The VSFA’s First Annual Meeting was a great success!
We started with a great lunch that was catered by M&W Catering. They did a wonderful job and I would recommend them to anyone in the Richmond area.After lunch, Jay Taylor (President) called the meeting to order. Jay introduced the board members that were present, Mary Provost, Michael Maculley, Bobby Haller and Jay Taylor. Jay also introduced Chris Dougherty, the consumer volunteer that handles Social Media for the VSFA.…
We then went around the room and had everyone introduce themselves and tell us a little about their company. We had a good mixture of Industry Members as well as Prospective Industry Members.
Jay introduced our lobbyist Steve Baril.
The meeting was officially called to order.
First on the agenda, it was proposed to vote in the existing organizing board members to hold office for one year. This was voted in unanimously.
Next on the agenda our Lobbyist, Steve Baril, gave a timeline for milestones that the VSFA has achieved this year along with his legislative update for this legislative session.
Steve covered how the first exploratory meeting was June 7, 2015, with one following on June 28, 2015. The VSFA became a legal 501(c)6 organization on July 8, 2015 complete with by-laws, a budget and membership solicitation. By Nov 1, 2015, the VSFA was able to hire KVCF, Steve Baril, as the registered lobbyist.
Steve attended functions on our behalf such as The Speaker of the House event, where the VSFA was a sponsor, as well as other events approved by the board based on our budget.
He then discussed his Legislative Update handout that was supplied to all attendees. Here is the link for the legislative update. http://tinyurl.com/zlgxnjs
Jay then covered the following:
The Vaping Etiquette handout that we created
He discussed several topics that are going on nationally and the impact that they could have, positive or negative, on our industry.
• FAA reauthorization bill.
• COLE/BISHOP amendment to modify the predicate date for vapor products.
• The Nelson Coats #3633 amendment.
• Battery Safety.
The floor was then turned back over to our Lobbyist Steve Baril. He said that for a new industry association, the VSFA had a splendid first session and its members should be proud of these accomplishments.
Steve also said that if we want to continue to have success and have our legislators take us serious, we need to continue to grow. He said “our biggest opportunity and challenge is to garner new Industry Members”.
Steve noted that it is imperative to have more people involved, as well. He suggested that we have a Membership Committee to work on expanding our membership with both Industry and Consumer Members and a Communications Committee to publish a monthly newsletter and help Chris with Social Media.
Jay then voted that we adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Bobby Haller.
