Audi Club Board Election Next Week

Audi Club National Board of Director elections begin Friday, November 15. You will receive an email next week with a web link to your election ballot.

Meet the candidates

 

Audi Club is a foundational part of euro car culture across all of North America. I look forward to being a catalyst and motivator to reach more enthusiasts, more sponsors, and more associates. We need to consider and look past (in some cases) our performance and track-based activities and find ways to embrace a greater majority of Audi owners – while not leaving the track rats (me being one) behind.

I have been involved with the Audi Club Northwest chapter since 2013 and have held a number of leadership roles during this time. I was the President of the Northwest chapter for three years. In 2018 I also lead the team to put on the ACNA Nationals event here in Tacoma. That involved many tasks and roles from finding and motivating volunteers, working with sponsors and vMendors, and lots of game day oversight. I have been involved with other not-for-profit organizations and holding various leadership roles in those organizations. I have looked to find creative ways for funding and engagement with the target audience of the charities. I am a practicing advanced driving instructor and enjoy both on and off-track club activities.

Funding has been a challenge over the last few years and I believe my involvement with the Nationals a year ago will enable me to assist Audi Club to find and build more National-level sponsors. My business experience and car passion will be assets to the board team. I enjoy participating at the leadership level and tackling the associated challenges in a thoughtful, prompt, and fiscally conscious way.

My pledge is to attend meetings, actively participate, and deliver results on the tasks I take on. Thank you for this tremendous opportunity. I welcome the challenge. I would appreciate your vote.

 

I am keenly interested in the future of the automobile and how society is changing. I think being a part of how we re-define the car/SUV in our lives is going to be fun and challenging and I want to be a part of the discussion. I can think of no better way to participate in this discourse than as a member of the Audi Club North America Board of Directors

Career Summary:

Jerry is a senior management executive with a diversified background in business offering a unique blend of leadership, vision, and knowledge. Jerry has a profound strength in building companies. Jerry is a strong leader and a Visionary. Jerry has an exceptional ability to recognize great opportunities when working with others. Jerry is a lifelong learner and dedicated to staying current with change through extensive reading, attending courses and seminars.

Jerry has an infectious energy and passion that empowers teams to think big, set stretch goals, and then pursue those goals with great intensity and focus. Jerry’s leadership has expanded beyond the boundaries of a traditional executive and he has led many strategic initiatives that have had positive impacts on multiple business areas, driving down costs, increasing revenue, and improving the overall performance of business units.

Jerry is the owner of Precision Giant Systems Inc. (Precision Scale). Precision is a leading provider of measurement solutions in Western Canada. Jerry sits on the board of directors of the Scale Dealers Association and is the former Governor of the International Society of Weights and Measures.

In the early ’90s, Jerry founded a merger and acquisition company that acquired small businesses in Alberta. The company successfully acquired 5 businesses including Precision Scale and Giant Scale. Jerry was responsible for taking the parent company public on the Alberta Stock Exchange through a reverse take-over in 1997. Jerry continues to pursue an interest in assisting early-stage businesses growth through mentoring and as an investor.

Jerry believes in giving back to his community through public service and volunteer work. He sat on the Board of the Heritage Community Foundation; a non-profit group that built web sites directed to the Alberta social studies curriculum. As the business professional on the Board, Jerry took on the role of gifting the Foundation after it had grown to a size that could no longer be managed as a non-profit. This was the largest Intellectual Gift the University of Alberta had ever received.

Jerry attended Notre Dame College in Wilcox Saskatchewan and the University of Calgary, Commerce.

Jerry and his wife Eleanor have lived in Edmonton since 2003, prior to that Jerry spent 25 years in Calgary. He has two grown children and two grandchildren. He loves coaching and teaching life skills through sport. He developed and ran a winter training program for athletes while acting as the President of the largest softball program in Calgary. His coaching career included the Calgary ‘Junior A’ fastball team and the first coach of the Women’s University Alberta Team.

 

I will continue using my experiences in the leadership of teams and accountability for large scale projects to expand awareness and participation in the ACNA from our local regions and dealers. I will continue to guide, coach and facilitate alignment of local chapters and our national board to coordinate event growth and increase opportunities for participation across chapters & regions. I will work harder to forge and employ Audi’s Kb principles (see below) between the national board, club members and dealers to ensure that we are pro-active rather than reactive in creating member value.

I enjoy participating in customer communications about Kb and also introducing customers to the ACNA with our club’s broad appeal and variety of customer-focused events. I have made many friendships from within this Club, building them as my primary social life and want to offer them more strength, more growth and more enjoyment of the Audi brand.

I want to drive the mission of this Club towards membership diversity, service, education and growth; continued non-profit status; give-back to our communities; fiscal responsibility; self-sustainability and alignment with Audi of America’s brand vision and Driving to Please guidelines (see below).

