National Board of Directors Election Now Open

Audi Club North America’s National Board of Directors election is now open and will be open through Tuesday, November 15th. You should have received an email with a web link to your election ballot. Please keep an eye out for it and please vote.

Each year, three of the nine National Board of Director positions are up for election. Directors serve a 3-year term and are eligible to run for a second 3-year term.

We’re excited to have six incredible candidates running for the 2023 – 2025 open board positions. You may read the candidate statements belowIn alphabetical order:

Mayur Bhatia – Golden Gate

I have been a long-time member of the Golden Gate Chapter and have served on the board for the last six years. During my time on the board, I have held the positions of Treasurer, event master, and event leader. I have successfully helped run at least 30 events throughout my membership. Events have included High-Performance Driver Education, a Teen Driving clinic, Instructor clinic & instructor mentoring, social drives, and tech clinics, to name a few.

During the pandemic, I was critical in keeping the chapter engaged with its members, planning safe events when permissible, and ensuring the vision for the club was kept in sight.

As a treasurer, it has been my responsibility to keep the chapter profitable and have grown the reserves of the chapter.

Volunteering to help chapter leaders is critical to the success of an event without burning out the existing leadership. I took the opportunity to build a process and a committee of volunteers. This has helped the club get organized and be efficient at the time of an event. In the past, the club had a small pool of volunteers to help during events. I saw this as not a feasible situation for the club’s growth and would cause immediate burnout of existing board members and the small group of individuals who would volunteer. I came up with a program to have volunteers with dedicated roles.
Leading by example, I have groomed members of the organization by providing them with volunteer opportunities and a plan for involvement with the club. Reaching out to brands and sponsors to strengthen the relationship, bringing non-members to join the club and participate in HPDE events, driving revenue.

Being on the national board of directors, I hope to help with the unification of the process, approach, and governance of the various chapters. Based on the information in the monthly ACNA calls and talking with members of other chapters, there is a disconnect or a different approach to many things. For example, I worked together on standardization for the HPDE approach, insurance requests, format for events, etc.
We are working closely with the dealerships and other local Audi enthusiast groups to show and expand the benefits of being an ACNA member.
Work closely with existing brands & sponsors on how to best showcase their brand within the ACNA community.
It is understanding the common issues chapters face and finding a solution that could benefit and improve the functionality of all branches.

As an auto enthusiast and member of multiple not-for-profit organizations, I would use this opportunity to give back to the Audi Community. I am passionate about the brand, the club, and, most importantly, the people representing the event. 

Dan Daubenspeck – Rocky Mountain 

I bought my first Audi October 2019 and in that short time have come to appreciate the brand as a world class luxury car.  Shortly after purchasing my 2011 Q5, I was getting it serviced and saw an advertisement for Audi Club North America in an older (2008) issue of quattro and decided that as an Audi owner, I would try to immerse myself in the culture of Audi ownership and paid my $49.00 annual fee for membership.  Just a few months after joining the club, I decided to answer a call for national volunteers to assist the national board, and while waiting for a response from ACNA, I also reached out to our local chapter, offering to volunteer with the Rocky Mountain Chapter.  Within a couple months, I was asked to fill a vacant board position on the Rocky Mountain Chapter board and was asked to work with the national Membership Committee.  In the short time since buying my first Audi, and becoming an ACNA member, I have been elected as the President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter and continue to serve on the Membership & Nominating Committee of ACNA.  It has been my pleasure in serving in these positions and am excited about the idea of expanding this service to the club, by running for a board position on the ACNA board of directors.  During my short time with the Rocky Mountain Chapter, we have continued serving our chapter by organizing annual ice driving education events, scenic day drives, social events and in 2021 organized a fund-raising golf tournament to benefit the American Heart Association, raising over $10,000 in our inaugural year.  Future plans for the chapter are to provide our members with a wider array of social and educational events throughout the year and to promote the ACNA by recruiting and retaining members in our four-state region. 

As an ACNA board member, I believe that we need to appreciate and listen to our expansive membership base on how we as a board can support their chapter needs and provide tangible membership value to grow the overall brand.  Listening to our members is not only essential to the success of our club but is also in the DNA of the Audi community, with the founders last name of Horch meaning “listen” in German and translating to Audi in Latin.

Byron de Jesus (incumbent) – Glacier Lakes

My passion for Audis started with attending my first high performance driving event (HPDE) with the club founders in Minnesota.  It has evolved to a love and understanding for what club represents:  motorsport comradery and driver education and safety.  Over twenty years of involvement with Audi Club track events, teen clinics, and fun drives have created long lasting friendships and indelible memories.  Instructing at driving events and serving as a member of the board of directors in many positions allows me to give back to the club that has been such a significant and rewarding part of my life.  I consider my time well spent assisting chapters with their various email platforms as well as the club’s national information management in the cloud with Salesforce and Microsoft.  These are complex systems requiring substantial effort for configuration, maintenance and integration with other web platforms. 

The Audi Club is facing many challenges moving forward with changes in technology and social communications platforms.  My 35 years of IT consulting experience along with decades of interaction with members and chapters across the country allows me the unique opportunity to help the organization stay current and become better connected with its members.  Being a board member and president for Audi Club Glacier Lakes has allowed me to help our local chapter with events and membership. But being on the National board of directors gives me a greater opportunity to continue to enhance the experience for the entire club.  I am honored the national board of directors asked me to serve in a position for the past year.  If elected back to the board, I will continue to serve with my unique skills and experience to make the club better and give our members more visibility and access to events, people and information. 

Paul Gazella – Ohio Valley

I have been with the Audi Club for over 20 years and am a Lifetime member. I have a deep passion for Audi as a brand and it’s heritage. While I love a good spirited HPDE event, I feel there is a need to share the love of Audi both on and off the track and with others.  

