August 18, 2025 Board Meeting

Randonneurs USA Board of Director Minutes

August 18, 2025

 

  1. Call to order: The meeting on August 18, 2025 was called to order at 8:03 p.m. Eastern time, over Zoom. The following members were present.
    1. Dawn Piech
    2. Bill Bryant
    3. Charlie Martin
    4. Chris Argo
    5. Gardner Duvall
    6. Dave Thompson
    7. John Lee Ellis
       
  2. There was a discussion about whether or not to record this meeting. Unanimous consent to record was not obtained, and the meeting was not recorded.
     
  3. The minutes of the July 2025 Board meeting were approved.
     
  4. The Treasurer submitted a written report for July. There was a discussion about the net worth of RUSA approaching $300,000.
     
  5. Gardner reported that the Financial Audit Committee received the July Treasurer’s Report before the Board meeting, and made no comment about it. Dave stated a plan to have the FAC, Treasurer and President confer before a 2026 budget is formulated.
     
  6. Chris made the RBA-L report. NY:Long Island has been revived, with events in October 2025. New RBAs were appointed for TX:Austin, IN:Indianapolis, and PA:Eastern. An application is anticipated for FL:Southern.
     
  7. Don Hamilton is prepared to run the November 2025 RUSA election. Don reported that Election Buddy has committed to the same pricing as 2024 for its services.
     
  8. A motion carried to post a statement on gender data among RUSA members, reflecting the findings of the survey to members in 2024, focus groups, and individual feedback. Publication plans were finalized.
     
  9. There was a discussion about an update of RBA Procedures developed by Bill and John Lee. A process for completing review of the update was set.
     
  10. A motion carried to approve all of the 2026 grand randonnees that had been submitted. There was a discussion about application of the Coast to Coast award in relation to route changes or name changes for grand randonnees.
     
  11. Dawn reported on the upcoming edition of Between Controls, and on the statistics for uptake of the July edition. Dawn will have a call in October with the Between Controls review team to go over suggestions, improvements, and refinements of this resource which was started in July 2021.
     
  12. A motion to approve Ultra Distance Awards for 10 years of riding at 1000k, 2000k, 3000k, 4000k, or 5000k annually carried. There was a discussion about steps needed to implement this new award.
     
  13. There was further discussion about a proposed philosophy for RUSA awards to guide the Board and the Awards Review Committee.
     
  14. Dawn continued the discussion about the RUSA presence at 2026 potential larger expositions. The Board has confirmed that the Philadelphia Bike Exposition (PBE) will be covered again on March 11-12, and plans to discuss a second option over the next few months. Dawn has a late September zoom call with some of the members present this past March at PBE to brainstorm and discuss 2026. She also discussed coming up with a survey/communication tool to share with both RBAs and members to develop expositions for the Board to consider in the future. Dawn is working on a way that members could use the materials at smaller local events and RUSA could send the booth materials to members. Dawn expressed interest in continuing to work on this once her second Board term ends in 2026.
     
  15. Dawn discussed the development of RUSA-branded gear bags with Pedal Industries and socks with Sock Guy. Dawn and Bill will be meeting with the Marketing Committee.
     
  16. The next meetings are scheduled for September 17, 2025 and October 8, 2025.
     
  17. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:04 Eastern time, without objection.