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Crossroads Information

Michigan Coordinating Council Leadership Appointments

At the November 4, 2011 initial Interim Board Meeting of the Michigan Coordinating Council, Al Lambert, Central Region Director shared his vision and commitment to appoint the majority of key leadership roles in the Michigan Coordinating Council prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Identifying the leadership team is critical to insuring our success in the task of empowering the “heart” of our initiative, i.e. the creation of the new Field Service Councils (FSC). The Field Service Councils are the basis of the new model of providing exponential programs for our youth and service to our Chartered Organizations.

Significant organizational change always creates uncertainty in staff and in the case of the Boy Scouts, our volunteers. In an endeavor to provide information to the status of our Scout Executives, we are sending you this email. At the start of the Area 2 Project, Al Lambert made a key commitment related to the Scout Executives participating in the Project, which would not result in a detrimental impact to their professional careers. A volunteer committee comprised of myself, Rich Wells, Thom Linn and Regional President, Steve King was created to review the recommendations of Al Lambert and John Reesor to fill key leadership positions of the Michigan Coordinated Council.

The objective of the volunteer committee, is to ask questions, act as a sounding board and be a partner to ensure we have the most exceptional people in each of the critical roles. The committee also affirmed that our Scout Executive, John Reesor needs the flexibility to lead the process of identifying the new team, which he is ultimately responsible for leading and managing.

We are pleased to announce the following appointments:

John Reesor
Scout Executive (CEO)		 John has had an exceptional career in Scouting which includes most recently as the Scout Executive for the Great Lakes Council which serves Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. Prior to this, John has served in several key leadership roles including Deputy Regional Director - Operations for Western Region, as well as Scout Executive for Jacksonville, Florida and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Brain Nastase
Chief Operating Officer (COO)		 Brian currently is the Scout Executive for the Lake Huron Area Council. Previous to that he was Direct of Field Services in Omaha, NE. As COO of the Michigan Coordinating Council, he will be responsible for working with the Scout Executives of the four Field Service Councils, direct the recruitment of 75 USE’s by 6/1/12, increase membership enrollment by 10,000 members over 12/31/11 and help drive exceptional program to youth members.
Mike Chaffee
Controller		 Mike has served as Director of Field Service for the Bay-Lakes Council in Appleton, Wisconsin. Prior to serving as Director of Field Service, Mike also served as Assistant Director of Field Service and Finance Director with Bay-Lakes Council and Program Director of the Gerald R. Ford Council in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and most recently as the Scout Executive for Tall Pine Council for the last five years.
Brad Bowersox
Director of Program Support		 Brad has served as a career Scouter for 26 years, a Scout Executive for 10 years and has served in six councils. He is an Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow Vigil Member. Brad is active in Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, his church, and leadership programs.
Dan Hogan
Director of Marketing and Communications		 Dan is an Eagle Scout and 13-year professional with the Boy Scouts of America. Dan spent the first five years of his career as a District Executive and Senior District Executive in Haverhill, MA. He then became District Director in Morganville, NJ and also served as both Field Director and Assistant Scout Executive in Boston, MA. Dan has spent the last two years of his career serving at the Scout Executive of the Scenic Trails Council.
Michael Sulgrove
Scout Executive, FSC “A”
(Grand Rapids/Traverse City)		 Michael Sulgrove is currently the Scout Executive for the Gerald R. Ford Council in Grand Rapids. Started this wonderful calling as a professional Scout leader January 1976---after many great youth and young adult experiences. He has proudly served with thousands of grand Scout leaders and community leaders to help the Scouting Movement grow. Mike has given visionary leadership, helped five councils to grow summer camp Scout participation in twelve summer camp through strong camp staff growth, property enhancements, and unique programs.
Paul Schwartz
Scout Executive, FSC “B”
(Port Huron, Flint, Auburn and Lansing)		 Paul Schwartz is currently the Scout Executive for the Blue Water Council in Port Huron, Michigan. He has served in the Northern Lights Council as a District Executive Northwestern North Dakota. Then as Senior District Executive and District Director in Minot North Dakota. Paul also served the Gateway Area Council as a Field Director and an Assistant Scout Executive.

Dan Busby
Scout Executive, FSC “C”
(Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor)		 Dan Busby has served four councils over the past 17 years as a Professional Scouter. This Eagle Scout began his career in Akron, Ohio, was promoted to Topeka, Kansas, then to Peoria, Illinois, and most recently serves as Scout Executive for the Southwest Michigan Council based in Kalamazoo Michigan.

The roles of Chief Development Officer, Chief Outdoor/Program Officer as well as Scout Executive for the Great Lakes Field Service Council will remain open until the results of a nationwide search are completed. John Reesor along with other members of the management will continue to give leadership.

Crossroads Voting Results

After the results of voting on the Crossroads Recommendation were announced on 1 November, there have been several Scouters who have expressed an interest in a more detailed breakdown of the totals. The table below should answer those questions.

Council # Eligible votes # Received % Returned # Yes % Yes of received # No % No of received Abstained
Ann Arbor
264
172
65.2%
152
88.4%
17
9.9%
3
Auburn
297
229
77.1%
219
95.6%
10
4.4%
0
Detroit
689
450
65.3%
412
91.6%
34
7.6%
4
Flint
209
124
59.3%
119
96.0%
5
4.0%
0
Grand Rapids
351
275
78.3%
242
88.0%
33
12.0%
0
Kalamazoo
160
102
63.8%
100
98.0%
2
2.0%
0
Lansing
176
123
69.9%
119
96.7%
4
3.3%
0
Port Huron
99
85
85.9%
73
85.9%
12
14.1%
0
Traverse City
123
92
74.8%
81
88.0%
10
10.9%
1
Total/Avg.
2,368
1,652
69.8%
1517
91.8%
127
7.7%
8