Board of Directors August Meeting Agenda Wednesday, August 19, 2026 2:30-3:30 p.m. CST ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Lyncee Bowman Kevin Goodrich Donita Grinde-Houtman Manda Groff Cory Hilderbrand SJ Idel Ashley Ingram Tammy Jaster Joey LaNeve Helena Machado Alan Mogridge
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
● Stephane Rebeck _____ ● Gwen Wilcox _____ ● Katie Paul _____ Ex Officio Members ● Kate Connell (DEIJ Liaison) _____ ● Bob Kappel (Exhibitor Liaison) _____ ● Nathalie Martin (Rsrch Liaison) _____ ● Juliene Hefter (Exec. Dir/CEO _____ ● Kirsten Barnes (Asst. Dir) _____ ● Mark Basnight (Deputy Dir) _____ ● Maria Anderson ______
ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS ● ILCIRA Presentation - Tyler Anderson ANNOUNCEMENTS/COMMITTEE REPORTS/COMMITTEE UPDATES ● Committee Reports ● Executive Committee – Joey oStrategic Plan oResearch oDEIJ oPolicy/Advocacy ● Conference Committee – Cory oEducation oSocials oVolunteers
oExpo/Vendors ● Professional Development – Gwen oTraining oTech School oDirector’s School oAqP ● Member Engagement - Ashley oSocial Media oMembership oActivities ● Drowning Prevention - Manda oEducation oFundraising/Scholarship oGrants ● Announcements
DIRECTOR REPORTS 2.1Executive Director 2.2Assistant Director 2.3Deputy Director 2.4Operations Manager
BOARD BUSINESS 3.1MINUTES ACTION: Approve the minutes of regular meeting of the AOAP Board of Directors held on June 1 , 2026 3.2TREASURER’S REPORT ACTION: Approve the May Treasurer’s Report dated July, 2026
ADJORNMENT
ACTION: Adjourn to the next Board of Directors meeting to be held on September 16 at 2:30 p.m. CST via Zoom.
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS ITEM 1.1:
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
DESCRIPTION:
The Executive Committee is led by the AOAP President and is inclusive of the Strategic Plan, Research, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion/Justice, and Policy/Advocacy work groups. Monthly updates are provided by the President on the progress of each work group and goals accomplished during the previous month
UPDATES:
Executive Committee ● Board ballots ● Fundraising ● Water Safety partnerships Strategic Plan: Research: DEIJ: Policy/Advocacy:
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS ITEM 1.1:
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
DESCRIPTION:
The Conference Committee is led by the AOAP Past President and is inclusive of the Education, Conference Socials, Volunteers, and Exposition/Vendors work groups. Monthly updates are provided by the Past President on the progress of each work group and goals accomplished during the previous month.
UPDATES:
Education: Applications closed last week and evaluations will be starting. Socials: Location for Wednesday social has been confirmed. Volunteers: no update Expo/Vendors: no update
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS ITEM 1.1:
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
DESCRIPTION:
The Professional Development Committee is led by the AOAP Incoming President and is inclusive of the Training, Tech School, Director’s School, and AqP work groups. Monthly updates are provided by the Incoming President on the progress of each work group and goals accomplished during the previous month.
UPDATES:
Training/ AqP: 1. The Professional Development Committee met on August 18th. We followed up on the webinars and blogs for the committee. The committee also continued reviewing webinars on the Learnupon platform and reviewing the AqP tests for accuracy and current information. Our deadline for submitting comments for the AqP test is August 31st.
Tech School: 1. Tech School- All committee tasks completed. Everything is aligned for the conference.
Director’s School: 1. Information for the Director’s School Workbooks is being collected. will be collected in a few months.
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS ITEM 1.1:
DROWNING PREVENTION COMMITTEE
DESCRIPTION
The Drowning Prevention Committee is led by the AOAP Treasurer and is inclusive of the Education, Fundraising/Scholarship, and Grant work groups. Monthly updates are provided by the Treasurer on the progress of each work group and goals accomplished during the previous month.