Audi’s Kb Principles –

• Make owning an Audi as fulfilling as driving one
• Craft each moment to be as unique as each individual
• Build relationships through trust and respect
• Weave delight into the details
• Value your customer’s time
• Emotionally invest in every moment

Audi of America’s Driving to Please Guidelines –

• What is the value of this decision for members?
• Will what we do here help us to sustain our membership rolls by encouraging new and renewing memberships?
• Does this reward those who volunteer their time to ACNA?
• Does this create new Audi fans?
• Does this help the Audi brand achieve its goals?

 

I became a brand enthusiast in 2009 when I purchased my first A6 Avant (’06 CPO) and fell in love with my new wagon! I have managed to convert much of my family and friends to loyal Audi owners, adding an A6, Q5 and Q7 to the family line-up!  From the moment I purchased my first Audi I wanted to get involved in local Kansas City car clubs.  There wasn’t an active KC chapter for Audi, but there was a German car owners club that allowed me to have fun in a group setting with like-minded individuals, learn more about my vehicle, and have a collective online group to ask questions and converse with.

I decided I would try to revive the Kansas City Audi Club chapter. In 2015 I became Chapter President and began the process of building the membership and events.   When I began, the club had around 120, nearly inactive members, with no online presence.  Events were rare with no real form of communication outside of an out-of-date webpage.  Since then the club has expanded digitally, via Facebook, and in-person with great events! There are roughly 500+ active club members with growth in the number of KC club members signing up to be official Audi Club North America members, too.

Enthusiasts in this chapter enjoy a yearly car photoshoot at iconic locations in KC, member drives, Cars and Coffee meets, annual Go-Kart Lamanse Race, tech days, special events with local mechanics, open house opportunities and the Christmas Celebration.  There are also fun pop-up events like hosting a lunch for the TTOA group as they passed through KC on their way to Nationals, treating them to famous KC BBQ! There are now bi-annual tire change events in partnership with Kansas City Audi, as well as a roof rack and box rental program that offers a discounted rate for local members and is FREE for ACNA members in the KC market (something I am hoping to help other chapters get started).  Online there is a vibrant Facebook page that is active with members sharing their passion for the brand, asking each other for car tips and advice, and simply learning more about their car!

I have created business cards for the club that myself, and other members, have ready at a moment’s notice in their wallet or purse to give to anyone they meet to share their Audi love and promote the club.  I have also worked to identify other members in the KC area who can serve as administrators and leaders of the club so that it has a strong core.  I am proud to say that after five years of leadership I have passed the reins to another member and moved to a past-president position as one of the at-large administrators.  I love to build relationships with other car owners and am proud to have helped build an organization here in KC that promotes the brand and the drivers who love their cars!

 

I have been an Audi Club member for about 15 years.  I joined because I wanted to drive my Audi Coupe quattro on ice.  I figured it would be a one-shot event; have the experience and move on.  Then maybe just one high-performance school, just to see what the urS6 was capable of.  But the slope was slippery, I was hooked.  Within a few years, I was instructing at high-performance schools and spending several weekends a season with my new Audi friends.

Eventually, someone suggested that I help run one of the events at Watkins Glen, which proved to be one of the most challenging and most rewarding things I have ever done.  With my faithful co-event master, we have hosted that event for our chapter eight times now.

From there it was a short hop to the Board of Directors for the chapter, some webmaster duties, Registrar, and eventually President. The Audi Club has truly become part of my life, and my significant other enjoys it as much as I do.

I want everyone to have the same type of fantastic experience that I’ve had with the Audi Club. To me, the Club is about amazing machines and friendly, diverse, and interesting people. I’m seeking a seat on the Board to help support and grow this great club that we all share.

Each year, three of the nine National Board of Director positions are up for election. Directors serve a 3-year term and are eligible to run for a second 3-year term. For the term 2017-2019 ending in December, director seats for Milton (Bud) Dannemiller, Roger Labas, and Jay Morgenroth are expiring. Dannemiller is completing his second term and is not eligible for re-election. Labas is finishing his first term and has been nominated to run for re-election to a second term.

The Audi Club North America Board of Directors, Nominating Committee has confirmed five candidates running for the three open positions. All Active and Associate members as of November 15^th, 2019 will be emailed a ballot with a link to the voting website. The election will be conducted using Survey Hero similar to last year. Your completed ballot is received by our accounting firm, Wegner CPA. All ballots received by midnight, November 30^th will be tabulated by the accountant with the results publicized on the Audi Club NA website and via email announcing the new Directors who will begin in January for the 2020 to 2022 term.

Cast your vote starting November 15^th and help guide the future of Audi Club.

Paul Truess
Executive Director