Job Descriptions and Biographies

President - The President shall preside over all business and executive meetings of the club and have general supervision of the affairs of the club. The President shall maintain a current roster of all members in good standing. Responsibilities shall also include, appointing any person or committee as needed to handle the organization of activities or meetings and to oversee such person or committee for the duration. The President shall promote interest in the club by each current member and by others in hopes of gaining them as members. The President shall personally represent the club in all business dealings and contracts for the club and promote interest in the club and lead by example. The President shall vote only when one vote is required to break a tie. The President shall be the second signer on all accounts, and shall be accountable to the Executive officers as a whole, and to the Vice-President individually for his/her actions and decisions. The President shall discuss with the CFO the impact on finances before any purchase exceeding $100 dollars. The President is responsible for the smooth and coherent operation of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Alabama.	Connie Reaves - Connie has been a licensed motorcycle rider for 37 years and spent several years before that riding in back yards and fields. She got her first BMW in 1992. Her Dad was a BMW enthusiast who encouraged the switch in brands and brought her into the BMW "family". Connie and her Dad made many bike trips together and traveled to 28 states on those trips. Connie is now a 20 year member of the BMW MOAL, BMWMOA, and BMWRA, and a 13 year member of the AMA. Connie first took the office of Membership Director in the Alabama club in 1996 and then President in 1997. She then took the job of Newsletter Editor for the next five years from 1998 until 2002. In 2003 she returned to the job of President and has been President for the last six years.
Vice-President - The Vice-President shall be responsible for assuming the role of the President in the event of the absence of the President, and will complete the term of the President should a vacancy occur. The Vice-President will hold the President personally accountable, and will act as liaison to help coordinate and hold accountable, the persons or committees in charge of organizing activities. The Vice-President shall also promote interest in the club by current and potential members. The Vice-President shall represent the club in business dealings and contracts for the club when the President either cannot do so, or it's in the best interest of the club because of additional skills or knowledge. The Vice-President shall also lead by example, and shall also be accountable to the President individually, and the Executive officers as a whole. The Vice-President is responsible for the smooth and coherent operation of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Alabama.	Vance Harrellson - Vance joined the club in 2002. His first meeting was the one at Gulf Shores. He started joining the Birmingham area members for their weekly Thursday night meeting at Jim N Nicks restaurant, and it wasn't long before he started getting involved in the club activities. Vance's first official position in the club was Safety Director in 2005. In 2006 Vance became Vice-President and still holds that position in the club. Vance is also hands on in helping his wife Mari, our secretary, with the raffle tickets, the 50/50, door prizes and other meeting related work. Vance is the "right hand", as our President puts it, in keeping the club functioning smoothly. Vance has also stepped up with our President this year, to be Co-chair of the 20th annual Great Chicken Rally. Vance also helps our Travel Director with club rides when asked, and is generally available to anyone in the club for help on anything that is needed. Vance has had several different BMW's and has made the leap from thinking 300 miles was a long trip to many cross country trips in a very short time.
Secretary - The Secretary shall be responsible for taking and publishing the minutes of every meeting, taking the attendance of every function, and handling the "treasury" at each meeting. The Secretary is responsible for the 50/50 operations at each function, the door prize drawings, and the monies taken up for (when applicable) dinners, camping, pins, patches, decals, and any and all other club sales. The Secretary is also responsible for the bike raffle of the annual rally and is to account for each and every raffle ticket, the monies, and each person's sales of said raffle tickets. The Secretary shall send all monies, and an accounting, broken down by category, to the CFO, each month after the meeting and/or function. The Secretary is to be accountable to the President individually and the Executive Officers as a whole.	Mari Harrellson - Mari joined the club with Vance in 2002. Her first meeting was naturally the one at Gulf Shores with Vance. She started attending the Birmingham area weekly get-togethers and has been a hands on person since nearly the beginning. Mari's first position in the club was Secretary in 2004, and she is on her 5th year in that position. Mari handles the bike raffle tickets, the monies taken up at meetings, the 50/50 and door prize tickets and accounting, and also lends a hand to the President making calls, writing things up, helping on the construction of our ABEES booklet for the Travel Director, making lists, double checking plans at the request of the President, and whatever other duty she is called upon to help with. She's "the left hand", our President says. Mari also has her own BMW motorcycle.