UPDATES:
Education: Committee Meeting: August 11, 2026 Members in attendance: JJ Millar, Manda Groff, Alan Mogridge, SJ Idel, Kevin Goodrich, Amanda Payne, Andrew Caraway, James Meyers, Mary Welton, Meghan H, Esther Gagawala Excused: Alan Mogridge Goals: Blog-SJ and Alan-Childcare Facilities Childcare facilities and lifeguarding regulations. Unguarded facilities, staff lifeguards, contracting lifeguards. Educating the childcare facilities about the risks and only taking their program to fully guarded facilities. Highlight our tools that we developed as a committee. SJ and Alan have begun to draft this BLOG and have signed up for the June 12 Blog postdate. Plan to have it ready for review by May 22. Final draft submitted for review May 29. GOAL COMPLETE! Blog-James and Mary- State Code vs. Best Practices and requirements from certifying agencies. Perspective of ‘I’m not required to do this vs. but should I do this.’ And how the regulations, if there are any, are not the standard we should have for operations. James Myers will be developing this blog. Draft started-may be developed into webinar or blog series Update 8.11: No update -sub committee members not present. AOAP DPC SOP-Manda and Alan E-mailed to begin discussion, will be scheduling a work session soon. Update: August 8: Draft in review, follow up meeting soon Long-Term Goal-Conversation with Mary about how Cal is structured Mary is going to follow up with a report-was having technical difficulties. Update 8.11: No update -subcommittee members not present.
Webinar-Single Guard conversation-Mary to reach out to Craig, Dewey, Wes and Lindsey-mirror panel discussion from conference Mary reached out to Craig to start the conversation. She hadn’t heard back yet, but will follow up again. Mid-term Goal-SJ-Esther, JJ, Meghan, Amanda-Evaluate Grant Packet Questions and scoring and process Information Will have the updated packet back by August. We will be requesting that the portal be closed for applications until the packet is updated. Will re-open once packet is updated. Update: 8.11-Began discussions. Meeting set to continue assessing and submitting changes. PSA-Flyer-Kevin and JJ-Compression only CPR vs. Traditional CPR No update, Kevin and JJ were excused from the meeting. Update: 8.11- Meet to discuss, no physical work yet. JJ and Kevin to set a meeting date. October-mock up for flyer. Action Items-E-mail meeting notes, New Business: Discussed reviewing the 2 statements and sent to the committee. We will review any suggestions at the next DPC meeting in August. Update: 8.11-above our scope to make recommendations. ● ●
Policy Statement Technical Statement
Fundraising/Scholarship: No Report Grants: Packets received, ranking to commence this week. Will award next week!
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS ITEM 3.1:
BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S MINUTES
DESCRIPTION:
The Board of Directors meeting minutes for the regular meeting held on June 17, 2026, have been submitted for review by the AOAP Secretary on July 7, 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 Friday, August 14, 2026.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the AOAP Board of Directors held on June 17, 2026.
ATTACHMENT:
AOAP Board of Directors meeting minutes, June 17, 2026.
Board of Directors Meeting Notes Wednesday, June 17, 2026 Meeting Called to order at 2:35 pm Central Time I.
II.
