In my July report to the Board, I provided my assessment of the industry and the organization including existential threats and departmental assessments. These have remained fundamentally unchanged. In my assessment, I addressed the subject of personnel changes. Since that time, as we have reported to the Board, we began the process of "right sizing" the organization, eliminating what we believed were positions that could be absorbed within the remaining staff positions to both create efficiencies and begin the necessary process of reducing the overall expenses of the organization. It has now been six months, and the planning process for 2017 is substantially complete. We are prepared to begin the next phase of organizational changes that we believe are necessary to address both the existential and fundamental issues of the organization. These changes were presented to the Executive Committee on Saturday, last. The effective date will be Monday, November 7, 2016. There will be an organization-wide announcement on that same day. * Some of the decisions described below are predicated on my initial impression regarding the replacement of the retired Chief Operating Officer. Given what I have observed, it is my impression that the position was actually a detriment in recent years, interfering with the sound business processes and decision making necessary for organizational growth and change. It also did not allow for the appropriate evaluation of management nor for enabling the necessary development of managers who will be required to lead the company in the future. There are seven members of the current management team who will be eligible for retirement, and are likely to do so, within the next five years, and we must recruit and train people to replace them before that happens. Accordingly, I do not plan on replacing the COO in the near term, instead deferring that decision. However, I do plan on using the eventual replacement as a succession planning tool for the CEO position. * Therefore, to address certain immediate challenges and put the proper individuals in place, we are going to make the following organizational changes effective Monday, December 5th: 1. The Membership function will report directly to the CEO. This is a critical function both for the viability and financial wellbeing of the ARRL. It is our largest revenue source and needs a higher level of attention to achieve one of our main goals of attracting and retaining a larger share of newly licensed Radio Amateur, a group where we are capturing only 14% of the roughly 30,000 new licensees each year. 1. Divide Radiosport and Field Services into two separate functions, both reporting to the CEO. This combined function is our largest member service expense center in the corporation and needs to be more efficient as revenues are declining for several reasons. I have chosen Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, to head up the Radiosport Department and lend his background in large retail management to this task. We also expect Norm to help revitalize our awards and contest programs with an eye towards attracting new, younger participants, as he has done in the QSL bureau. * Dave Patton will continue to be responsible for the Field Services Department which will include the Field volunteers, Emergency Preparedness, Official Observer program and Conventions and Hamfests. 1. Reassign Senior Management responsibilities. With the changes described above, I believe there are other changes necessary to insure proper executive management oversight and review of the operations. It was clear that this was required so as not to over extend the span of control for the CEO and allow me time to focus on the areas, at least in the near term, which are critical to the organization's future. * The functions that will report directly to the CEO include, CFO, Membership, Radiosport, Field Services, Editorial, Media and Public Relations, Development, Education, Washington Office, Regulatory Information, ARRL Lab and the IARU. * The functions that will report directly to the CFO will include Controller's, Information Technology, Sales and Marketing (publication sales), Business Services, VEC and Building. The new organization chart is included is attached. Please let me know if you have any questions. Tom Gallagher - NY2RF Chief Executive Officer ARRL Headquarters ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 860 594 0404 cell 704 907 7158 tgallagher@arrl.org<mailto:tgallagher@arrl.org>