Here's the first question that needs to be answered on the bid. After each question I've put my answer, per the meeting, PLEASE put in as many suggestions as possible. This gives us the best opportunity to have the best worded bid in the end. In the paperwork it says to NOT answer any question briefly and to go into as much detail as possible.
How many people do you have on your Planning Committee?
We currently have seven people on our committee. This number will continue to grow when we have won the bid to host MACNA 2014! There are many people in our community who would love to host a great event such as MACNA. The first member of our committee is:
Jake Adams. ---Insert Jake Adams' biography--- Not sure if he has an "official" one as some of the other speakers do, but Rob can you get this for us? (Jake should probably have access to this forum at some point, maybe he can just insert it?)
Rob Mougey - Rob started keeping wet pets in his youth, starting with a 20 gallon Metaframe tank using glass wool in air driven filters in the mid 60's. In the 70's he discovered the wonder of cichlids, eventually raising discus. In 1984 he setup his first salt water aquarium and soon got caught up in the Dutch 'Mini-reef' craze. Rob was co-founder of the Mile High Marine Enthusiasts, a club that lived from the mid 80s through the mid 90s. During that time he became involved in the retail side of the business, working at a couple of LFS and eventually becoming a partner in a local high end, exclusively marine shop called Aquaria.
Rob is on the board of the Denver Area Reef Club, having helped establish the club in 2006. He is also a member of SCMAS and MASC. Rob is also a member of MASNA, and fondly recalls participating in the formalization of MASNA's bylaws while president of MHME. If only he had kept those old original Marine Scene newsletters from 1988 and later.
Rob has organized several frag swaps, worked with MASC to organize full day joint events and has helped manage Reefstock for the past few years. He is a self employed IT consultant and small business owner in the aquatic arena.
Jon Garnett has been actively involved in the aquarium hobby since birth. He considers the 75g South American cichlid tank that his parents kept in the living room as his first babysitter. He has always had an obsession with nature and science and a love of the hobby which set him on a path to working in the industry. Throughout high school and college he was employed at several different LFS' throughout Colorado. His last position managing a retail store culminated in a coral propagation program that drew hobbyists from all areas of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska to the shop. While managing this store he completed his BS in Biology with an emphasis in Secondary Education.
Jon has been an active participant in Colorado aquarium clubs prior to the incarnation of MASC, has served on the MASC board, and strives to help hobbyists in any way shape or form. He has helped to organize ReefEd/frag swaps/monthly meetings, secure raffle prizes/club sponsors, was integral in the development of the Science Fair, and has even presented at ReefEd Conferences in the past.
Currently Jon is employed at Seachem Laboratories as the Western Regional Sales Manager. He deals directly with pet industry distributors and independent retailers, and travels/speaks/and attends events on behalf of Seachem.
Juan Muro started in the freshwater hobby in his teenage years. He's always had a unique fascination with different "pets," and has kept reptiles, arachnids, and small rodents. In the freshwater world he has delved into normal community tanks, heavy cichlid tanks, and some predatory tanks, mainly Piranha. Although the freshwater side of things never really brought Juan into the hobby as much as the saltwater side, planted tanks have recently rekindled his imagination of what a freshwater tank can be.
Juan has been an active member of the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado for almost 5 years now. He first volunteered to help with a monthly newsletter, that he wrote and created, which led to his eventual time on the board of directors. During his first year he was named Secretary on the board of directions. During this time we have nearly quadrupled the amount of members MASC has, as well as led the forums to have more activity than they had ever had! This would eventually help to attain the trust of the club, thus attaining Presidency of the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado. During his time as President, he helped bring in new sponsors to the club, as well as bring in exciting raffle items for our various monthly meetings. He was instrumental in helping expand on the "don't break the chain" concept, as well as helping create the annual MASC science fair competition. Juan recently finished writing his third article in Reef Hobbyist Magazine featuring the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado, as well as being featured on ReefAddicts.com. He will continue to try and bring MASC to the forefront of clubs around the country, personified through his help in bringing MACNA to Denver Colorado.
Juan is employed at Seachem Laboratories as the Midwest Regional Sales Manager. He deals directly with pet industry distributors and independent retailers, and travels and attends events on behalf of Seachem.
Aaron Ediger - please tell us a little bit about yourself, including how long you've been in the hobby, any relevant industry experience, how long you've been a part of the club, what your day job is, etc.
Derek Provin - Derek has had his current 240 gallon mixed reef setup for almost 2 years, which replaced his previous 40 gallon that was up for a year. Derek grew up in the San Diego/Los Angeles area and has been involved with marine activities and animals since his youth. His 5yr old daughter actively helps him maintain his tanks. She show's a great interest in the hobby already and claims that all the fish and pretty corals are her's and names each accordingly.
Derek is currently serving on the Board of director's of the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado and has been an active member since 2009. One of his main duties includes maintaining and updating the MASC web site.
Derek works as a Supervisor of Network Operations at DIRECTV and is a member of the DIRECTV Dive Club, although being based in Denver he does not get much time to dive with other members in California.
