o 3 - 5 p m : Meet & Greet Attendees Checking in at Registration
● Monday, February 16 - Thursday, February 19
o Hosting expectations
o Conference will wrap up with a Board picture at 11:45 a.m. after the general session.
● Thursday, February 19 - Saturday, February 21
o Executive Committee remains on site for Director's School immediately following the conference and wrapping up on Saturday at approximately 12 p.m.
3.2 Conference Duties
● Fundraising
o Corks and 50/50
● Networking
● Vendor acknowledgement and thank you
● Sessions
o New Attendee
o Opening General session
o General Membership meeting
o Wednesday General session
o Closing General session
3.3 Committee Reports
● Conference Education:
● Drowning Prevention:
● Governance:
● Director’s School:
● Tech School:
● Professional Development:
3.4 Sub-Committee Reports
● Member Engagement & Communication:
● Scholarship, Raffle, & Silent Auction:
● Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice:
● Research:
3.5 Committee and Sub-Committee Yearly Wrap-up
● 2025 Accomplishments
● 2025 Goals
3.6 Committee Assignments
● Executive Committee - Joey
o Strategic Plan
o Research
o DEIJ
o Policy / Advocacy
● Conference Committee - Cory
o Education
o Socials
o Volunteers
o Expo / Vendors
● Professional Development – Gwen
o Training Opportunities
o Tech School
o Director’s School
o AqP
● Member Engagement – TBD
o Social Media
o Membership
o Activities (roundtables)
● Drowning Prevention – TBD
o Education
o Fundraising
o Scholarship
o Grants
ADJORNMENT
ACTION:
Adjourn to the next Board of Directors meeting to be held on March 18, 2026, at 2:30 p m CST
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
ITEM 1.1: BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S MINUTES
DESCRIPTION: The Board of Directors meeting minutes for the regular meeting held on January 21, 2026, have been submitted for review by the AOAP Secretary on January 22, 2026. The minutes are inclusive of all items discussed during the meeting and have been submitted for the entire Board of Directors review no later than Tuesday, February 10, 2026.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the AOAP Board of Directors held on January 21, 2026.
ATTACHMENT: AOAP Board of Directors meeting minutes, January 21, 2026
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
Wednesday, January 21, 2025
Meeting Called to order at 2:33 pm Central Time
I. Roll Call-
a) Attendees: Bob Bradley (2:42 pm), Bill Fraizer, Donita Grinde-Houtman, Manda Groff, Cory Hilderbrand, Ashley Ingram, Tammy Jaster, Joey LaNeve, Helena Machado (2:50 pm), Craig Merkey, Alan Mogridge, Gwen Wilcox, Kate Connell (2:42 pm), Kirsten Barnes, Mark Basnight, Juliene Hefter
● Conference will wrap up with board pictures at 11:45 am after the general session
o Thursday Feb 19-Saturday Feb 21
● Executive Committee remains on site for Director’s School
b) Conference Reminders
o What to bring to conference: name tags, board binder, and any equipment you stored from last year's conference
o Sign Up Genius- Make sure to sign up for slots for helping at conference
o
c) Committee Changes for 2026
o The executive committee has reviewed the committees and subcommittees and revised the structure of those committees moving forward
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o 5 Core Committees; Executive Committee, Conference Committee, Professional Development, Member Engagement, and Drowning Prevention
o Committees will be led by the executive board, secretary and Treasurer
o Each committee will have sub committees underneath the main committee
o Strategic goals will be aligned with each committee area
o Board members will need to email their interest to Kirsten, and each person will be assigned to the committees that fit best with that person’s strengths
III. Committee Reports:
a) Conference Education: Gwen Wilcox and Kate Connell, Co-Chairs
o All conference sessions and responsibilities have been put in sign-up genius and that has been sent out for people to sign up.
o Need volunteers to work at the AOAP booth at conference, please let Gwen or Kate know
o Meeting Feb 4 for AOAP and NDPA room hosting information
b) Drowning Prevention: Manda Groff, Chair
o Final Blog post went live on Solo guarding
o Wrapping up for this year and finalizing the report for conference
o
c) Governance: Cory Hilderbrand, Chair
o Committee has been working on updating committee structure, conference schedule, and board retreat information
o
d) Director’s School
o No report at this time
o
e) Tech School: Bob Kappel, Chair
o Everything has mostly been finalized
o There were a couple of last-minute changes on speakers, but other than that everything is ready
o Balance of 50% hands-on and 50% lecture for this year’s conference
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o Tech school will have some topics for both years and then divided into year 1 and 2 for other lectures/activities Brad Anderson is leading level 1 and John Whitmore leading level 2
o Sponsors for shirts for all participants in tech school and they will also have an opportunity to get CEUs for each session.
