Not all club members may be fully aware of this, but over the last couple of years your executive has been working to establish a series of protocols that could address issues of succession, knowledge sharing etc. that would allow for the smooth running of club matters in the case of emergencies, absences or the loss of skilled/knowledgeable board members who look after specific tasks, or have within them a vast amount of information and skills related to the running of the club.

As part of this process, a great deal of attention was given to the current structure of how the ANAF runs day to day, and what is required to allow the club to function and in fact thrive in the future.

In the past, this club like most veteran organizations, had elected their unit president and these individuals have become the “Chief Bar Steward”. We’ve been extremely fortunate as an organization to have Al Stewart as our Bar Steward/Bar Manager. Al is a wealth of knowledge, a keeper of club history and memories, and is both the glue and the beating heart of this club. It’s a testament to Alister, and the incredible job he does running the club, that we’ve been able to go so long without having to address any of this up to now. And over Al’s time as bar manager, major changes have occurred at the club. We’ve seen the introduction of a residential component; hall and kitchen rentals that generate income from non-members; and like service clubs across Canada, the decline of member revenue.

As Alister looks to step back from his position, and the board looks toward options for the future, it became clear that it was unrealistic to expect to follow the traditional route to find someone within the club membership that would be prepared to do and understand all the intricacies of a multi–revenue; multi-purpose; member based corporation.

For this reason the executive has worked hard to create the position of Business Manager for the running of the club, and looked to Sarah to fill that position. ANAF 344 Members are all aware that Sarah has been an employee at the club since December 2011. Since August of 2018 she has taken on numerous tasks and responsibilities associated with an assistant manager’s job working under Alistair, and she was trained to take on more and more of the day to day management functions of the bar. Sarah was elected to the executive in November 2018. Sarah has taken on the responsibility for membership, membership communication; monthly dinners, the corporations social media activities and more.

And so , to cut to the chase, on behalf of the board and of the ANAF, and in recognition of her hard work and qualifications, we’d like to congratulate Sarah on her promotion to the position of the ANAF Club 344’s Business Manager!