- Reminder, skipping July Meeting. Committee Reports still due.
DIRECTOR REPORTS
2.1 Executive Director
2.2 Assistant Director 2.3 Deputy Director BOARD BUSINESS
3.1 MINUTES
ACTION:
Approve the minutes of regular meeting of the AOAP Board of Directors held on May 20, 2026
3.2 TREASURER’S REPORT
ACTION:
Approve the May Treasurer’s Report dated May, 2026
3.3 Update to Policy on Contractual Authority
ACTION:
Approve updated language in the Contractual Authority Policy permitting the Assistant Director (Kirsten Barnes) to sign agreements on behalf of AOAP.
ADJORNMENT
ACTION:
Adjourn to the next Board of Directors meeting to be held on August 19 at 2:30 p.m. CST via Zoom.
ITEM
1.1:
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
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:
Strategic Plan:
- Touchbase scheduled with all members of Exec committee week of 6/8/26
Research:
- Meeting 6/5
- Committee solidified sub-working groups in alignment with 4 pillars.
- Position paper on drowning terminology
DEIJ:
- No update. Next Meeting July 8th
Policy/Advocacy:
- No updates
ITEM 1.1:
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
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:
1. Held kick-off meeting to discuss expectations, needs, and timeline
2. Put out additional calls for volunteers for committee
3. Working on getting submissions through social media, webinar, blog post
Socials: Staff is continuing to work on securing a location for the Wednesday event. Once confirmed, we’ll finalize themes for Monday and Wednesday night and engage the volunteers to assist with planning.
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:
1. Met via Teams on June 16th with the Board Members, the following topics were discussed:
2. Progress on reviewing webinars, more sign-ups for reviewing webinars will happen after the summer months, when committee members have more time available.
3. Discussed Webinar and Blog topics and identified speakers. The next step will be to secure the speakers and a date for their submission
4. Tech School:
1. Tech School- Finalizing the last three presenters' contact information. Speaker roster will be sent to Kirsten by 6/19.
2. Vendor Liaison- No updates at this time
Director’s School:
1. Speakers have been completed and the schedule confirmed. Kirsten is reaching out to speakers.
2. Marketing for the renaming of the Director’s school to Craig A Merkey Director’s School for Aquatic Leadership has been launched.
1. 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.
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
ITEM 1.1: MEMBER ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE
DESCRIPTION: The Member Engagement Committee is led by the AOAP Secretary and is inclusive of the Social Media, Membership, and Activities work groups. Monthly updates are provided by the Secretary on the progress of each work group and goals accomplished during the previous month.
UPDATES:
Social Media: Social Media workgroup has been working on more social media content. Upcoming meeting Tuesday, June 16th
Membership: Membership workgroup meeting was held Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Stephane will update us at board meeting
Activities: Meeting is schedule with Member Engagement board members for Tuesday, June 16th to discuss round tables lack of engagement. A meeting will be scheduled in July with the activities work group.
ITEM 1.1:
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
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: June 9, 2026
Members in attendance: JJ Millar, Manda Groff, Alan Mogridge, SJ Idel, Kevin Goodrich-excused, Amanda Payne, Andrew Caraway, James Meyers, Mary Welton, Meghan H, Esther Gagawala
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
AOAP DPC SOP-Manda and Alan E-mailed to begin discussion, will be scheduling a work session 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.
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.
PSA-Flyer-Kevin and JJ-Compression only CPR vs. Traditional CPR No update, Kevin and JJ were excused from the meeting.
Meeting Frequency-Every other month, second Tuesday of each month, 2:00pm
Action Items-E-mail meeting notes, e-mail goals worksheet, e-mail grant questions, Sub-committee leads-schedule your meetings.
New Business: Discussed reviewing the 2 statements and sent to the committee. We will review any suggestions at the next DPC meeting in August.
● Policy Statement
● Technical Statement
Fundraising/Scholarship: No Report
Grants: No report
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 May 20, 2026, have been submitted for review by the AOAP Secretary on June 3, 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, June 11, 2026.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the AOAP Board of Directors held on May 20, 2026.
ATTACHMENT: AOAP Board of Directors meeting minutes, May 20, 2026.
