Bill Ray, JAD VP Contest & Judging, reports that the Contest & Judging program has announced the newest batch of JAD applicants accepted for training as Judges. Please congratulate David Wallace – Music category, and Chad St. John – Singing category. Way to go, guys!

2012 JAD Board Members

• District President - Bari Courts
• Executive Vice President - Casey Parsons
• Immediate Past President - Dave Calland
• Secretary -  Father Joe Witmer
• Treasurer - Sam Watts
• Board Member at Large - Doug Smeltz
• Board Member at Large - Mike Hachtel
• Board Member at Large - Jim Legters

2012 Vice Presidents

• Youth in Harmony - Robbie Churgovich
• Marketing and Public Relations - John Byerly
• Contest and Judging - Dave Rubin
• Events - Mike Harrison
• Chapter Support and Leadership Development - Steve Wyszomierski
• Music and Performance - Garrett Hilsinger
• Membership Development - Ron Crum
• Chorus Director Development - Doug Smeltz
• Financial Development - Joe Jenkins
• Historian - Carl Cash III
• Laws and Regulations - Skipp Kropp

We think that there are still a few JAD chapters that have developed their own Web sites but haven’t notified the SingJAD Webmaster. In the chapter contact listings here on SingJAD, there’s an entry for every JAD chapter – and if the chapter’s name is underlined, a click on that link will take you to the chapter’s own site. If your chapter doesn’t have a site, or if we don’t know the URL of your chapter’s site, your chapter’s name won’t be underlined. You’re hereby urged to go to the listing for your site, find your chapter, and verify that if you do have a Web site, the link is correct. Please notify the JAD Webmaster about any additions or corrections to the listings and links here. And if your chapter doesn’t have a Web site yet, find a member with even minimal Web-site-development skills, and browbeat him into creating one for you!

Here are the JAD chapter listings by state:

• Kentucky
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia

Just added to the site are job descriptions for all current JAD district officers, plus a proposed new position. In the future you can also access these descriptions via the left-hand menu on any page: just go to “District / Admin Info.”

• Current descriptions:
  • District President
  • District VP Chapter Support and Leadership Development
  • District VP Chorus Director Development
  • District VP Contest and Judging
  • District VP Events
  • District VP Marketing and Public Relations
  • District VP Membership Development
  • District VP Music and Performance
  • District Young Men In Harmony (YMIH) Committee
  • District Secretary
  • District Treasurer
• Proposed new position:
  • District VP Chapter Programming

And just so you know who’s who, here’s the latest listing of current JAD board members.

The JAD Events Team has created a 35-page “Convention Manual” as a guide to assist those chapters interested in hosting a JAD Convention. This manual is to be used only as a guide, keeping in mind that every convention city offers unique opportunities. This manual was adapted from the “Central Ohio Prelims Committee Manual” jointly written by John Sommer and Bob Sommer. Here’s where you can download a copy of the Convention Manual in pdf format.

And If you’re into looking way ahead, and if your chapter might be interested in hosting the 2010 Convention, Greg Swann has published a Request For Proposals (RFP) to which you can respond as you get your information together for a bid. Here’s the 2010 spring-convention-hosting RFP.

Thanks to Mike Sisk, whose persistence finally got the effort under way, and to Tim Speicher, who did the programming, and to Carl J. Cash, III, who contributed time and effort and pictures and names, we now have a segment of the JAD Web site that lists ALL of JAD’s past District champs - quartets (regular, senior, and novice), choruses (large and small), and International champs (regular and senior quartets and choruses)! Check out the new JAD Champs Site! Next time you want to visit the site, you’ll find a link to it under the District tab on the left-hand menu on every page – it’s called JAD Champions.