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We are again approaching election time for the MDA committee positions, which have traditionally been contended every two years. This time though, I shall not be putting my name forward as President...
It's been six years since we held the first Designers' Night in Munich, since when the association has taken a large part of my free time. I've been happy to bring together the many contacts I've made throughout the motorcycle industry during a 22-year career, and use my conveniently neutral position to ensure that fairness and balance was maintained both politically and nationally. But it is time for someone else to bring their influence to our group, and to take the MDA onto new things. While I'm pleased with the many things we have achieved, there are others areas which are still lacking - in particular funding, and a real support from within the industry. Hopefully, the next president will have more success in these areas. My thanks go to everyone who has helped support the MDA over the years, either by taking up membership or by playing an active role in the association. We now have around 130 members spread over four continents, including many consultancies and in-house design studios, and can safely claim to represent the majority of professional motorcycle designers worldwide. Hopefully, we have been able to bring some outstanding designs, as well as some outstanding designers, to the public attention. We have created a useful database for the industry, and helped many students make contact with potential employers. It has certainly been a rewarding activity. From mid-November though, I will be based mainly in the US, and won't be able to organise things in Europe so easily. New business ventures there will require most of my attention, so the timing is opportune to pass the president's position on to someone else. This doesn't mean that I will stop participating in the MDA altogether though - it has been suggested that we create a purely academic role of MDA Chairman, which will act as observer and advisor to the committee, and in which I will be pleased to continue contributing for some time to come. However, the actual running of the association, along with the financial administration, will now pass into new hands. Taking over as president will not be easy, and Bart van den Bogaard has made a good proposal which I recommend we adopt. He suggests that each presidency should hold full office for just one year, with a year before shared with the outgoing president to learn the ropes, and a year after shared with the incoming one. This seems like a logical arrangement, and I will be happy to act as outgoing president during 2007 to help ease my successor into the role. I will welcome contact from anyone interested in taking over this position. Likewise, the roles of Secretary and Treasurer are also open to anyone who wishes to contend these positions from 2007 - Wolfgang and Thomas have yet to confirm whether or not they will be standing for their current respective positions. |
