2008 NCTTA Officer Elections – Treasurer Position

Statement of Intent

Francois Charvet, Future Alumni, The Ohio State University

Dear club presidents/representatives,

                        I think all of us realize how much we owe to many volunteers and helping hands who turned NCTTA in what it has become today.  When I arrived at The Ohio State University 4 years ago, my greatest surprise was to hear there was no such thing as a 'ping pong club'.  With the help of several incredible people at Ohio State, local players, NCTTA/ACUI officers, I spend most of my time focusing on starting up and developing the Buckeye Table Tennis Club.  The idea was simple, offer the best possible outlet for anyone on campus to play table tennis, whether undergrad student, post-doc, recreational player, or competitive player. Looking back, it took a heck a lot of time…but is many times worth the effort. 

                        I am graduating this Summer, and decided that in the near future, the best contribution I could make to the sport would be to help NCTTA further grow and accomplish its goals.  College life and college table tennis is something I am very passionate about, and will remain close to, as I am merely 'switching sides' (read: starting as professor/faculty).  To me, the only reason someone should run for any officer position is if he/she believes they can be useful and help advance the organization.  As a treasurer, my main goals will be to:

• Ensure sound finances, and work on ways to increase the incoming stream.  In addition, work actively to ensure good use of any 'outgoing' dollars. This includes working on fundraising ideas/projects and working on member retention. 
• Assist all NCTTA clubs and officers with financial matters and/or fundraising.  Call me, page me, e-mail me, or find me online anytime as needed. 
• NCTTA has done a great job of maintaining transparency and accountability towards its members.  Let's keep it that way.
• Work on expanding student and member involvement in the finance committee and offering opportunities to motivated individuals to make a difference through teamwork and by offering guidance as required.  I strongly believe in empowering people, any one person by itself cannot nearly accomplish as much as a well-functioning group of people.
• Listen closely to the needs and suggestions from NCTTA clubs and members, and represent them as best as possible as voting board member.

Since actions speak stronger than words, I compiled a list of relevant undertakings at the bottom of this statement.  Please do take a minute to review it, and feel free to e-mail me at francoischarvet@yahoo.fr if you have any questions or would just like to chat about NCTTA's future.

Table Tennis Related:

• Founder, the Buckeye Table Tennis club.  Acted in various roles from 2004-2008 including president, webmaster, coach, treasurer, and team captain. During this period:
  • Club grew from scratch to up to 70 registered/paying members.
  • Club was recognized as official sports club, affiliated with NCTTA, USATT, and also achieved 501(c) (3) non-profit organization status with the IRS.
  • Men and Women teams were formed and competed 4 years consecutively in both NCTTA and ACUI competitions.  We also organized/hosted several NCTTA regional tournaments on and off-site.
  • Club achieved financial stability through a combinations of membership dues, fundraisers, solicitation of university and other outside funding.
  • Worked closely with Ed Hogshead and Killerspin in supporting the Arnold Classic event in Columbus (a college event has been held successfully for the last three years).
  • Club won several awards from Recreational Sports, including recruiting award and best new club award. We were also featured on the local TV shortly before nationals.
• Bid director and co-organizer, 2007 NCTTA College Nationals. 
  • Some of you may have been there.  Doug Hurak and I took most of the responsibility in coordinating and planning the 2007 nationals from Ohio State's end (working closely/directly with the NCTTA board).  While hosting the event on a large 'big ten' campus brings many challenges, we were happy overall.  Besides trying to offer all the athletes the chance to compete in the best possible conditions, one of our main achievements was to elevate table tennis' perception amongst the Rec Sport and other University instances at a large campus where Basketball and Football make national headlines.
• Instructor, Table Tennis 1 Class (Spring 2006)
  • Taught a 10-week table tennis, for credit, table tennis class for the sports program at The Ohio State University.
• Active competitive player, for the past 17 years (ouch, that number hurts…)
  • Played competitively in college events and leagues in Belgium and in the US.  Highest USATT rating around 2150, currently somewhere around 2000. 
• USATT certified Club Umpire
• Other general involvement in TT
  • Frequently browse online forums to keep up to date in TT happenings in the US & world.  Have had the chance to meet many great volunteers, activists, club officers and athletes over the last few years.
  • E-mailed NCTTA and USATT board members at several occasions with feedback and/or suggestions.
  • Have had a chance to meet many of the current/past NCTTA board members, directors or division directors (yet another reason why I feel it's worth to help out).

Non Table Tennis Related (but useful) skills or experience:

• BS, MS, and (hopefully) expecting a PhD degree (summer 08), all in business administration.
  • This should be useful for the treasurer job, and is one of the reason I run for this particular position.  While my major is not accounting, I do have a very sound understanding of accounting, finance, taxes, contracts, software, business communication etc. 
  • Integrity and controls are also extremely important for a treasurer position.  While this is difficult to assess for outsiders, people who know me will tell you I am extremely cautious with conflicts-of-interest, ensuring third-party review/approvals.  Any dollar used by an association should have a positive impact/return to its constituents.
• Vice-president of the International Business Club and the MIS Mentoring Club at the University of Missouri (2002-2004).
• IT Skills
  • Obtained a MS with major in information systems management. 
  • MS office power-user, fair knowledge of website software packages, basic programming knowledge…Google search is a second nature and you usually won’t find me too far from a laptop.
• Team Skills
  • Extremely important.  It's really important to be able to express your own ideas, but at the same time listen to others, and 'agree to disagree' when needed.  Pulling the cart together in one direction works better than pulling it no matter how hard in four different directions. When working with fellow officers, I try to remind myself that what's important is to make the best out of it for the club/organization members.