I have been instrumental in creating Quattro De Mayo, Audi Club’s premier social event outside of Nationals. I have organized and led local meets and drives throughout Northeast Ohio. I’ve also been helping others with their events (checkpoint worker for One Lapp of Ohio Rally Tour).  

I feel to build and strengthen membership, there’s opportunities to offer more social activities, including charity/service for others.  Track events are great and an excellent way to learn car control and safety that can apply towards everyday driving. I don’t discount that value.  

I’ve seen success in chapters with social events that bring everyone together in fellowship in sharing our passion of Audi with others.  To quote Ted Dannemiller, “It’s the cars that bring us together, but the friendships that bring us back.”  I feel this is essential for a strong member base.   

I have been with the Audi Club for over 20 years and am a Lifetime member. I have a deep passion for Audi as a brand and it’s heritage. While I love a good spirited HPDE event, I feel there is a need to share the love of Audi both on and off the track and with others.   

I have been instrumental in creating Quattro De Mayo, Audi Club’s premier social event outside of Nationals. I have organized and led local meets and drives throughout Northeast Ohio. I’ve also been helping others with their events (checkpoint worker for One Lapp of Ohio Rally Tour).  

I feel to build and strengthen membership, there’s opportunities to offer more social activities, including charity/service for others.  Track events are great and an excellent way to learn car control and safety that can apply towards everyday driving. I don’t discount that value. 

I’ve seen success in chapters with social events that bring everyone together in fellowship in sharing our passion of Audi with others.  To quote Ted Dannemiller, “It’s the cars that bring us together, but the friendships that bring us back.”  I feel this is essential for a strong member base.  

Tom Mullane (incumbent) – Northeast

I have been an Audi Club member since my first Winter Driving school over 15 years ago, and brand enthusiast since I bought my first Audi in the mid-1990’s, a 1991 200 Quattro.  I’ve served my chapter as event master, Board member, President and committee member.  I’ve also served the Audi Club NA as a Board member since 2019.  Professionally, I work in Information Technology and Legal Compliance, focusing on security and utilization of large data sets as well as data privacy. 

When I joined the ACNA Board, it was clear that the Board was taking the Club in a new direction.  Stagnant membership, financial pressures, and eventually COVID threatened the health of the Club.  Since then, there has been a complete restructuring of the staff and allocation of staff responsibilities, new staff on board, a new Executive Director, a virtualized home office, and a flurry of other changes. I am proud of my work as chair of the IT Committee and our work to reconstruct the working tools and systems as data and systems began moving to the Cloud, and I am happy to have played a small part in this overhaul of core of our Club. 

Looking forward, there a many initiatives and projects that will require significant effort to complete.  But we have a solid staff, a dedicated Board, active committees, willing and numerous volunteers, and many innovative ideas to drive membership growth, financial solvency, and Club member experience at the ACNA. I ask for your vote to allow me to continue to work on your behalf. 

Ryan Ponto – Western Canada

From the start of it all, flying to Miami to pick up his first Audi, a 2007 VR6 A3 and the subsequent 5,500km road trip home. Ryan was hooked and hasn’t looked back. Both he and his wife Melissa have continued to enjoy their Audis, Ryan with his lowered 2020 A4 allroad, and Melissa now with her 2022 Q7, going into project more for a more of an adventure capable SUV so they can tow their trailer and goldens around North America.   

Over the years Ryan has spent endless amounts of time involved in the Audi world locally, meeting many new friends, going on drives and helping fellow enthusiasts whenever he can (such as hours in the garage helping install lowering springs). Troy Reswick, the original Western Canada chapter president encouraged Ryan to join/help with the Western Canada Chapter, but it wasn’t till a few years later in 2019 when he finally signed up and eventually took on the role as vice president. The chapter quickly grew over the following years with a newfound energy, with the membership base slowly nearing 300 members in Western Canada with area representatives in numerous cities.  

Ryan is a firm believer that to have a successful chapter, and on the larger scale of the national board, one of the biggest keys to success is the people you surround yourself with (stating his entire Western Canada team has been essential to their growth and active members).  Another key piece is simply having fun with the club, people, and activities – from informal weekday events like Audis and Ice Cream, to car shows or more recently their upcoming Okanagan Audis (A full weekend event with some groups driving over 10 hours to meet in Kelowna, BC). Regardless of what the events are, keep it enjoyable, relaxed and just have fun with it. The more enjoyable the group is, the more fun everyone has, the more people will want to be a part of it.  

With his positive attitude, amazing people surrounding him both locally and across North America as part of the club, Ryan feels that he would be an excellent asset to the National Board and truly hopes he gets the chance to be a bigger part of what makes the Audi Club so amazing. (And of course, bring the goldens to as many events as possible seeing as they are always a crowd favorite). 

This is your opportunity, as a member of Audi Club North America, to cast your vote for the future of the Club. These six candidates have stepped forward to lead the Club so let’s show them our support. Members may vote for up to three (3) of the aforementioned nominees.

All Active, Associate, and Family members in good standing as of October 14, 2022 will be sent an email ballot with a link to the voting website. The election is being conducted using Survey Hero.

All ballots received by 11:59 PM Eastern, November 15th, will be tabulated and results will be publicized on audiclubna.org and via email announcing the new Directors who will begin in January for the 2023 to 2025 term.

Your completed ballot will be received and verified by our bank, Bank Five Nine. All ballots received by 11:59 PM Eastern, November 15, will be tabulated by the bank and results will be publicized on audiclubna.org and via email announcing the new Directors who will begin in January for the 2023 to 2025 term.