Roll Calla) Attendees: Lyncee Bowman, Kevin Goodrich, Donita Grinde-Houtman, Manda Groff, Cory Hilderbrand, Tammy Jaster, Joey LaNeve, Helana Machado, Alan Mogridge, Stephane Rebeck, Gwen Willcox, Katie Paul, Kirsten Barnes, Nathalie Martin, Juliene Hefter, Mark Basnight, Maria Andersen b) Excused: Bob Kappel, Kate Connell, c) Not Present: SJ Idel, Ashley Ingram ( left at 2:45 pm) Committee Reports: a) Executive Committee-Joey o Joey met with other executive committee members to go over where we are with the strategic plan and make sure we were working on at least the short term goals. o Strategic Plan: ● Touched based with all members the week of 6-8-26; went over progress of goals. o Research: ● Meeting with committee members June 5- clarified the 4 pillars ● Committee solidified sub working groups in alignment with 4 pillars; will meet again in September ● Position paper on drowning terminology o DEIJ: ● No update at this time o Policy/Advocacy: ● No update at this time b) Conference Committee-Cory o Education: ● Held kick-off meeting to discuss expectations, needs, and timeline ● Put out additional calls for volunteers for committee ● Working on getting submissions through social media, webinar, blog post o Socials: ● Staff is continuing to work on securing a location for the Wednesday event. Once confirmed, we will finalize themes and engage the volunteers to assist with planning o Volunteers:
Board of Directors Meeting Notes ● No update at this time o Expo/Vendors: ● No update at this time c) Professional Development- Gwen o Training● Met via teams on June 16th with the board members to nail down webinar topics, speakers, and dates. Productive meeting and made a lot of progress ● Working on reviewing webinars and AqP test, taking the month of July off and will pick back up in August/September. o Tech School● Finalizing the last 3 speakers contact information and will send roster to Kirsten ● Reached out to everyone on the tech school instructor list o Director school● Speakers have been completed and the schedule confirmed and Kirsten is reaching out to speakers. ● Marketing for the renaming of Director’s school to Craig A Merkey Director’s School for Aquatic Leadership has been launched. o AqP● During the Professional Development Committee meeting, we discussed progress on reviewing the AqP test for accuracy and current practices. Reviews will increase after the summer months when committee members have more time available. ● Juliene and Kirsten are discussing revamping the AqP process. d) Member Engagement- Ashley o Social Media: ● Committee met June 16 and talked through trends we want to do. ● Working on the next trend “Aquatics is not just 9-5” send pictures of your watch in front of the pool during odd hours ● Finishing up the pass the phone trend; will get this ready for posting ● Memorial day post, day in the life of a lifeguard- had tons of engagement and shares. o Membership:
Board of Directors Meeting Notes ● Membership work group meeting was held on June 10th addressed 3 topics- Single lifeguard facility 3 questions to be asked, target groups in membership and ways to reach them, and specific strategies to reach non pool people, collegiate people, and young professionals (middle management). Also discussed scholarship opportunities for young professionals to be conference interns to help with workload of conference. ● Came up a list of benefits for AOAP members and discussed Shop AOAP booth at conference o Activities: ● Met with board members for member engagement on June 16th to discuss roundtables and lack of engagement. Suggestions included: Change of time, less frequent roundtables, getting questions in advance through social media, and more controversial topics. e) Drowning Prevention- Manda o Education: ● Submitted final draft for Childcare Facilities and Lifeguarding regulations blog and it is live. ● First draft of State Code vs. Best Practices blog was submitted and is a lot of information (3600 words) so this might be routed to either a webinar or a blog series ● Working on midterm goal of developing SOP for committee, draft was started ● Starting discussion on putting together something similar to WLS but on drowning prevention day ● Working on Single guard conversation webinar, a continuation from the panel discussion at conference ● Evaluating the grant packet questions-will be updated and ready for review by August ● Discussed policy statement and technical statement and will be rolling this out to committee in August o Fundraising/Scholarship: ● No update at this time o Grants: ● No update at this time III.
Announcements
Board of Directors Meeting Notes IV. V.
VI.
VII.
a) Additions and Deletions a) Reminder, skipping July Meeting. Committee Reports are still due Executive Director Report: o Juliene and Kirsten were able to do the site visit in Reno at the beginning of June and it went really well. They are doing a lot of work on the property, and some will be completed before we get there o Working with Paddock on UPC conference and getting everything set up o Went over all the AV needed for the site, came in under $34k o Expo hall- GSR was going to do it on site, but due to problems they are not able to. We are using alliance for 2027 and 2030 (they are doing 2028,29, and 31 also) o Able to negotiate all the electronic signage o Working on a big additional partner, will be able to bring it up by the next meeting. The agreement is pretty close to being completed o Working on the AquaTech program, starting the review of this program and seeing what might be needed o Created several position papers over the past few weeks Assistant Director Report: o IACET has been finalized and resubmitted-they will review and set up a meeting. o Launched the podcast last month, and released episodes this month and have some additional episodes releasing every 2 weeks o Continuing working on updating SEO throughout the website o There is now a template for position papers o Would like to eventually packet those position papers as a best practice document o Online learning, AqP renewals, and live courses coming in o Updating the conference guides as sponsorships continuing to come in o 3 of our 4 featured speakers confirmed, still working on Wednesday general session, Opening and closing sessions are done, lagging a little behind on session submittals o RFP was sent out for a new conference photographer, 30 people responded, 6 interviews for potential photographers o Began socializing the RFP for 2032 o Email was sent out to comment on the social post coming out tomorrow o Deputy Director Report:
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
VIII.
