From the Gate Post
By Bruce Holmquist General Manager, Canadian Simmental Association
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CSA Board and Committee meetings
he Canadian Simmental Association (CSA) recently completed its 2014 Spring Committee and Board meetings March 24th and 25th in Calgary. These meetings are a gathering of the CSA Board of Directors as well as appointed committee members and staff that participate in two days of intensive reporting, discussion and decision making that is part of the process of directing the business of your Association. During the Marketing and Promotion Committee meeting, Chairman Randy Mader lead the committee members through discussion on several new marketing ideas as well as a recap of the successes that were attained in 2013 through CSA promotion initiatives as well as the Simmental Country magazine. The magazine showed a small profit last year and continues to enjoy solid support from a key group of advertisers. While there continues to be support it is important to continue to build upon this foundation and as always there was discussion as to how we can increase our advertising base. The Breed Improvement Committee met immediately following the Promotion meeting and Chairman Kelly Ashworth lead the discussion on the agenda items regarding the improvement of Simmental genetics in this country. As we draw near to completion of our first round of Simmental Innovations research work, Sandy Russell and Jeff Hyatt provided financial reporting and updates on activities, as well as ideas in providing incentives to existing programming. The committee members also discussed the next steps in regard to the research that CSA has completed and the consideration of future initiatives to be led by the Association. The final day of meetings was the CSA Board of Directors meeting which is a full day of reporting and approving of recommendations from the previous day’s committee meetings as well as other CSA business. Two were of special interest during the board meeting, the first being the summary of the CSA strategic planning sessions that the CSA board and staff participated in during the past year. Through those sessions a new mission statement was adopted for the Association. The CSA’s mission statement is as follows: To be a leader in the cattle industry through innovative marketing, technology, programs and services while expanding Canadian Simmental genetics worldwide.
A vision for the Association was also developed by the CSA Board in these sessions. The vision statement that will guide the CSA is: To lead the cattle industry by providing member-driven services and innovative technologies through the strength of our diverse breed and our programs. In an effort to assist the Association in following our mission and vision the Board developed guiding principles. The guiding principles that were approved for the CSA are: 1. The CSA will improve membership engagement (including YCSA) through more effective communication and encourage, educate and support the YCSA program. 2. The CSA will continue research and development with a focus on strategic partnerships to keep the Association in the forefront. 3. The CSA will have clear annual goals and reporting that allows the Association to be accountable to the members. Your Directors and staff worked collectively to establish the mission statements, vision and guiding principles and now have a very sound set of guidelines to reference as we work collectively to move the CSA forward. As was noted in the guiding principles, the YCSA is a very important program within the CSA. The second notable piece of business that was presented to the Board was a third party review of the YCSA program which was recently completed. The directors received a final report of the review which outlined some key strengths as well as some weaknesses of the youth programing that were identified. The report also included strategic recommendations as to how best to move forward in growing the YCS program. The report was adopted in principal by the Board of Directors and will be of great value to the CSA as we focus on ways to build and improve our youth programming. The recent Committee and Board meetings were very successful as many accomplishments have been realized in the past year. The Board of Directors provided clear direction on how the Association should move forward and build upon these successes in the areas of promotion and marketing of the breed, breed improvement and youth programming. Your directors and staff continue to work tirelessly to ensure it continues to focus on providing member-driven services as well as being a leader in the Canadian cattle industry.
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