Skal USA Celebrates a Successful 2017 and New Officers

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Dec 28, 2017, 19:59 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Skal International USA has held its annual elections and will be moving forward from a highly successful 2017.

Newly elected officers are Burcin Turkkan, Skal Atlanta, President; Holly Powers, Skal Boston, International Skal Councilor, Alton Hagen, Skal Kansas City, Vice President Finance; Lisa Conway, Vice President Administration; Dave Ryan, Skal Sacramento, Vice President Membership; Richard Scinta, Skal Orlando, Membership Director; and Joanne Ford, Skal Nashville, Auditor. Jim Dwyer, Skal Northern New Jersey, Membership Director; Steve Richer, Skal Washington, Public Relations and Communications Director; and Art Allis, Skal Tucson, Auditor, will continue to service in 2018.

During 2017, Skal USA held an extremely well attended North American meeting in Toronto; organized its first ever webinar national meeting with 100% attendance; had 100% participation in its annual election; adopted its first ever advocacy positions on Brand USA, national parks, transportation infrastructure, and freedom to travel; raised extra funds to support damaged communities in Florida, Texas, and the Caribbean after hurricanes; twinned USA Skal clubs with all the Skal clubs in India during US-India Tourism Partnership Year. Skal USA used relevancy to help grow Skal by not only adding members to existing clubs, but to actually add new clubs for the first time in seventeen years. A new club in Richmond, Virginia, broke the ice. Congratulations to Skalleague Andres Hayes, new President of Skal Washington, for his work on this project. Additional new clubs in southwest Florida, central California, Phoenix, Arizona and Savannah, GA are projected to charter in early 2018.

2017 President Holly Powers observed, "It is exciting to report Skål USA is experiencing growth with the opening of new clubs and individual members. Industry leaders are seeing the value of doing business among friends and the enormous benefit of Skål being a global organization."

Anticipated activities for 2018 will include a winter Executive Committee meeting next month in Raleigh, North Carolina; a North American Skal gathering along the Mexican Gulf Coast; and expanded efforts to work with the rest of the national travel industry.

2018 President Burcin Turkkan has summarized her goals for the year this way, "The SKAL USA 2018 Executive Committee will work hard to build on top of what has been constructed in the past two years to grow our organization further. Our priority will be to continue the momentum of growth in membership and starting new clubs. Since communication is the key to retain membership, we will benefit from technology to improve our level of communications and channels with our membership and potential members in the travel and tourism industry. Being the largest national committee in the SKAL International world and being able to demonstrate the positive changes Skal USA has made, we will continue to be a national committee that sets the trends and give the courage to the other national committees in the SKAL world."

SKAL International USA is currently the largest National Committee in Skal International with over 2,000 members and 48 clubs nationwide. For more information on SKAL International and SKAL USA, and to find out more about membership, go to www.skalusa.org

Steve Richer -Director of PR & Communications, SKAL USA
Contact# 228-586-7004

SOURCE Skal International USA