Candidates Present Statements for Dec. 6 Officer Election
At the Dec. 6 meeting and holiday party, CCA members will have the opportunity to elect the 2025 club officers for Club Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and Membership Chair.
The nominating steering committee has secured the nominations of David (Cotton) Cottingham for Chair, Jen Sass for Secretary, Marilyn Jones for Treasurer, and Ginny DeSeau for Membership Chair. All are incumbents except Marilyn, who graciously stepped in mid-term as treasurer replacing Jim Landfield, who held the position for many years. Thank you, Jim! A hearty thanks to our nominees for being willing to continue to serve in 2025 and also to the Nominating Steering Committee members for wrangling candidates and their statements.
As per the Bylaws, additional candidates may be proposed by the membership. There will be an opportunity at the meeting.
—Hildy Ferraiolo, Chair, Nominating Steering Committee
Statement from David (Cotton) Cottingham
To serve as Chair
I've now served as CCA Chair since 2020. I've enjoyed almost every minute of my tenure. I seek to become Chair again for 2025.
Since becoming Chair, I have managed the Club through the Covid pandemic (if we are out of it yet) by working with the excellent volunteer committee leads and others to maintain a vibrant and active club for members and the greater DC paddling community. We've had over 100 paddling trips each year on rivers ranging from flatwater to Class IV. CCA sponsored successful Downriver Races, increased membership, solicited new financial sponsors for CCA programs, worked with the National Park Service and others to improve access to the Potomac and other streams, and sought to increase diversity in the paddling, particularly whitewater, community. We've made progress in these areas because of CCA's dedicated members.
CCA also has opportunities to build on its successes. In 2024, several CCA members became ACA certified to be whitewater kayak instructors. They are looking at ways to expand CCA's instructional program in 2025. CCA will also host its 70th Downriver Race in 2024. That calls for a major celebration and preparing for the Club's 70th birthday celebration. During 2025, I will work with the Board, Steering Committee, and members to continue CCA's traditional programs and plan for the future by recruiting and mentoring CCA's next generation of whitewater leaders.
Statement from Jen Sass
To serve as Secretary
Thank you for considering my nomination for Secretary of CCA. I had held the pen, so to speak, as Secretary of CCA in the recent past (2017- 2020, 2023-2024), so my note-taking skills have been tested and found acceptable. During my time on the Board of CCA we were awarded the prestigious ACA Green Paddle Award for our work to protect river access to the GW Canal. I was also a longtime volunteer with Potomac Paddlers Volunteer Corps, National Park Service, until the program was disbanded (2016-2019). And I am a whitewater kayak instructor with Calleva River School (since 2012). In my non-kayaking life, I work as an environmental health scientist for a national non-profit group (since 2001); live with my husband Michael Graham, our two cats, and one pet bunny; and am a regular plasma donor at the American Red Cross. If you should need meeting minutes, kayak instruction, or blood products, please consider me.
Candidate Statement from Marilyn Jones
To serve as Treasurer
I am the incumbent candidate for Treasurer, having been asked to fill the role when CCA's elected Treasurer stepped down earlier this year. I am primarily a whitewater kayaker, but sometimes you will see me out West in shredder or a raft. I've made many friends and had wonderful experiences via paddling clubs. Rivers have sustained me most of my adult life. I would like to continue being CCA's Treasurer so I can support this organization and its members.
Statement from Ginny DeSeau
To serve as Membership Chair
I started paddling whitewater in the early 1990s when I quickly realized that solo canoeing was the path for me. After several years of traveling to beautiful and fun rivers in the Mid-Atlantic and South, I was lucky enough to take Western trips to bigger whitewater with friends I had made in the local canoe clubs. We mostly used rafts and inflatables for those Western trips, but canoes remain my boat of choice here on the East Coast—even though life has interfered with paddling in recent years and bum knees are now pointing me towards kayaks. The point being that being a member of and participating in our local paddling club(s) is a great way to meet people, forge lifelong friendships, have fun outside, and have the privilege of seeing amazing parts of the world. When I joined the CCA, it opened all of these doors for me, and I have had the pleasure of supporting the club as Secretary, President, Membership Chair/Co-Chair, and other roles as needed. It certainly "takes a village" to keep the CCA thriving as a volunteer organization, and I'll be glad to continue to work with old and new friends to keep the CCA doing so much for the paddling community and conservation.