NMEA Business
EDITORIAL
ADVISORY BOARD
The Workings of an Association
The staff of Marine Electronics
Journal greatly appreciates
the time and effort contributed
by the following NMEA members
to maintaining the magazine’s
high editorial standards.
Tim Conroy
ComMar Sales Inc.
Annapolis, MD
Ken Englert
Maritime Communications
Marina del Rey, CA
George Ensley Jr.
Ensley’s Radio Co.
New Bern, NC
Kevin Savord
Long Beach Marine
Long Beach, CA
Kevin Sherburne
HWH Electronics
St. Pete Beach, FL
Dean Silver
Furuno
Wellington, FL
Paula Ross
Seawide Distribution
Riviera Beach, FL
Ralph Sponar
United Radio Service
Baltimore, MD
Gordon West
Gordon West’s Radio School
Costa Mesa, CA
Ben Ellison
Marine Journalist
Camden, ME
The NMEA is a not- for-profit associa- tion. The purpose of our association is “to promote in a
lawful and legal manner,
the development, preservation, operation and general
welfare of the marine electronics industry.” The association was established in 1957 by a group of marine
electronics dealers. The purpose at that time was to
establish a platform for communications between
dealers and manufacturers. That purpose and need
are a continuing requirement of our association. We
have grown over the years—we have developed standards, provided technical training, and have a multitude of communications media such as the Marine
Electronics Journal, our website, e-mail, and, of course,
our annual convention. We try to be a conduit of
information about and to our industry.
Organizationally, we are governed by a charter and
bylaws that declare how we are structured and how
the business of our association is handled. We are
divided into several different pieces: The National
Office, the Chairman, the Executive Committee, the
Board of Directors, committees, and the membership
are the major components. The National Office is the
paid portion of the organization. Currently it is comprised of the President, the Technical Director, the
Office Administrator and her assistant, and also we
have an assistant to the Technical Director as a subcontractor.
A great deal of work is done by volunteers—mem-
bers and member directors that contribute countless
hours to keep our association running. The Chairper-
son is the executive officer of the association, who
supervises the management of the association
between meetings and presides over the meetings.
The Executive Committee is a smaller body of the
Board and directs and resolves issues of the associa-
tion between meetings of the Board. The Board com-
prises a cross-section of our membership and is the
overall governing authority of the association. The
committees are where the actual work is done. Often
the committees include Board members, but many
general members are involved. We encourage mem-
ber involvement; this lessens the load and draws a
more diverse conclusion.
Jules Rutstein
NMEA Chairman