Chief Financial Officer - The Chief Financial Officer shall be responsible for the finances of the club, receiving and dispersing all monies and keeping account of all receipts and expenditures. The CFO shall reconcile all monthly bank statements and keep all books and records in an orderly fashion. The CFO shall provide a monthly accounting to the President prior to the monthly meeting and at any other time by request of the President, or any club member in good standing. The CFO shall be the main signer on all club accounts and shall be responsible to the President individually and the Executive Officers as a whole. The CFO shall prepare all financial records and documentation needed, in a timely fashion, to be given to the "outside" accountant/tax preparer for the annual tax return to be completed. The CFO shall receive all new member applications and shall keep a current roster of all members in good standing, and provide all updates to the roster to the President, Newsletter Editor, and the Membership Director, as they occur. The CFO shall be responsible for receiving any pre-registrations and payments for such, for the annual rally, and keep that list until such time as the rally is in progress and those pre-registrants arrive. The CFO shall keep separate books on the annual rally with detailed accounting of all monies received and receipts and accounting for all monies dispersed. The CFO shall provide the President with a detailed financial report on the rally in the month after the rally is held. The CFO is to keep the historical records on membership and all club assets (ie: trailer, smokers, commercial cooking equipment, etc) and be able to provide those records as needed. The CFO shall be accountable to the President individually, the Executive officers as a whole, and the general population of the members in good standing, in that order.	Marty Simpson - Marty and her husband Russ, joined the club in 1971. There isn't enough room to describe all Marty Simpson does for this club since taking on the original "secretary/treasurer's" position in 1977. In the beginning that job was actually combined into "secretary/treasurer" and Marty kept up with all the jobs involved until 2000 when the Secretary and Treasurer jobs were split into two positions and she then became known as the CFO, through a vote of the club. Marty keeps all the historical records of the club, having already had them since nearly the inception of the club itself, and continues to do that to this day along with all the financial responsibilities. Marty's credentials for the job started as working for the government when her husband Russ was in Vietnam. During 20 years with civil service she was in finance and accounting which consisted of military pay, PCS and TDY travel, voucher examiner, and disbursing and accounting of monies. Marty was also the financial brains, including payroll and taxes, behind the three different businesses her husband owned and ran over the years. She was never satisfied if she was ever even a penny off, until she had found the discrepancy. Marty has treated our club's monies with the same diligence and has done so for 32 years now. Marty is the backbone of this club and has the respect and admiration of every member of this club, whether they have met her or not.
Newsletter Editor - The Newsletter Editor shall gather or receive, meeting minutes, written articles, pictures and information on recent and future state and national club activities, from the members, committees, officers and directors, and any other sources available, and shall publish in a timely manner, the information needed by the members on upcoming events first, and recent activities second, always including the previous meeting minutes. The Editor also will use discretion to add any other information he/she deems relevant or of interest to the general membership. The Editor shall follow the written club policy on advertising if approached by anyone to place an ad in the newsletter. If the Editor receives questionable material to be published in the newsletter, he/she shall consult the President before making a decision to print. The Editor shall set their own deadline for input to the newsletter, but should put all possible efforts into making sure that the members receive their newsletter by the end of the second week of each month. (ie: two weeks after the previous meeting and/or two weeks prior to the upcoming meeting) The Editor will maintain a "bank" distributed by the CFO and turn in all expenditures for printing, postage, and materials used in producing the newsletter, to the CFO each month, to have the "bank" replenished. Upon leaving the position of Editor, the "bank" shall be returned to the CFO, after a final accounting of the expenditures of the Editors final issue.	Jamie Jackson - Jamie joined the club with his wife Malvene, in 1989. He has many great stories to tell of their early days in the club. Jamie is a great asset to the club and is on his third year as Newsletter Editor. Jamie's newsletter has been recognized as "world class" by Dr. Mark "Tiger" Edmonds, college English/writing professor, PHD, three time book writer, and million mile BMW rider, and has been acclaimed as one of the most professional club newsletters he receives. We're proud of Jamie and can only hope he will continue to grace our club with his interesting, professional, and always on time newsletter. Jamie also spends nearly every waking hour for the entire rally each year, in the kitchen prep area, helping cook the chicken, washing pots, and anything else that might be needed to get all our rally goers fed.
