The RCMA board of directors announced several structural changes to the board as well as an expansion of its activities.

Three members who were scheduled to end their three-year terms at the 40th RCMA World Conference and Expo and will continue to serve on the board at the behest of the nominating committee in an effort to provide continuity under the association’s new leadership. These board members are Melvin L. Worthington, Jackie T. Walker, and Obadiah Jenkins Jr.

A new board member, Josh Townsend, was announced at the annual meeting, which took place January 24-27 in Kansas City. Townsend is director of state and national accounts, Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau. He fills the board position that became available when Harry Schmidt, who had been vice president of the RCMA board, was appointed the association’s executive director. Townsend will serve a three-year term.

There are now three supplier members on the RCMA board. In addition to Townsend, they are RCMA vice president Melvin Tennant, CAE, president of Meet Minneapolis; and Jim Nirmaier, vice president group sales, Visit Fort Wayne (Indiana).

Another change is that there are now five functioning board committees, which will work outside of regular board meetings to carry forward the work of the board and to make recommendations to the full board when they meet twice a year. The five committees are executive, finance, nominating, conference, and marketing.