Randonneurs USA Board of Director Minutes

January 14, 2026

1. Call to order: The meeting on January 14, 2026 was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, over Zoom. The following members were present:
   
   1. Dawn Piech
   2. John Lee Ellis
   3. Charlie Martin
   4. Chris Argo
   5. Dave Thompson
   6. Emily O’Brien
   7. Noah Swartz
2. New officers were elected for the 2026 year
   
   1. Dave Thompson was elected as President
   2. Dawn Piech was elected as VP
   3. Noah Swartz was elected as Secretary
   4. Lois Springsteen was elected as Treasurer
3. The minutes of the December 2025 Board meeting were approved
4. Dave presented the December treasurer’s report
   
   1. Dave reported that there was a small discrepancy between two financial reports due to the timing of when they were run
      
      1. Dave has asked Lois to re-review the numbers
      2. Dave requested an additional board member be familiar with and review financial reports, Chris offered his assistance
5. Dave presented the Financial Audit Committee report
   
   1. Chris will join the committee
6. A motion was made and passed on declaring November and December of 2023 a dead zone for 2023 and 2024 Audax Club Parisien (ACP) Super Randonneur (SR) awards
7. Dave noted the difference between the Brevet des Randonneurs Mondiaux (BRM) calendar for Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) qualification and the Super Randonneur (SR) period - notably that BRM is Nov - Oct and SR is calendar year
   
   1. A note was made to make sure that ample documentation and notification was available to members in the lead up to PBP 2027
8. A motion was made and passed to waive the cost for members for the Lepertel, ACP 5000, ACP 10000 awards indefinitely
   
   1. Dave led a discussion explaining the rationale - which is that the cost is associated with the application to the ACP and mailing of the award (approximately $10).  In the past members have applied for the awards but not purchased or eschewed purchasing due to cost or not understanding the process. Since the total number of applicants is minimal,  RUSA it feels appropriate for RUSA to just cover the cost.
   2. A short discussion was held about how to facilitate this to ensure that the webstore creates orders for all members who should receive this award and that their addresses are up to date.
   3. A note was taken to update the documentation on the RUSA site for these awards and to make sure the process is set in place for creating orders for awardees
9. Chris Argo presented the RBA Liaison update
   
   1. It was reported that December has been a quiet month, and Chris expects to have more updates once RBAs run their first events in January.
   2. Chris and Dave have been in touch with all RBAs, including a few who they were having trouble getting in contact with at the end of 2025
   3. Chris is planning to continue to hold round table discussions for RBAs - this year he plans to focus these discussions on specific topics in an effort to reach solid conclusions and cover more topics than if these meetings lacked a focus.
10. Dawn presented the Marketing team report
    
    1. The marketing team has written up a roadmap for 2026 which has been shared with the board
    2. The marketing committee will seek to recruit more volunteers which may include requests to specific members or calls for volunteers in Between Controls and American Randonneur
    3. Ted Fay has helped the marketing team with Google Analytics on the RUSA page, and the marketing team will continue to make use of his assistance.
11. Dawn reported on a meeting the previous week with a number of marketing committee members and volunteers who assist with the RUSA Instagram
    
    1. The marketing committee feels well supported on the instagram and wants to codify some of the advice from more experienced individuals in a format that can be used by newer volunteers, and recommends creating a video with tips and standards
    2. It was recommended to create a new intake form for people to submit content to the instagram account, the specifics are still being ironed out, but the board is supportive and Noah and Emily will work with Dawn and the marketing team to come up with a process.
12. Dawn discussed the Expos planned for 2026
    
    1. RUSA will have a booth at the Philly Bike Expo in March
    2. The board will decide on a second expo to attend in 2026 and discussed the possibility of attending a West Coast expo in the fall
    3. The marketing team will work to create a library of RUSA promotional items such as posters or table displays that can be lent to local clubs to bring to various events, Dawn is working on a streamlined process for furnishing these items.
13. John Lee and Charlie presented the Web Team report
    
    1. December has been a very productive month with numerous bug fixes, including the resumption of bugzilla ticket links in emails
    2. The Website Wishlist survey went out to members and the web team has received some good feedback
    3. Climbing tabulation for events and riders is rolled out
    4. Results plotting has rolled out
    5. A new visualization for American Explorer awards has been developed and will be published soon
    6. The web team is working on a number of infrastructural improvements including upgrading OS and package versions as well as some easy wins for site stability - the progress has been slow but steady
    7. The web team also plans to improve the membership and registration workflow this year, targeting improvements before Philadelphia Bike Expo (PBE)
14. The board discussed and voted on the recipient of the 2025 American Randonneur Award
    
    1. A motion was made and passed to select Rob Hawks as the recipient, and a write up will be included in the next issue of American Randonneur
15. Management of committee communications and membership was discussed
16. Dawn updated the board on Between Controls
    
    1. The January issue will be sent the day following the board meeting
    2. It was decided to include lapsed RUSA members in future mailings of Between Controls so as to avoid yearly churn and encourage people to renew their membership. 
17. The board discussed the 2025 and 2026 goals for RUSA
    
    1. The 2025 goals will be polished, rated, and finalized before the next board meeting and will be shared in the February-March issue of Between Controls
    2. The board will work to develop a set of goals for 2026 and bring them to the next meeting
18. Dave discussed the creation of a small committee to discuss membership and outreach initiatives
19. The next meeting is scheduled for February 18th, 2026
20. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time