From the NWHA President
Welcome to the March issue
of the National News.
From the desk of Amy Spinelli‐Olson
I am honored to serve again as your NWHA President and look forward to meeting and engaging
with NWHA members across the country again this year. I’ve served on the NWHA Board of
Directors for a numbers of years, and I’m overjoyed with the passion, dedication and ideas your
new Board of Directors is bringing to this organization. This team is committed to the success of
NWHA and the level of engagement is unmatched.
In late January we held our judges clinic, annual meeting and awards
banquet. The judge’s clinic was well attended, highlighting a new
approach and analysis, to uncover our strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats (SWOT). This new approach engaged our
current judges, and was a great approach to onboard and allow our
returning and new judge applicants to further interact. The NWHA
judges list continues to grow, with one returning judge and five new
applicants in 2018.
The annual meeting was an equal success, bringing together our membership from across the
country. The annual meeting kicked off with a video ‐ celebrating NWHAs 20 th Anniversary. The
following meeting provided key insights and reports on the financials, as well as regional director
and committee reports. NWHA welcomed fifty‐seven new‐to‐NWHA members from across fifteen
states to our organization in 2017, with financial growth of nearly twenty‐five percent. This is a true
marker of our tangible success.
We welcomed new Board of Directors to the NWHA team; Director John Nagel in the Northeast
region, Director Shannon Gibbs from the Southeast region, Director Jerry
Ouelette in the Central region and At‐Large Director Merleene Pacheco in
the Central region. It is thrilling to welcome new team members with
fresh and innovative ideas aimed at driving and improving our
organization. We also took the opportunity to recognize and thank our
Directors who completed their terms; Jean‐Marie Degville, Marsha Coffey
and Linda Richwine. Each of them have worked tirelessly over many years
to ensure the success of NWHA and advance sound horse advocacy. Their
presence and insight will truly be missed on our Board. My deepest
gratitude and thanks to these three ladies.
NWHA National News 2