o Working on increasing vendors to 150, inviting new people, reaching out to contacts o Finished Tech School, excited about the line up o $218k in sponsorships so far and we hope to see increase significantly o Working on launching first podcast Operations Manager Report: o Learning a lot, working a lot with Kirsten o Working on AOAP weekly o A lot of registrations coming in o Sending out reminder emails to those expiring in membership o Updating buyer guide
IX.
Minutesa) May 2026 minutes o Motion to approve- Manda Groff o Seconded by- Cory Hilderbrand o Motion Carried- passed as written X. Treasurer’s Report a) Manda logged in and confirmed all accounts were accurate as reported b) May 2026 Treasure’s Report o Motion to approve report-Donita Grinde-Houtman o Seconded by- Gwen Wilcox o Motion passed- approved as written XI. Update to Policy on Contractual Authority a) Approve updated language in the contractual Policy permitting the Assistant Director (Kirsten Barnes) to sign agreements on behalf of AOAP. o Motion to approve updated language- Cory Hilderbrand o Seconded by- Donita Grinde-Houtman o All in favor- motion carried XII. Adjournment o Next meeting: Wednesday, August 19, 2026, 2:30 pm CST o Motion to adjourn- Manda Groff o Second to adjourn- Stephane Rebeck o All in favor of adjournment- everyone in agreement Meeting adjourned at 3:19 pm CT
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS ITEM 3.2:
TREASURER’S REPORT
DESCRIPTION:
The June and July Treasurer’s Report has been prepared for review by the Board of Directors. The report shows revenues of $615,468.63 and expenditures of $411,439.09 with a balance of $204,029.54. Additionally, the overall account balance is $1,036,406.85.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the June Treasurer’s Report dated June 30, 2026, and the July Treasurer’s Report dated July 31, 2026.
ATTACHMENTS: 1. June 2026 Treasurer’s Report 2. July 2026 Treasurer’s Report 3. 2026 Budget Workbook Report
� AOAP MONTHLY BUDGET REPORT Report Month: June 2026 � Registration Summary Metric Count Total Membership Total Conference Registrants Pre/Post-Conference Registrations Technician School Director’s School Partner Groups Exhibitors
2,180 8
Booths: 61
Employees: 2
� Banking Account Overview Primary Operating Account Amount – 2026 to date Revenue Expenses Current Balance
$560,123.86 $319,507.63 $240,616.23
Credit Card Accounts = $0 balance � Revenue - Banking Account Total (Year to Date: January 1 – June 30, 2026) Checking Drennen’s Dreams Life Jacket/Swim Lesson Grants Kathie Luecker Scholarship Fund CDs & Bank of America Savings Account
� Total Current Assets:
� Certificate of Deposit (CD) Accounts CD Account #1 – Academy Bank Current Balance: Maturity Date: (New) Interest Rate:
CD Account #2 – Bank of America
Current Balance: Maturity Date: New Maturity Date as of 5/19/26 Interest Rate: Savings Account:
Report prepared on: June 30, 2026
$508,310.28 $ 24,268.94 $ 21,544.18 $479,619.78 $1,033,743.18
$240,268.83 1/10/27 4.1%
$239,350.95 12/19/26 (7 months) 3.25% (APY 3.30%) $100.00
| Prepared by: _____________________
� AOAP MONTHLY BUDGET REPORT Report Month: July 2026 � Registration Summary Metric Count Total Membership Total Conference Registrants Printed Booklet Pre/Post-Conference Registrations Technician School Director’s School Partner Groups Exhibitors
