President

Jim Douglas -

To all my FBA friends, I, Jim Douglas, am nominating myself for the office of President. Since you had the confidence to initially elect me to the Board, I have had the honor of serving as a Director and now as it’s Secretary. If elected as President, I will continue to strive to help make us an even better organization. As a participating member of FBA, I am a Master Judge and a Contest Rep.

As the President is the face of FBA and as the first point of contact with the public, the President should present a positive image in representing the FBA to the public and respond to its members in a timely manner. The ideal candidate must have strong organizational skills and be able to lead and direct the other Directors in a manner which emphasizes their core strengths. I believe that your President should be a person who is always available and willing to step up and take the lead and involve the other Directors in solving problems as they are presented.

During my tenure as Secretary, I have worked very hard to bring better organization to the position by developing new reporting and tracking systems. I am proud to have brought back the programs of providing membership certificates and information to new members and procuring plaques for our Restaurant members to show our appreciation to them. After each contest, I input the data to update the Judges Standings and analyze it to see which judges need to do a team cook for their Master Judge certification. I, then, try to match them with a cook team to do their cook team requirement if they are ready to do so.

I strongly believe that it is very important for the membership to be up to date and aware of the current financial status of the FBA and the decisions of the Board. To facilitate this, I have started to prepare and send out a monthly summary of each Board of Directors meeting along with the monthly financial data.

Getting new contests is very important to keep the FBA growing. To help in this goal, I volunteered to serve as New Contest Liaison. In this capacity, I act as the first point of contact for potential new organizers who wish to have a new contest. I spend a lot of time doing the initial consultation with them and then conduct site visits to determine adequacy of the contest area.

I will be honored to elected as your President and I hope that I can count on your vote as we continue to move the FBA forward in a positive direction.

Secretary

Neil Bass - 

My name is Neil Bass and I respectfully nominate myself for the position of Secretary of the FBA for 2022.

I believe I have the talent, experience, and skills to be your Secretary, and also be an effective Board member. If elected, I will work hard and do my best to be an asset to the FBA.

In addition to performing the duties of Secretary, on the Board I plan on being focused on:

• Aggressively marketing our product, and adding contests

• Growing our Membership

• Improving the ways we engage with our Membership

Here’s my background and qualifications :

• Personal – Married to my lovely wife, Kathy, for 47 years. We have lived in Sarasota for 45 years. I am a Georgia State University graduate and Army National Guard Veteran. I have 3 dogs and 14 Weber grills.

• Professional – I am the President of Suncoast Woodworks, Inc. We own and operate Mr. Sandless franchises in Southwest Florida. We are winners of numerous Community Service Awards.

• FBA Experience – I’m an 8-year FBA Member, and Master Judge with 50+ Contests. I’m a member the Judges Committee. • Related Experience – I have been on the Board of Directors of the Tampa Bay Vizsla Club for 10 years. For the past 4 years I have been Treasurer, overseeing a membership of over 200, running Quick Books Online, and managing over $60K in TBVC assets. I was Recording Secretary for the 4 years prior to being elected Treasurer.

• I sit on the Board of Control Growth Now, a large community group that promotes sensible land use and development in Sarasota County. Over my 20 + years on the CGN Board, I have served as Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.

Thank you for your consideration. I would very much appreciate your vote and support.

Smoke on... 

Director at Large

John Solomon - 

Hello everyone I am John Solomon I am nominating myself for reelection to the Florida BBQ Association’s Board of Directors. I have served on the board for three years. We have seen some difficult times in the past year and a half. I am proud I have been a part of the board that faced these tough times and continued to see contests being held because of the quick thinking and detailed contest rules. While many events all over the country were having to cancel the FBA was able to hold contests in a safe and efficient way. I am hoping to continue to serve as one of the at-large spots on the board. In the future I hope to see the FBA grow into being considered one of the best, if not the best BBQ competition circuits in the nation. That only becomes a reality with the help of our teams and judges. One of my goals is promotion of the FBA in the general public sector. By developing more of a following we are able to add more teams, judges and contests into our membership. I am moving forward of having an Organizers Committee where all of us can support one another and discuss what makes each contest different but also feed off of each other to see what works best. All of the organizers have constant contact with teams, judges and reps by taking this information and sharing it we can make all the contests better. I have also been willing and will continue to assist any organizer with questions and advice for contests.

If not known, I am an FBA BBQ Cook Team (that doesn’t get to cook much anymore) 10-4 BBQ I am also the organizer of the Apalachicola contest Butts & Clucks Cook-off on the Bay. One of our slogans is we are a competitors contest; we are also a judges contest as well. We strive to makes sure each Judge, Team and Rep enjoy their time here in Apalachicola. Recently Butts & Clucks won a Florida Association of Chambers Communication award for the promotion of the event.

Away from the FBA board I am the Executive Director of the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce, Director of the Franklin County Tourist Development Council and President of the Florida Seafood Festival. I am a father of 2 and husband to my awesome, understanding and patient wife Penny.

I ask for you to allow me to continue to represent you on the Florida BBQ Association Board of Directors and ask for your vote in this upcoming election. I promise to work hard in the promotion and growth of the FBA.

Director at Large

Dave Stockman -

My name is Dave Stockman and I am self-nominating myself for the Florida BBQ Association’s Director at Large position for 2022. I am a Master Judge and currently a member in good standing of our IT Committee and would like to expand my involvement in the leadership aspect of the association.

One of the last positions I held in a Fortune 500 Company, was Director of IT Business Development and Process Improvement. I believe I can bring a strong skill set to the table that will help manage operational issues, provide support to top levels of management, and develop models that can sustain our organization for years to come.

I have enjoyed judging over the past several years. I would now like the opportunity to give back to the FBA. I believe the Director at Large position will allow me to serve in a capacity that I am qualified to hold as we move the FBA forward.
It would be an honor to work with the membership / leadership of the FBA. I would appreciate your vote and promise dedication and hard work during the term.

Director at Large