PHOTO COURTESY AMIThe Association of Marina Industries opened its annual conference yesterday with a membership meeting to acknowledge new members and electees to the board of directors. The conference takes place through Feb. 1 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Rick Chapman of Sunnyside Marina in Stillwater, Minn., was elected board chair. He is joined by Katheryn Burchett of Safe Harbor Marinas as vice chair, Kat Ross of Suntex Marinas, and Marieke van Peer of Peer Consulting. John Swick of Waterview Marinas in Dallas is past chair.
“We’re all volunteers,” Chapman said. “I’ve lost track of how many years I’ve been on the board. John Swick is finishing as chair and has already made a six-year commitment.”
Outgoing members include Kevin Thompson of Bellingham Marine and Chris Petty of Suntex Marinas. “Chris was our chair during Covid, and he did an excellent job getting us through that,” Chapman said.
Newly elected board members include Matthew Anderson of Bellingham Marine and TJ Quandt from the Pacific Coast Congress of Harbormasters and Port Managers. Returning board members are Van Peer, Gigi Jabbour of Minnetonka Marina in Minnesota, Bill Gauspohl of VIP Marina in Travis County, Texas, Megan Lasse of Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale, and Steve Arnold of Marina Holdings in Maine.
AMI’s membership and training coordinator Mark Amaral gave an overview of the organization and plans for the coming year. AMI has 1,250 active members and an 87% retention rate. Members are businesses, not individuals, so every employee at those businesses have access to the association’s resources.
“This will likely be our largest conference numbers ever, and we already have more registrations than we finished with last year,” Amaral said. The conference has more than 170 exhibitors and occupies the most floor space the organization has ever booked.
Amaral said the bulk of the membership is privately owned businesses, followed by marinas owned by corporations and affiliate entities. Safe Harbor Marinas is the title sponsor for this year’s conference, and Suntex and MarineMax are corporate sponsors.
Through affiliate partnerships, state associations can offer discounted rates for marinas in their states. “The goal is to have the whole country represented,” Amaral said.
One of AMI’s organizational pillars is training and education, and the group held nine courses in 2023, graduating 139 marina professionals. The association plans to recognize 34 certified marina managers and certified marina operators during the conference.
AMI also provides marina rate, infrastructure and economic outlook reports free to members, and the group has its own lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
Two years ago, AMI introduced the Clean and Resilient Marina Program, and more than 141 marina professionals and 29 accredited facilities have been acknowledged. “This is different than most state programs,” Amaral said. “AMI certifies individuals and they go and accredit facilities.”
