search.noResults

search.searching

note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
THE MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL ONE COMMON BOND - THE HORSE • ONE COMMON VOICE - MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL


Letter from the President Neil Agate


When I fi rst agreed, over four years ago, to serve as vice-president, knowing that it was then expected that I would be willing to serve as president, I never expected to be shepherding this robust, yet diverse, group during the fi nal phase of the Maryland Horse Council’s long range plan to transition from a primarily volunteer-run organization, with some professional help, to a sophisticated, professionally-run com- prehensive umbrella organization. (See sidebar or website for MHC’s long range plan, established in 2005.)


2005: The Strategic Plan In 2005-2006, under the leadership of former president Dr. Mike


Erskine, MHC laid out a fairly straightforward long-range plan to tran- sition MHC from a loose grassroots and somewhat informal coalition, into a formal umbrella association, fully representing all equestrian in- terests in Maryland, being served by a professional staff , an executive director, and a full time lobbyist. T e business plan included establish- ing passive revenue sources, expanding communication (via newsletters, websites and other digital opportunities), growing MHC’s database in order to foster greater communication and networking across the indus- try, establish a PAC, and ultimately establish a central offi ce. T e MHC Board of Directors approved this plan, and the MHC Executive Com- mittee (which meets monthly to conduct the business of the organiza- tion) was tasked with executing the plan.


2006 – 2016 Under the presidential leaderships of Dr. Erskine, and later Steuart


Pittman and Jane Seigler, MHC made considerable strides towards its goals. Rather than immediately hiring full time staff , MHC started with part-time administrative support, so that the MHC Executive Commit- tee could better learn exactly what its needs were and how to manage paid staff . Between 2006 and 2016, MHC contracted with three diff er- ent part-time independent administrative managers, learning from each experience. Over the same time period, MHC engaged the part-time services


of diff erent lobbyists; as a result, MHC enjoyed numerous successes in Annapolis, and the Executive Committee continued to learn more as it moved towards its long range goals. By the end of 2016, the MHC Executive Committee determined that it was fi nally ready to “go pro” full time!


2017: The Go Pro Goal


With the new year came abundant new opportunities, enabling MHC to meet its 10 year plan (albeit it may have taken 13 years). We did another bylaws revision (the third since 2005), which enabled the establishment of a more engaged board. We entered negotiations with two highly respected professional orga-


nizations, Grow & Fortify (which represents ag-related trade organiza- tions in Annapolis and at the county level, and provides consulting and other services to associations) and T e Equiery. Acquisition of T e Equiery presented MHC with the opportunity for a turn-key, profi table publishing entity that could also provide adminis-


www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580


trative services and an offi ce for our association, and be a springboard to achieving our long-term strategic goals. Grow & Fortify is an exciting and progressive business that serves as- sociations for agriculture-related businesses that need to have a presence in state and county legislative and regulatory issues. Initially, the Execu- tive Committee’s discussions with G&F centered around having G&F provide one-stop services for MHC, from association management to fundraising, from event planning to lobbying. However, as discussions progressed with T e Equiery, it became clear that there would be many redundancies with having G&F take on the one-stop services and inte- grating T e Equiery. We will continue to work with G&F on the creation of our new strategic plan, lobbying and events, such as Horse Industry Day in Annapolis, which G&F is organizing for us again this year. Meanwhile, the Executive Committee and select Directors engaged in the process of a due diligence evaluation of T e Equiery and the fea- sibility of its acquisition. During this hectic process (in which we were bound by legal non-disclosure agreements), I had the opportunity to get to know many of our Executive Committee and Directors better, to call on their diverse and unique professional skills and considerable knowl- edge to help evaluate the opportunities before us. Meanwhile, we also have had the benefi t of numerous professionals in the publishing industry who worked with us to gain insight on the process of purchasing, and then integrating, a publication into a mem- bership organization. Many of these advisers were evaluating the publi- cation in order to determine what needed to be “fi xed” in order to make the publication viable – and were surprised to learn that nothing needed to be fi xed! We are so fortunate that T e Equiery is a fl ourishing publica- tion with a great group of people running it. T is means that not only do we not have to fi x anything, but we will not be required to spend a lot of our volunteers’ time to manage the publishing of the magazine going forward. Our main focus will be on growing both the publication and membership sides of the organization. Meanwhile, while the phrase “synergies that will expand both orga-


nizations beyond where each would have been able to go alone” may be overused in the world of mergers and acquisitions, there is truth to that, as we will see as we combine the Maryland Horse Council and T e Equiery into one entity. For T e Equiery, we will be able to leverage the talents and knowledge of the MHC Directors and its other advisors to expand its coverage and products and overall reach. For MHC, with T e Equiery we will be able to increase our reach to many more potential members throughout the state and give us a greatly expanded communications vehicle to keep our membership up to date on everything we are doing around the state. As we transition management of T e Equiery to MHC, the Executive Committee will be creating several advisory committees, drawing from the Board of Directors as well as others in Maryland with editorial and publishing experience. T e fi rst committee will be a Management Ad- visory Committee which will focus on the business side of integrating the two organizations. T is will most likely be a short-term, temporary group that will be disbanded once the integration of the two organiza-


continued... JANUARY 2018 | THE EQUIERY | 23


Anne Litz


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76