Dear ZAA Members,
Happy 2025! I hope your year is off to an amazing start 😊
I am looking forward to seeing many of you in Issaquah, WA Feb 11-14th, 2025, for our Semi-annual Meeting and Professional Development Workshops (formerly known as Midyear Meeting). This will be an amazing opportunity to network with colleagues and to attend workshops offered by a wide range of experts, including the following topics: anti-venom, footcare and hoof trimming, USFWS confiscation engagement, animal welfare 101, animal training, emergency darting, education programming, accreditation lead inspector training, animal encounter data collection, and government affairs. It’s not too late to join us! You can register here.
We have started our Legislative Update email memos again. Thank you, Tom Albert, for your continued guidance and supply of information. I hope you find these memos helpful. And speaking of legislation, we have recently made some additional restructuring to our internal processes for government affairs. Tom Albert, Betsey Brewer Bethel, Mindy Stinner, and I continue to meet on a weekly basis to discuss legislative matters associated with ZAA. We have now given this group the title of Government Affairs Executive Committee (GAEC). In addition to this group’s efforts, a new Legislative Advisory Group (LAG) will be formed, with Mindy Stinner as the liaison between the two. Moreover, as important matters arise, small member-based focus groups will be formed to discuss the matter with the GAEC and LAG. This will allow more members to be involved and especially voice to those that may be directly affected by the proposed legislation. We piloted a couple of the focus groups during 2024 with great success, so I hope this will be a welcome enhancement to our process.
I also have some additional committee announcements to share. First, I would like to thank Kelsey Keller for all her amazing contributions and leadership as the Conference Committee Chair. Kelsey has been instrumental in expanding our conferences and raising money for ZAA. Kelsey has decided to step down as chair, but as time permits, will continue to assist us. I am happy to announce that Brian Braitsch has agreed and has been approved to serve as our next Conference Committee Chair. Brian has served on the committee for several years and has been key in the development of our expanded exhibition hall and development. I look forward to working with Brian in this new capacity. The second update is regarding our education committee. Education is a pillar of our organization and will now be a focus of the Professional Development Committee. The change from a stand-alone Education Committee to a Professional Development Committee with an education focus is to enhance ZAA’s approach to education by providing more opportunities for our members to develop their facilities in education program development and assessment. Please join me in thanking the education committee for their past efforts. Last, I would like to announce that the conference Awards Committee will be working more closely with the Conference Committee to develop additional awards and opportunities for participation.
I apologize for such a long memo, but I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the changes.
Best,
Kelly
Dr. Kelly George
Executive Director
(941) 621-2021 - Office
(941) 421-2413 - Mobile
