The Board of Directors is a volunteer group who set the direction of Shintaido of America while insuring that the organization remains true to its vision and mission. The Board makes decisions on broad SoA policy, appoints SoA officers, and articulates vision and direction for SoA.
The Board of Directors consists of three to five members selected by the SoA membership for terms of two years, and the current NTC chairperson, who is selected from the National Technical Council. SOA has non-board officers and honorary Advisory members.
BOARD MEMBERS – voting (as of Dec 2024)
Connie Borden, President
David Franklin, Podcast
Robert Gaston, NTC Chairperson
David Palmer, IT Liaison
Laura Sheehan Barron, Membership Secretary
Jim Sterling, Editor Body Dialogue Newsletter
Michael Thompson, Co-Founder, nonvoting, consultant
BOARD OFFICERS – non-voting (as of Mar 2024)
Sandra Bengtsson, Treasurer
Chris Ikeda-Nash, Financial Officer
Robert Kedoin, Webmaster
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS – non-voting
Henry Kaiser
Kesh Narayanan
Mario Uribe
Effective December 2024, Michael Thompson, stepped off the board of directors to be a nonvoting consultant. Michael Thompson, who together with H. F. Ito (1942-2023) established the shintaido movement in the United States and are co-founders of Shintaido of America.
BoD MEETING MINUTES
The SoA Board of Directors meet quarterly. Meeting Minutes and the Annual Business Reports can be found HERE.
SOA BOARD PRESIDENT
The SoA President is selected by the Board of Directors for a two-year term.
The president:
- With SOA Board involvement, develops and implements Shintaido of America strategic plan
- With the SOA Board plans board meetings, develops a board agenda, distributes the agenda to the SOA Board prior to meetings and chairs the board meetings
- Facilitates communication among the membership and among the Shintaido organizations, both regional and international
- ensures an annual membership letter is distributed to membership
- Ensures an annual treasurers report is provided to the board of directors
- Ensures an annual budget is developed and presented to the SOA Board
- Ensures the SOA CPA does annual tax filing with the IRS to maintain non-profit status
- Ensures minutes are kept on board meetings and electronically stored
- Participates or chairs subcommittees as needed
The SoA Membership Secretary is appointed by the Board of Directors for a two-year term.
The secretary:
- Writes an annual membership letter
- With the Treasurer and SOA President, maintains membership payments. The membership database is kept on google docs.
- With NTC Chair, ensures updates on examination results and rankings.
The SoA Treasurer is appointed by the Board of Directors.
The treasurer:
- Manages the SOA financial accounting system including posting entries and reconciling accounts
- Provides an annual Treasurer’s report to the Board of Directors which is stored electronically with the SOA Board minutes
- Handles all deposits and bank records, including PayPal and brokerage houses for investments
- Provides reports to the Financial Officer for tax purposes.
- Ensures a system to reimburse expenses
- Monitor bookstore sales and shipping reimbursements
A list of previous Board of Directors officers and members can be found HERE.
