Report from the Past President
Karen Koonce

Nominations and Elections Report
Elections were held in Birmingham, Alabama at our regional conference in February. The following candidates were successful in their bid for SASFAA office:

President-Elect

• Guy Gibbs, Associate Director of Financial Aid, Northern Virginia Community College, a
  member of VASFAA
  
  

Vice President

• Zita Barree, Senior Associate Director, Financial Aid, Virginia Commonwealth University, a member of VASFAA
  
  

 

 

Secretary

• Sandra Neel, Assistant Director of Financial Aid, University of Louisville, a member of KASFAA

• Leonard Gude – Florida
• Barry Simmons – Virginia
• RoseMary Stelma – North Carolina
• Nancy Melton – Kentucky
• Julia Perreault – Georgia
• Cara Suhr – Tennessee
• Anita Kaminer-Elliott – South Carolina
• Mike Reynolds – Alabama
• Dewey Knight – Mississippi
• Karen Koonce, Chair
  

Report from the Treasurer
Lester McKenzie

The conference has come and gone and back to the grindstone for all of us. Just a note of thanks to Zita Barree and her conference committee and Mike Reynolds and the local arrangements committee for making everything to smoothly from my end. The volunteers from AASFAA who assisted the registration area went above and beyond the call of duty and I think them as well. You all are GREAT!

We had 753 registered for the conference plus an additional 20 special guests for a total attendance of 773. Of the 773 we had 141 register after the deadline and pay the late fee. This was the first conference with an online registration and for the most part it ran smoothly. Forrest Stuart, SASFAA Membership Chair, and I are looking for ways to make that process even smoother.

Another first for this conference was the acceptance of credit cards at registration. We heard from many of you who appreciated the fact that we accepted credit cards for conference payments and look forward to making this a permanent part of future conferences. We are looking in to allowing SASFAA members to pay by credit card all year long, not just at the conference. Look for more discussion on this topic and let your state representatives know your position. White it does cost the association some nominal fees; the benefits for members surely outweigh those.

As the conference fades I look forward to our next big tasks, the Summer New Aid Officer Workshop and the Summer Mid-Level Workshop. This year we will travel to South Florida to learn from Freida Jones and her crew. Registrations are starting to come in. So, remember to get yours in today. There is a limited number of participants we can accommodate. We then travel to Jackson, MS and Millsaps College for the SASFAA-SWASFAA joint venture. We are glad to have that back in our region, and I look forward to working with those of you who want to strengthen your knowledge about financial aid.

See you in the South!