Audio Interview Questions
for the 2008 UPA Board Candidates

Below are the questions that UPA Nominating Committee has selected to ask each of the 2008 Board of Directors Candidates in the UPA’s audio interviews.  The committee determined that six questions and a closing statement would provide an adequate opportunity for members to get to know their candidates without overburdening either the candidates or overwhelming UPA members.  With the large number of issues, both philosophic and strategic, choosing the six questions that were to be asked was not easy. 

•  Who the candidate is, why they are running, and what they will bring to the UPA Board of Directors
• How the candidate will communicate with the members that they represent
• What the candidate will do to help ensure implementation of the UPA’s strategic plan
• How the candidate thinks through difficult issues that the UPA and Ultimate face and
• What the candidate thinks is the most important issue for the UPA to deal with and how that issue should be dealt with

With these goals in mind the following questions were chosen for the interviews:

“Tell us about how you became interested in Ultimate and why you are running for the UPA Board”

“What strengths are you going to bring to the UPA Board of Directors”

“With an organization approaching 30,000 members, communication with our membership is an understandable challenge.  What will you do personally to communicate with your constituents to strengthen their relationship and represent their interests to the UPA?”

“Earlier this year, after gathering information from thousands of players over 18 months, the UPA completed our first strategic plan.  What will you do as a member of the UPA Board of Directors to help ensure that plan is implemented.”

“Since Ultimate is player-officiated, one significant challenge to the sport is rule knowledge among players.  Do you believe that there is an adequate level of rule knowledge among players and what do you see as an effective way to maintain and/or improve the level of knowledge of the rules as the sport grows?”

“What do you think is the most pressing issue the UPA needs to address and how will you address that issue as a UPA Board Member.”

“Any closing words on why UPA members should vote for you for the Board of Directors?”
 
This is the first time that the UPA has reached out in this way to both candidates and voting members of the UPA. 

While whatever questions we choose will bring about some controversy we hope that you appreciate our attempt to bring more information to you about your potential representatives.  Please feel free to suggest changes to this process for future years to:

Audio interviews:

AT LARGE

Gwen Ambler, Seattle, WA

Mandy Eckhoff, Somerville, MA

Catherine Hartley Greenwald, Park City, UT

Frank Huguenard, Cupertino, CA

David Janinis, Chico, CA

Todd Leber, Wilmington, NC

Jeff Martin, Wilson, NC

Jamie Nuwer, Fremont, CA

Henry Thorne, Pittsburgh, PA

CENTRAL

Ben Feldman, Minnetonka, MN

Seth Grossinger, Minneapolis, MN

Joseph Seastrom, Springfield, MO

SOUTH REGION

Mike Nash, Charleston, SC

John Terry, Atlanta, GA