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Meeting Called to order at 2:33 pm Central Time
I. Roll Call-
a) Attendees: Lyncee Bowman, Kevin Goodrich, Donita Grinde-Houtman, Manda Groff, Cory Hilderbrand, SJ Idel, Ashley Ingram, Joey LaNeve, Alan Mogridge, Stephane Rebeck, Gwen Willcox, Kate Connell, Kirsten Barnes, Nathalie Martin, Juliene Hefter, Mark Basnight, Maria Andersen
b) Excused: Bob Kappel
c) Not Present: Tammy Jaster, Helena Machado
II. Committee Reports:
a) Executive Committee-Joey
o Executive Committee has been going back and forth with NDPA to adjust our agreement Hopefully will have a signed agreement by Friday.
o Strategic Plan:
● No update at this time
o Research:
o DEIJ:
● No update at this time
● No update at this time
o Policy/Advocacy:
● No update at this time
b) Conference Committee-Cory
o Education:
● No update at this time
o Socials:
● No update at this time
o Volunteers:
● No update at this time
o Expo/Vendors:
● No update at this time
c) Professional Development- Gwen
o Training-
● Met on May 19th with the board members to discuss topic areas that our membership has expressed a need to cover and how we can use those topics to determine our blog and webinar topics
● Submitted additional questions for the survey for the Mid-year training that was sent out after the training
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
● Determined who would be reviewing webinars that are currently on the platform; those members will be registering soon to review webinars
●
o Tech School-
● We have the agenda completed and all speakers are confirmed
● Everything should be complete by June, and then they will start the process of getting the speakers to register and submit proposals
o Director school-
● Planning for next year’s Director’s School has begun, and speakers will be finalized in the upcoming month.
● Not a lot of changes, just fine tuning everything for this upcoming year
o AqP-
● AqP will be part of the Professional Development Committee’s responsibilities We plan to review the AqP test questions and update any that are out of date
d) Member Engagement- Ashley
o Social Media:
● Committee has met twice, they did a post on May 1, that was well engaged
● Working on a few other ideas to continue as well and our goal right now is to get 2 “fun posts” out per month
● The engagement stats are looking good
● We need more people to sign up for the take over social media post
o Membership:
● No update at this time
o Activities:
● No update at this time
e) Drowning Prevention- Manda
o Education:
● No meeting was held in May for committee, but the sub committees have been working on things
● SJ and Alan have begun to draft a blog post on Childcare facilities and Lifeguard Regulations to go out on June 12.
● Manda and Alan are in the process of scheduling work sessions for the AOAP DPC SOP
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o Fundraising/Scholarship:
o Grants:
● No update at this time
● No update at this time
III. Announcements
a) Mid-year Management Training Recap
o 14 organizations signed up, 2 others have purchased the recording
o The recording can be purchased to view with team, and everyone who watches it has access to the quiz to get CEUs
o The evaluations are coming in and will update on that next month
b) Thank you Kevin and Stephane for helping with the weekly Newsletter
IV. Additions and Deletions
a) Renaming of Director School- “The Craig A Merkey Director’s School for Aquatic Leadership”
o Motion to the renaming of Director’s School in honor of Craig: Donita Grinde-Houtman
o Seconded by: Cory Hilderbrand
o All in favor: agreement was unanimous
b) July Meeting- Skip monthly meeting but all committees will still provide updates by July 8, 2026
o Motion to not have a board meeting in July: Manda Groff
o Seconded by: Ashley Ingram
o All in favor: all in agreement
V. Executive Director Report:
o Juliene redid the whole website, some things were renamed or moved or combined. Wanted a fresh, professional look that was easier to navigate. Kirsten will be adding images and working on the blogs for the website.
o Grand Sierra- site visit in June by Juliene and Kirsten. We will have bigger rooms and double rooms for more space for conference.
o Potential partnership with Speedway Benefits
o Working on a huge partnership, hopefully will be able to announce by next month
o Bank of America CD was rolled into a 7-month CD at 3.25%, the other CD doesn’t come up until next January
o Aquatics International, Gary Carr is no longer with them, Kenilworth publishing took over about 6 months ago and they started letting people go.
o
VI. Assistant Director Report:
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o Went to the Nevada State Show in April, it was really nice
o Intro episodes to the podcast went up April 29 and then 2 more episodes dropped Will be dropping more episodes every 2 weeks
o Still working on IACETT, hopefully before next month it will be submitted.
o Online learning- $1500 in sales, no new AqP applicants, but we did have AqP renewals, goal for summer is to promote Aqp and figure out how we can get more new designations
o Live webinar on April 28, and mid-year training
o Conference- first conference guide went out on May 8, and will continue to update as we get socials, keynote and end note speakers The big update will go out once we get conference sessions picked out.