Rally Chairmen - The Rally Chairmen are responsible for either handling all aspects of planning the rally and getting volunteers and/or appointing members to handle the different aspects of the rally as divided out by the Rally Chairmen. The Rally Chairmen have authority over the rally budget and are to be consulted before any purchase or expenditure is made. The Rally Chairmen are to consult the CFO on a regular basis to keep the accounting of the budget in check and under control. The Rally Chairmen are to keep lists and notes of contacts, vendors, and other persons or businesses or services that are used for the rally planning and execution. This list is to be passed on to any new Rally Chairmen for ease of planning and continuity of theme for future rallies.	Vance Harrelson and Connie Reaves
Safety Director - The Safety Director is responsible for researching safe riding procedures, group riding procedures, tips on packing the bike to maintain stability, and bike maintenance procedures that could be dangerous if not done. A pre-ride checklist should be re-written and updated if the need arises and new information is available, if there is one already available to members. The Safety director should try to submit at least four articles per year, and/or a monthly "tip" on any of the above, to the Newsletter Editor for the benefit and education of the general membership. The Safety director should discuss with any group ride leaders said procedures to make sure the ride leaders understand how to conduct a group ride. The Safety Director should try to hold one or two Safety seminars during the year, and at the Rally if his/her schedule allows.	Jim Baker - Jim has been an MSF instructor for many years. He won Instructor of the year last year and was presented his award by the Alabama Traffic Safety Center head, at our Birmingham area weekly meeting. Jim has been in the club since 2001 and has served as Safety Director for the last two years. He and Shiela, his wife, aren't able to come and join us quite as often as they would like or as often as we would like to see them, but they are exceptionally wonderful assets to the club. For the last several years they have been the Door Prize Chairmen for our annual Great Chicken Rally. They send out letters and contact many people and businesses, and spend months collecting, tagging, listing and numbering, hundred's of door prizes that come in for the rally. They transport all those prizes to Huntsville for the rally from the Birmingham area, and spend many hours at the rally in getting the prize envelopes describing each prize tacked up, drawing tickets for winners, and handling the distribution of door prizes won. The increase in door prizes since they took over this job is incredible and is one of the great attractions to our rally.
Travel Director - The Travel Director is responsible for coming up with ideas for rides to and/or from the meetings, off meeting weekend or day rides when possible, and for maintaining the ABEES program. Using input from other members, or their own ideas, a new "Ride Challenge" should be devised for each year and the details should be completed in time for presentation to the membership at the January meeting. The Travel Director should either lead all rides or appoint ride leaders (may be volunteers) to conduct the rides that are put together and scheduled. The Travel Director should be responsible for getting a prize donated for the ride challenges if possible, or discuss with the President the financial possibility of the club purchasing any such prize, and shall also discuss with the President the costs of any awards other than certificates, for any ride challenge within the ABEES program. The Travel Director should write an article for the newsletter any month that there is a significantly interesting ride that has already been conducted. The Travel Director should always publish upcoming ride opportunities and promote the ABBES program to the general membership.	Lenn Rainwater - A latecomer to riding, Lenn started riding in 2000. Her first bike was a Ninja 500 while she was practicing her skills. Then she advanced to the sport touring bike, Concours. She currently owns a black 2003 K1200 RS. She loves the sport riding aspect of riding although she is very safety-conscious. She likes weekend trips and long distance exploration rides, and has done a track day and some off-road riding as well. She is an experienced ride organizer and leader. Having joined the club in 2007, she attends most meetings but you won't find her camping just yet. However, she's working on it. Originally from Alabama, she recently returned from her adopted home of Scottsdale, Arizona to take care of her parents and manage her family's estate. She has an MBA in International Finance, and her career has been in investment real estate acquisition and finance.
