Jim Masilamani I am a physician who has retired about 18 months ago. I have been playing Duplicate Bridge for over thirty years. I have been on the Unit 234 Board for the last few years. I have also been our Unit representative to the District 15 Board for many years and have just been elected as Vice President of ACBL District 15. Currently I am the Tournament Chairman for the upcoming Topeka Regional June 2016. My chief hobby is playing bridge. It has been a source of untold pleasure for many years. I hope that by standing for the Unit 234 Board and contributing my part to its activities that I can in some small way repay the game and the bridge community for this wonderful gift.
Chris Lane I learned to play bridge at the beginning of my freshman year at KU, over 50 years ago. My love of the game had an immediate serious and detrimental effect on my academic career (fifteen years later, I earned my degree in economics)! In more recent years, I worked closely with John Hickey when he was tournament chair. I did all tournament fliers from about 2002 to about 2010. I also worked with John coordinating with hotel staffs, and later I took over Hospitality, but I did not actually run for and serve on the Board until about 2004. I served on the Board from about 2004 until 2010 when I resigned. At our first Regional tournament in 2010, I was on the floor every day, submitted information and photos for the daily bulletin, worked closely with the DIC and tournament chair, coordinated with the Capitol Plaza staff, ACBL staff, and the Unit. I manage Kaw Valley Bridge Club and have served on the KVBC Board as Treasurer since the Club's inception in 2005. I have agreed to serve on the District 15 Board beginning in 2017. At one time, Unit 234's tournaments were touted for their great hospitality. I would like to see that happen again and I would like to see our great opportunity to host a full regional bring recognition to our small Unit. I believe that together we can make this happen! We are a small Unit with a LOT to offer!!
Julia Dalton Introduced to bridge by college friends in 1966, I have played duplicate since the late 70s. I am a director and a bronze life master, working toward the silver level. After a 3-year absence from the game, I am so very glad to be playing again. I currently live in Parkville MO, but still belong to Unit 234. Besides playing bridge,I enjoy giving piano lessons, singing, and - best of all - spending time with my 3 children and 5 grandchildren. I play in the Leavenworth and Lawrence games as much as I can. As a retired teacher and instructional program administrator, I would love to share my creativity and organizational skills as a member of the board.
Jason Smith I am Jason Smith, from Topeka. I have served one year on the Board, and I am seeking another 3 year term on the Unit Board of Directors. I was elected to a 3 year term just last year. I have resigned from that term, effective at the Unit Election game, and am now seeking an additional 3 year term. I am doing this as a procedural issue. In the past year, the Board of Directors was reduced from 12 members to 9 members, making the number of positions open each year a bit awkward for now. My resigning and seeking a new term will allow the Board to be able to elect 3 positions each year going forward. I have been playing a lot this past year, have attended most of the Board meetings, have helped with tear down and caddying at last fall's Topeka Sectional. Currently, I am co-chairing the Sunflower Regional, as well as serving as Caddy Master for the Regional. If elected to another term, I would be heavily involved in the planning and implementation of our next Regional, tentatively set for summer of 2018. As a player with not a lot of points, I would like to see more done at our local and tournament levels in new player development, education, and seeing what we can do to get more younger players involved in the game. I would want to work on this in the next several years, and see what we can do to grow this game that we all love! Again, I ask for your vote to return me to the Board of Directors for another term!
Jo Andersen I have been a member of kaw valley bridge club for 12 years. I spent 35 years as a cabinet maker. My favorite service project is "little free library"--a box that holds books for neighbors to share for free (please let me know if you would like to get involved). I am running for a position on the unit board because I would like to give back to the game that has given me so much enjoyment.