o Sponsorships- Just over $180K in sponsorship, and we have verbal commitments for $24K more in sponsorships, will hopefully get agreements on that soon
o Working on the Featured speakers list, need to add a couple of more
o Session proposals are a little behind, but Maria is getting an eblast ready to go out to past speakers
VII. Deputy Director Report:
o Completed tech school, really excited about this year’s school
o Chemtrol is going to continue their sponsorship this year
o Continuing working on additional sponsorships
o Completed first podcast and got to work on that with Bob Kappel
o Continuing to pursue additional vendors for Reno
VIII. Operations Manager Report:
o Maria has been working hard, lots of learning over the past month,.
o Working on updating forms for website, an e-blast about past speakers, and contacting venues for the socials and working on getting other things ready for the social in February.
o Processing memberships as they come in and helping with AOAP weekly
IX Minutes-
a) April 2026 minutes
o Motion to approve- SJ Idel
o Seconded by- Stephane Rebeck
o Motion Carried- passed as written
X. Treasurer’s Report
a) Manda logged in and confirmed all accounts were accurate as reported
b) Taxes were completed and everything is set for this year
c) April 2026 Treasure’s Report
Board of Directors Meeting Notes
o Motion to approve report-Donita Grinde-Houtman
o Seconded by- Gwen Wilcox
o Motion passed- approved as written
XI. Adjournment
o Next meeting: Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 2:30 pm CST
o Motion to adjourn- Cory Hilderbrand
o Second to adjourn- Ashley Ingram
o All in favor of adjournment- everyone in agreement
Meeting adjourned at 3:06 pm CT
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
ITEM 3.2: TREASURER’S REPORT
DESCRIPTION: The May Treasurer’s Report has been prepared for review by the Board of Directors. The report shows revenues of $513,919.68 and expenditures of $279,753.86 with a balance of $234,165.82. Additionally, the overall account balance is $1,012,112.77.
RECOMMENDATION: Approve the February Treasurer’s Report dated May 31, 2026
ATTACHMENTS:
1. May 2026 Treasurer’s Report
2. 2026 Budget Workbook Report
� � � � AOAP MONTHLY BUDGET REPORT
Report Month: May 2026
� � � Registration Summary Metric Count
Total Membership 2,102
Total Conference Registrants 8
Pre/Post-Conference Registrations
Technician School Director’s School
Partner Groups
Exhibitors Booths: 52 Employees:
Banking Account Overview
Primary Operating Account Amount – 2026 to date Revenue
$513,919.68
Credit Card Accounts = $0 balance
� � Revenue - Banking Account Total (Year to Date: January 1 – May 31, 2026)
Checking $487,239.10
Drennen’s Dreams Life Jacket/Swim Lesson Grants $ 24,268.94 Kathie Luecker Scholarship Fund $ 21,543.81 CDs & Bank of America Savings Account $479,060.92
� Certificate of Deposit (CD) Accounts
CD Account #1 – Academy Bank
Current Balance: $240,268.83
Date: 1/10/27
CD Account #2 – Bank of America Current Balance: $238,692.09
Maturity Date: New maturity date of 12/19/2026 12/19/26 (rolled over to 7-month CD) Interest Rate: 3.30% APY
Account: $100.00
Report prepared on: May 31, 2026 | Prepared by:
2026FinalBudget
REVENUES-ACTUALvs.BUDGETYTD 2026
BudgetHistory
ITEM 3.3:
ASSOCIATION OF AQUATICS PROFESSIONALS
BOARD BUSINESS - Signature Authority
DESCRIPTION: Update the Policy on Contractual Authority to include signature authority for the Assistant Director Position (Kirsten Barnes).
ACTION
Approve the following policy language:
“The Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Association of Aquatic Professionals hereby grant the Assistant Director full authority to act on behalf of the Organization in all contractual and partnership matters. This authority includes, but is not limited to, the ability to negotiate terms, execute and deliver contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding, letters of intent, and any other binding documents with external entities. The Assistant Director may also initiate, renew, amend, or terminate such agreements as necessary to advance the objectives and interests of the Organization.
The Assistant Director shall possess the same level of signature authority and legal power to bind the Organization as the Executive Director, including the authority to represent the Organization in legal, financial, and operational matters related to external agreements. All actions taken by the Assistant Director must remain within the financial thresholds, limitations, and executive oversight established by the Board of Directors and existing policies. The Assistant Director is expected to consult with or seek approval from the Executive Director or Board when required by policy or when agreements present significant strategic, financial, or reputational impact.
This delegation of authority applies to all forms of agreements, including but not limited to vendor contracts, grant agreements, sponsorships, partnerships, service arrangements, collaborative projects, and memoranda of understanding with public and private entities. The scope of authority also extends to any related negotiations or amendments required throughout the duration of such agreements.”