Photography Director - The Photography Director should document in pictures, all meetings and other gatherings of the club including non meeting rides, and at the annual rally, and/or should appoint others or take volunteers when he/she is unable to attend, or even to supplement the pictures in conjunction with the Photography Director's photographs.	Malvene Jackson - Malvene also joined the club in 1989 with her husband Jamie. Malvene is the current Photography Director for the club and has held that position since 2007. Malvene's pictures are great and enhance the newsletter and the photo albums that are posted to the club's website. Malvene is known for what is called "Malvene-isms". If you've spent any time around her you'll know what this term has been coined for. Malvene is hilarious and her take on things is light and witty and straight-forward with immense humor. Malvene is also one who spends nearly every waking hour at the rally, manning the kitchen doing every job imaginable, and standing in the serving line during mealtimes dishing out the goodies to all our guests. Her smiling face and distinctive laugh is the first sign that "we're gonna have a good time" at any club function. Malvene used to, and still can ride her own bike, but she prefers to ride behind Jamie, and be able to "smack him in the head" (as she says... tongue-in-cheek) when he doesn't behave.
Membership Director - The Membership Director is responsible for contacting all new members by sending the "welcome" letter that has been drawn up and edited to fit the current Membership Director's information. A club pin should be sent to each new member along with the welcome letter. The Membership Director should choose either a new member or a current member to "interview" and write up a short article, every month, to submit to the webmaster along with a picture of the member being highlighted for publishing to the "Member Spotlight" section of the club website. This interview can be done in person at a club meeting or gathering, by phone, or by sending an interview question list by mail. The interview questionnaire may be edited by the Membership Director to suit the information wanted or needed for the interview. The Membership director will be responsible for taking the votes each year from the general membership, for the recipient of the annual "Russ Simpson" award to be given at the annual rally. The Membership Director should also make sure that a plaque be made for that award and that the next plate on the club's historical display plaque is engraved and installed.	Jeannine Arnold - Jeannine joined the club with her husband Tommy in 2004. She is WELL known for her homemade fried pies which she has generously made for several of our club dinners when she and Tommy have played host to them. Jeannine is on her second year as our club Membership Director and makes sure all the new members get a warm welcome letter and a club pin within a few days after they join. Jeannine is also very good at making new folks comfortable and welcome when they arrive as first timers at any function. Jeannine's warm smile and genuine interest can make a person fee like they are very much a part of the "family". Jeannine is another of our tireless kitchen staff at the rally, and is rarely seen taking a break from the constant work of feeding the hundreds of folks that attend. I hope we never have to find out what we would do without her.
Tech Director - The Technology Director should try to write for the newsletter at least four times a year, an article dealing with bike maintenance instructions, to include instructions on oil changes or other simple procedures that can be performed by the bike owner. The Technology Director should keep up with new models coming out and write about those, or direct members where to find the information on new models and their changes. The Technology Director should be able to put together informational write ups that if not published, could be copied and passed out at the meetings. The Technology Director should also try to schedule at least two "tech" days or find a volunteer with the knowledge, and or facilities to host tech days. These may be in conjunction with meetings or on off meeting weekends.	Tommy Arnold - Tommy also joined the club with his wife, Jeannine in 2004. Tommy talks low and fast and has a most devious side to him. All playful and in fun, but if you ever wonder who pulled the latest stunt on someone, and nobody seems to know who did it... my bet is you can go stare down Tommy and he'll confess in a heartbeat. The man just can't keep his own secrets. Tommy has played host, along with his wife Jeannine, to several of our best meeting weekends and his BBQ is hands down, the best I think we've ever had. Tommy is on his second year as our Technology Director and we are genuinely proud to have him as part of our club. Tommy rides to meetings and also rides on a lot of the off meeting rides that our Travel Director holds.