joined the Web Team.
- Charlie led a discussion about recording climbing results in 2026. An FAQ for RBAs has been developed. Charlie reached out to the Routes Team for access to their RWGPS routes in order to backfill existing elevation data where practical. That provided data for approximately 1,000 approved routes. It also surfaced some discrepancies between RWGPS files and approved routes. The process yielded good data for 573 routes, which can be used without further work when RBAs submit results for those routes. A self-service tool will allow RBAs to include a RWGPS route file along with results. Some results submission workflow changes for permanents (in particular, point-to-point routes) cannot be completed until the server upgrade progresses.
- Dawn reported that November saw the 60th edition of Between Controls. The statistics for uptake of the October edition were: 3725 sent, 79% open rate, 14% click rate, Total unsubscribed: 0, Total Click Through: 654. An increasing percentage of Between Controls are viewing it on phones. Dawn reported the increased frequency of receiving unsolicited items from the general membership to share in Between Controls (i.e., Rouleur weeks, poems, photos, etc...)
- Gardner provided a report from the Awards Review Committee. The Board confirmed that existing rubrics for awards are susceptible to changes when warranted. The Board instructed that committee to proceed to review a proposal to include permanent results as Rouleur qualifiers.
- Dawn and Bill reported for the Marketing Committee. That committee had a call, and is planning to return to the Philly Bike Expo in 2026, along with other events and initiatives to be determined. Chris Argo is going to Moab with a RUSA booth. The Committee is recruiting a new chair and/or co-chairs.
- Paul Kramer has been recruited to become the next editor of American Randonneur.
- After the ongoing Board election is completed, the process that has evolved over the last two years for electronic voting will be fully documented.
- Dave reported on his work regarding a volunteer who is dissatisfied with an RBA, and on follow-up to occur.
- Dave has received the 2025 RUSA volunteer patches and stickers, and is beginning to distribute them to RBAs and to RUSA HQ volunteers.
- The next meetings are scheduled for December 10, 2025, and January 14, 2025.
- With additional time available, the Board generally discussed whether RUSA should be promoting some awards that do not get a lot of attention, and potential incentives for a bring-along-a-friend program.
- Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:57 Eastern time, without objection.