April 2016 - 9

FROM THE CEO
The American Contract
Bridge League
President
Ken Monzingo
Chair, Board of Directors
Suzi Subeck
Chief Executive Officer
Robert Hartman
ACBL Counsel
Peter Rank
Chair, Board of Governors
Richard Anderson

Board of Directors
District 1 * Leo Weniger
District 2 * Paul Janicki
District 3 * Glenda Calkins
District 4 * Craig Robinson
District 5 * Sharon Fairchild
District 6 * Margot Hennings
District 7 * Bob Heller
District 8 * Georgia Heth
District 9 * Jay Whipple III
District 10 * Russ Jones
District 11 * A. Beth Reid
District 12 * Dennis Carman
District 13 * Suzi Subeck
District 14 * Sharon Anderson
District 15 * Phyllis Harlan
District 16 * Dan E. Morse
District 17 * Bonnie Bagley
District 18 * Claire Jones
District 19 * Marv Norden
District 20 * Merlin Vilhauer
District 21 * Roger Smith
District 22 * Ken Monzingo
District 23 * Kevin Lane
District 24 * Alvin Levy
District 25 * Mark Aquino
To contact a district director,
visit acbl.org/boardofdirectors.

By the numbers

At a recent regional, a member pulled me aside in the wee hours after the
evening session. "Besides issuing masterpoints, what exactly does the ACBL do?"
she asked.
If she has this question, I'm sure others do as well.
The ACBL exists to promote and sustain the game
of bridge and to support you, the more than 168,000
members of this organization.
The ACBL is not a small not-for-profit with a few
employees. Founded in 1937, it is the largest bridge
organization in the world: a $17 million enterprise
with 223 employees throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Headquarters and field staff support the League's
Board of Directors, a governing body which comprises directors from each of 25 districts. These districts
are further divided into more than 300 local units.
The success of our organization rides on the time
and energy of thousands of volunteers who serve at
the local and district levels. Last year, these volunteers produced 1058 tournaments, or 352,892 tables of competitive bridge.
We support nearly 3100 clubs throughout North America. In 2015, clubs hosted
more than 3 million tables of bridge, almost a third of which were online. District
and unit volunteers as well as club managers and directors depend on the ACBL
for tournament staffing and assistance; recorder and disciplinary guidance; marketing expertise; educational resources; insurance, legal and other professional
services; election administration, and the like.
Among our many educational functions, we run 12 Teacher Accreditation
Programs annually. Here's something not too many members are aware of: We
are aggressively establishing learning opportunities through the Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute (OLLI), which currently offers bridge classes on 12 campuses.
We promote bridge through our growing school bridge program. Last year, 450
teachers conducted 537 classes. We paid out nearly $190,000 in teacher stipends
in addition to providing textbooks, T-shirts and trophies.
Members have stressed how important the quality of directing is to their playing experience - from clubs all the way up to NABCs. We have greatly boosted
support to them by providing classroom instruction, onsite tournament mentoring opportunities and more training resources.
We do, as my astute late-night friend observed, award and track masterpoints.
Last year, members earned nearly 6.3 million masterpoints. 6.3 million - imagine! That's roughly 78 times the number of
masterpoints that Jeff Meckstroth has.
We have many programs I haven't even
touched on, but I hope you get a feel for what
a dynamic and committed organization you
belong to.

April 2016 Bridge Bulletin

http://www.acbl.org/boardofdirectors

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2016