f) Professional Development: Joey LaNeve, Chair
o No report at this time
o
IV. Sub-Committees Reports:
a) Member Engagement/Communication: Joey LaNeve, Chair
o Social media outline has been completed by a committee member, will review with Kirsten
o
b) Scholarship/Raffle/Silent Auction: Craig Merkey and Gwen Wilcox, Co-Chairs
o Meeting on January 13, another meeting scheduled for February
o Letter went out again to organizations who haven’t responded yet and also to those we are following up with
o Working on wine, right now we are halfway to our goal of 130 bottles, let Craig know if you are bringing wine or if you are sending money to Kirsten to have wine purchased for the cork pull
o Trying to put everything together that people will pay per item so that we can track what each item goes for and how much we bring in
o
c) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice: Kate Connell, Chair
o Final meeting at the beginning of January
o Today in the newsletter, the survey results went out in a blog post forum
o Planning a meet up at conference for committee members
o
d) Research: Nathalie Martin
o No report at this time
o
V Additions and Deletions
a) No additions or deletions
VI. Executive Director Report:
o Big Thank you to everyone for such a great year!
o We still have lots of registrations coming in
o Resort is pretty much full for most days, but we have been telling people to call and tell them you are with AOAP and they can ask to be on a waiting list
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o Worked on rates at nearby hotels as an overflow hotel for people who can’t get into the Broadmoor, about 3 5 miles away, and these are listed on the conference website
o Still negotiating items, we did get the cash bar for free
o Working with the Army to get more military people to come to the conference, this year we are expecting 11-13 with the army, and next year they are looking to send 40 or more
o Speakers and Exhibitors- making sure everyone has completed all tasks
o Working on last minute items with partner groups including United States Swim School Association
o Finalized AV and all the information for conference
o BEOs- have to approve for each day of the conference for each room
o
VII. Assistant Director Report:
o Online learning- 36 on demand webinars purchased and 1 new AqP application
o DEIJ, Professional Development, and Drowning Prevention committees are all helping review current webinars
o Working on Board Member Binders (don’t forget to bring to conference with name tag)
o Getting ready for board retreat and preparing committee applications so they will be ready for conference
o 35 new vendors this year, which is a huge number
o Updating specifications for all the rooms
o AOAP Panels are all set
o Designed name badge and will be printing onsite, meeting with Pheedloop to make sure we know what that will look like
o Signage for exhibit hall and room signage has been ordered, finalizing signage for public areas on property
o Met with all of the sponsors and speakers for all of the general sessions and socials
o Continuing to proofread printed conference guide
o Officially announced our partnership with ILCIRA, so we are taking registration for resilience first aid training, there is a discount for AOAP members
VIII. Deputy Director Report:
o Continuing to recruit more vendors and attendees
o Finalized Monday night social, if you have anything for the décor for the speakeasy, please bring to conference
o Encourages everyone to dress up for Monday night, 20s theme
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o Finalizing Tech school, continue to advertise this to increase our numbers
o We received an additional sponsor for director school
o Board members should remember to reach out to all of our sponsors and vendors to thank them and let them know our appreciation
IX. Minutes-
a) December 2025 minutes
o Motion to approve- Manda Groff
o Seconded by- Bill Fraizer
o Motion Carried- passed as written
X. Treasurer’s Report
a) All accounts were accurate and there was one update to the final workbook we received
b) December 2025 Treasure’s Reports
o Motion to approve report- Donita Grinde-Houtman
o Seconded by- Craig Merkey
o Motion passed- approved as written
XI. Adjournment
o Next meeting: Saturday, February 14, 2026, 3:00 pm in Colorado Springs, CO
Meeting adjourned at 3:13 pm CT
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
ITEM 1.2: TREASURER’S REPORT
DESCRIPTION: The January Treasurer’s Report has been prepared for review by the Board of Directors. The report shows revenues of $194,677.82 and expenditures of $79,223.00 with a balance of $115,454.82. Additionally, the overall account balance is $906,289.32.
The report is also inclusive of conference registration numbers to date.
RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Approve the December Treasurer’s Report dated January 31, 2026.
