Hello Band,   Now is the perfect time to pass the mantle.  I am withdrawing my name from consideration forPresident of the Silicon Valley Pipe Band. I will be nominating and endorsing Stephen Beitzel as President.  I had a conversation with Stephen last year about his thoughts regarding the possibility of this important position inthe band.  He is enthusiastic and astaunch supporter of the success of the band. Moreover, he has the skill set needed to take the band to our nextlevel(s).   I am very proud of the accomplishments the band has achievedover my tenure.  I was endorsed by ourformer PM and Band President Doug Snodgrass when we retired from the band.  My marching orders were to keep the bandalive.  The band is the strongest it hasever been or even imagined.    When I took the reins, we had a new PM in the late Catherine Young.  We talked about entering competition after a30 year hiatus.  We conducted a marketinganalysis to determine that moving the band from Daly City to Saratoga wouldprovide a springboard for band growth. The big bands at the time were in San Francisco and Sacramento.  Silicon Valley was wide open for thetaking.  We took it.   The shift in location and musicality resulted in asignificant reduction in membership.  Wedropped to eleven pipers from 17, two drummers from ten.  We won our first competition againstMacIntosh, but discovered at Pleasanton that competition would be a challengingroad.  We persevered and improved.  We performed with the Chieftains for thefirst time.  When Catherine could nolonger lead the band, Dan Durller arrived on the scene.    We also had Jay Salter instructing.  What may have been a tactical error inselecting G1 tunes for a newly promoted G4 band actually turned into astrategic triumph.  The judges told us toselect more appropriate tunes.  Weresisted until mid-season.  We changed upthe tunes and excelled.  The judges now knew about this audacious band in Northern California and were appreciativethat we took their advice.   When Dan and Sarah decided to move back to New York, once againwe had a young and talented PM candidate. We met with Adam and made him an offer to which he accepted.  The rest is history that most of you know.   Keeping our growing and increasingly more sophisticated bandon track has been exhilarating, challenging, sometimes aggravating, but ultimately very satisfying.  My goal hasalways been to make the band as inclusive as possible, keep a robust infrastructure,and maintain, above all else, the sense of family that I experienced when theband had ten members when I joined in 1989. In my view this has been a major part of our success.   My work is hidden to most, making subtle changes to maintainband stability and calm differences in opinions.  We are at the point that we are a major forcein the Bay Area piping community and an emerging powerhouse on the West Coastand beyond.  The band needs someone witha skill set to match the band’s increased innovation and complexity in additionto being a networker and bridge-builder with WUSPBA and the RSPBA.  I find Stephen will very comfortably fillthose needs.   I am open to any other position on the Board (exceptTreasurer) as needed.   Thank you for entrusting the band to me over the last sevenyears!  It has been a great ride!   Paul -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "All Band" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to allband+unsubscribe(a)siliconvalleypipeband.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/siliconvalleypipeband.com/d/msgid/allband/163331294.14939.1569452924841%40mail.yahoo.com.