 Ryan
Hecker, New York University
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Hey everyone! My name is Ryan Hecker and I am running for Vice President
of Finance. I believe that I have a lot of experience and innovative
ideas to offer to this position. During my freshman and sophomore
years, I served as Vice President of Finance of the NYU Parliamentary
Debaters' Union. In this position, I managed a budget of $20,000
each year, and had experience keeping complete and precise accounts
of all receipts and disbursements. When it came to team finances,
I was very well known for being meticulous. This year, as president
of my team, I have been intimitely involved in novice recruitment
and retention, as well as planning and executing our tournament.
I feel that these leadership experiences will aid me in exceeding
the responsibilities of this position.
 I also
have a number of ideas that I would like to see implemented. First,
I would like to create a committee composed of school treasurers
that will hold semi-regular meetings at APDA tournaments. This committee
will provide a number of benefits. It will help the APDA body by
serving as a means of acquiring donations and sponsorships from
different locations across the country. Furthermore, this organization
will network treasurers from different schools who often do not
know one another. Such interconnections will create an environment
whereby treasurers can share ideas about successful fundraising
and financial management. This networking would be especially helpful
for smaller schools with limited budgets.
I strongly
feel that it is also important that we focus on expanding our alumni
network. We can accomplish this very easily through pure gruntwork,
individually calling every listed APDA alumnus to find out whom
they know. Such an expansion of our alumni channels will help bring
more donations to APDA, Inc., and serve other non-financial uses
as well. Most importantly, I will create an internship database
based on these connections, which APDA debaters can use as a resource
for career-related aims. In this way, APDA will not only benefit
debaters in the short-term, but in post-graduation goals as well.
A final
idea that I would like to propose in this statement is something
that I have wanted to see implemented for a very long time. I would
like to work with either CSPAN or another politcally-oriented channel
to promote national television coverage of APDA outrounds. I believe
that our form of debate is very marketable and exciting. We discuss
many important issues in very witty, eloquent, and intelligent ways.
I truly believe that if our organization is presented in the right
way, we can form some sort of relationship with a nationally-aired
channel. I mean, aren't we much more interesting and exciting than
CSPAN's BookTV? Such coverage would take APDA to a whole new level
of prominence on the national stage and help our organization secure
many more donations. And I sincerely believe that I can get it done.
Though
I have not discussed novice retention and judging, among other issues,
I do have opinions on all of them. You can contact me via telephone
at (212) 443-7816, via email at sethnavajo@aol.com,
or via IM at Sethnavajo.
I just wished, in this candidate statement, to present you with
three innovative ideas that I promise, if elected, I will work as
hard as I can to implement. For the past three years APDA has been
one of the most important parts of my life, and I sincerely want
to give back. My feeling of commitment and loyalty to this body
is why I am running, and also why I can ensure you that I will succeed
in implementing these goals. |
Raj
Krishnan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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The
difference between running for APDA board this year and running
in years past is that we as a body now can make use of our Incorporation
Status, and have some idea of what the hurdles involved with Incorporation
are. APDA sweated a considerable amount to become incorporated,
and I feel it important to make use of this hard-earned status.
At the same time, it is important to use our experiences of this
past year in electing board officers who will best be able to maintain
continuity into next year while also dealing with any roadblocks
that have appeared in the last year. It is with all these considerations
in mind that I am honored to announce my candidacy for the position
of Vice President of Finance.
Why
do I feel that I would be the best person for this particular job?
Certain elements are absolutely necessary for an individual to be
successful in any of the APDA board positions, and I feel I have
these elements. First, APDA board members also need to be able to
represent the body to other debating forums and to the global debating
community. I have competed at two Worlds tournaments at Sydney and
Glasgow, and I'm confident that the ties I've built with individuals
both on NPDA and in other countries will assist me in making sure
that APDA is as well represented on the world forum as possible.
Additionally, my terms as Vice President of Tournaments and then
as President of the MIT Debate Team has given me considerable experience
in leadership and in maintaining cohesiveness on an executive board.
Personality-wise, I've always been open to suggestions, both in
terms of suggestions from my own team on operational issues and
from the APDA body in general. I've always made myself available
to anyone with a grievance, and as APDA VP Finance I will maintain
my commitment to approachability. Finally, I absolutely understand
the importance of novice retention, APDA expansion, and improved
judging. In particular, I think that novice retention could be improved
through the utilization of the much-underused mentoring program;
I would encourage schools and presidents to take a much more active
stance in involving their novices in the mentoring program. As far
as judges goes, I would require those individuals that benefit from
good and fair judging - the individuals who have acquired seeds
for nationals - to give back by judging in at least one tournament
in the year. This way the benefit of good judges can be more effectively
distributed.
So
much for my qualifications for APDA board in general; why VP Finance?
The clearest answer is that I would bring considerable knowledge
in fund-raising to the APDA board. As President of MIT Debate this
past year, I was heavily involved in acquiring funding for my team's
tournament attendance. Compared to a number of teams on the circuit,
MIT has traditionally been somewhat underfunded. As such, it became
a prime responsibility of mine to ensure that we as a team achieved
financial parity with the rest of the circuit. To do so, this past
summer I appealed to a diverse group of bodies for funding: intra-MIT
departments and schools, corporate sponsors, and Alumni. In particular,
these last two will be very relevant if I am elected as APDA VP
Finance. There has always been considerable discussion attached
to this position about increasing funding, and my experience with
just that kind of activity will prove beneficial were I elected.
In
light of this, I'd like to conclude with what I plan to accomplish
in the position of VP Finance. The major issue in regards to fundraising,
and one that has not yet completely been explored, is the use of
our new status as an Incorporation for fundraising. I have discussed
this topic with Adam Zirkin, last year's Vice President of Finance,
and it appears that the only major roadblock to the launching of
a capital campaign is the completion of IRS paperwork. Once this
hurdle is taken care of, APDA should have no trouble in convincing
corporations to make tax-deductible contributions to the organization.
An additional idea I have is involving corporations like KAPLAN,
which have a vested interest in tapping the law-school-bound college
market, in funding APDA, in return for official recognition of their
support. There is considerable precedent for both of these kinds
of corporate sponsorship helping high school forensics and even
individual tournaments on other circuits. I intend to make use of
the corporate contacts I've acquired from my fundraising for MIT
Debate to benefit APDA as a whole.
Finally,
what to do with the money? There are always an endless number of
ways to spend fundraising capital, and it is vital to choose the
best of these options. From discussion with some of the member schools,
it appears that one of the large concerns of new tournaments is
the considerable capital sink involved with running a tournament.
Candidates in the past have often discussed the possibility of subsidization
of new tournaments, and while this could be an effective idea, an
even better alternative may be interest-free loans to small tournaments.
This way schools with small budgets are able to make the initial
large payments necessary, while still benefiting from returns from
their tournament. And by minimizing the number of outright subsidies,
more tournaments can be funded and establish a foundation to become
self-sufficient. This seems to be the best way to encourage APDA
expansion. Additional use of these funds might include subsidizing
the cost of Nationals and Columbia Novice so as to open these vital
tournaments to a greater number of schools, payment of judges, and
Worlds subsidies.
I very
much look forward to the possibility of serving as your Vice President
of Tournaments and being centrally involved with completing the
incorporation process, raising capital, and instituting programs
for the benefit of the APDA body. I feel that I have the experience,
knowledge, and vision to fill the role and accomplish the goals
I have. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me
via email (rajk@mit.edu), phone
(617-225-8953), or ICQ (36413888).
Thank you for considering my candidacy.
Sincerely,
Raj Krishnan,
MIT Debate |
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