2,076 17 2 1 1 Booths: 61
Employees: 2
� Banking Account Overview Primary Operating Account Amount – 2026 to date Revenue Expenses Current Balance
$615,468.63 $411,439.09 $204,029.54
Credit Card Accounts = $0 balance � Revenue - Banking Account Total (Year to Date: January 1 – July 31, 2026) Checking Drennen’s Dreams Life Jacket/Swim Lesson Grants Kathie Luecker Scholarship Fund CDs & Bank of America Savings Account
� Total Current Assets:
� Certificate of Deposit (CD) Accounts CD Account #1 – Academy Bank Current Balance: Maturity Date: (New) Interest Rate:
CD Account #2 – Bank of America
Current Balance: Maturity Date: New Maturity Date as of 5/19/26 Interest Rate: Savings Account:
Report prepared on: July 31, 2026
$510,334.23 $ 24,268.94 $ 21,544.54 $480,259.14 $1,036,406.85
$240,268.83 1/10/27 4.1%
$239,990.31 12/19/26 (7 months) 3.25% (APY 3.30%) $100.00
| Prepared by: _____________________
c
2026 Final Budget Income Expenses
Estimated
Actual
Difference
$866,250.00) $865,770.00)
$615,468.63) $411,439.09)
($250,781.37) ($454,330.91)
$480.00)
$204,029.54)
$203,549.54)
Balance (Income - Expenses)
REVENUES - ACTUAL vs. BUDGET YTD G/L Code
Account Title
110)
Membership Fees
210)
Conference - Registration
220)
Conference - Workshops
230)
Conference - CEUs
240) 250)
2026 Budget
% to Goal
$32,245.79)
$60,000.00)
53.74%
$170,680.52)
$300,000.00)
56.89%
$6,355.56)
$5,000.00)
127.11%
$0.00)
$0.00)
#DIV/0!
Conference - Partner Groups
$66,003.37)
$80,000.00)
82.50%
Conference - Fundraisers
$17,706.00)
$14,000.00)
126.47%
250)
Conference Sponsorships
$140,272.14)
$150,000.00)
93.51%
260)
Conference - Cash Back & Credits
$9,870.00)
$4,000.00)
246.75%
310)
Expo - Exhibitor Registrations
$107,926.00)
$146,500.00)
73.67%
$0.00)
$0.00)
0.00%
330)
Golf Tournament Registrations Golf Tournament - Sponsors
410)
Webinars
420)
AqP
510)
Advertising
520)
Job Postings
530) 610)
320)
Actual
$0.00)
$0.00)
0.00%
$3,795.00)
$7,000.00)
54.21%
$2,730.00)
$3,000.00)
91.00%
$24,731.75)
$50,000.00)
49.46%
$4,801.00)
$12,000.00)
40.01%
Endorsements
$10,332.19)
$13,000.00)
79.48%
$1,851.37)
$5,000.00)
37.03%
620)
610 Credit Card and Other Rebates Interest & Dividends
$1.66)
$12,000.00)
710)
Donations
$13,765.65)
$4,000.00)
810
Retail Sales
$40.85)
$500.00)
8.17%
910
Misc
$2,359.78)
$250.00)
943.91%
$615,468.63
$866,250.00
71.05%
Total
ACTUAL vs. BUDGET YTD
344.14%
YEAR
G/L Code
Account Title
Actual
Budget
% Used
1000)
Personnel Expenses
$233,488.09)
$389,800.00)
59.90%
2000)
Professional Services
$21,855.16)
$37,300.00)
58.59%
3000)
Office Expenses
$15,078.82)
$36,425.00)
41.40%
4000)
Marketing & Advertising
$31,230.01)
$17,500.00)
178.46%
5000)
Education
$600.00)
$6,495.00)
9.24%
6000)
Conference & Exposition
$90,835.92)
$338,750.00)
26.82%
7000)
Grants
$4,405.86)
$10,000.00)
44.06%
8000)
Travel
$12,958.47)
$12,000.00)
107.99%
9000)
Misc
Total
$986.76)
$17,500.00)
5.64%
$411,439.09
$865,770.00
47.52%
Budget History 2024
2025
Income
($
2021 426,585.60) ($
2022 494,779.82) ($
2023 672,029.98)
$852,573.51
$1,085,511.14
Expenses
($
343,137.93) ($
430,844.44) ($
594,608.93)
798,474.78
1,001,247.37
Balance (Income - Expenses)
($
83,447.67) ($
63,935.38) ($
77,421.05) ($
54,098.73) ($
84,263.77)