Adam Monchak has been a long time critter keeper. Since 1992 Adam has had an aquarium of one sort or another. Starting with the first 10 gallon freshwater tank and then upgrading to a 55 gallon freshwater in 1997 and eventually taking the saltwater plunge in 2001. Currently Adam has a multi saltwater tank setup including a 65, 55, and a 29 gallon aquariums.
Adam has been an active participant in the MASC community. He has served on the MASC board of directors since Mid 2011 and has been a member of MASC since April of 2009. He has helped to organize several DBTC (Don't Break the Chain) meetings, severl frag swaps and a fundraiser event for a local reefer's family as well as the monthly meeting for the last two years for MASC. The other tasks Adam has completed in efforts to help MASC to succeed include membership updates and sponsorship correspondence in order to ensure that the relationship between MASC and the sponsors remain mutually benefical for both parties.
Adam is currently employed as a project manager / project engineer for a Consulting Engineering Firm. Adam's expertise includes water and wastewater design, system optimization and budgeting / project planning. THe project management skills that are used on a day to day basis will fit well in the planning of the MACNA event.
While not full fledged members of our MACNA committee we have also recruited Michael Drumm, a member of MASC, and a lawyer. ---I know that Michael works for some industry companies, I'll have to get that from him (if he'll tell me them all haha) and add that here as it shows he has lawyer experience also in our industry.--- We have also recruited Brent Ward, a local member, and graphic designer. ---Aaron, can you please get a _small_ bio from Brent that describes how many years he's been a part of the club, as well as his experience in the the designing field. --- Brent has helped design our MACNA logo, as well as helped design our club logo.
How many people do you have on your Planning Committee?
We currently have seven people on our committee. This number will continue to grow when we have won the bid to host MACNA 2014! There are many people in our community who would love to host a great event such as MACNA. The first member of our committee is:
Jake Adams. ---Insert Jake Adams' biography--- Not sure if he has an "official" one as some of the other speakers do, but Rob can you get this for us? (Jake should probably have access to this forum at some point, maybe he can just insert it?)
Rob Mougey - Rob started keeping wet pets in his youth, starting with a 20 gallon Metaframe tank using glass wool in air driven filters in the mid 60's. In the 70's he discovered the wonder of cichlids, eventually raising discus. In 1984 he setup his first salt water aquarium and soon got caught up in the Dutch 'Mini-reef' craze. Rob was co-founder of the Mile High Marine Enthusiasts, a club that lived from the mid 80s through the mid 90s. During that time he became involved in the retail side of the business, working at a couple of LFS and eventually becoming a partner in a local high end, exclusively marine shop called Aquaria.
Rob is on the board of the Denver Area Reef Club, having helped establish the club in 2006. He is also a member of SCMAS and MASC. Rob is also a member of MASNA, and fondly recalls participating in the formalization of MASNA's bylaws while president of MHME. If only he had kept those old original Marine Scene newsletters from 1988 and later.
Rob has organized several frag swaps, worked with MASC to organize full day joint events and has helped manage Reefstock for the past few years. He is a self employed IT consultant and small business owner in the aquatic arena.
Jon Garnett has been actively involved in the aquarium hobby since birth. He considers the 75g South American cichlid tank that his parents kept in the living room as his first babysitter. He has always had an obsession with nature and science and a love of the hobby which set him on a path to working in the industry. Throughout high school and college he was employed at several different LFS' throughout Colorado. His last position managing a retail store culminated in a coral propagation program that drew hobbyists from all areas of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska to the shop. While managing this store he completed his BS in Biology with an emphasis in Secondary Education.
Jon has been an active participant in Colorado aquarium clubs prior to the incarnation of MASC, has served on the MASC board, and strives to help hobbyists in any way shape or form. He has helped to organize ReefEd/frag swaps/monthly meetings, secure raffle prizes/club sponsors, was integral in the development of the Science Fair, and has even presented at ReefEd Conferences in the past.
Currently Jon is employed at Seachem Laboratories as the Western Regional Sales Manager. He deals directly with pet industry distributors and independent retailers, and travels/speaks/and attends events on behalf of Seachem.
Juan Muro started in the freshwater hobby in his teenage years. He's always had a unique fascination with different "pets," and has kept reptiles, arachnids, and small rodents. In the freshwater world he has delved into normal community tanks, heavy cichlid tanks, and some predatory tanks, mainly Piranha. Although the freshwater side of things never really brought Juan into the hobby as much as the saltwater side, planted tanks have recently rekindled his imagination of what a freshwater tank can be.
Juan has been an active member of the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado for almost 5 years now. He first volunteered to help with a monthly newsletter, that he wrote and created, which led to his eventual time on the board of directors. During his first year he was named Secretary on the board of directions. During this time we have nearly quadrupled the amount of members MASC has, as well as led the forums to have more activity than they had ever had! This would eventually help to attain the trust of the club, thus attaining Presidency of the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado. During his time as President, he helped bring in new sponsors to the club, as well as bring in exciting raffle items for our various monthly meetings. He was instrumental in helping expand on the "don't break the chain" concept, as well as helping create the annual MASC science fair competition. Juan recently finished writing his third article in Reef Hobbyist Magazine featuring the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado, as well as being featured on ReefAddicts.com. He will continue to try and bring MASC to the forefront of clubs around the country, personified through his help in bringing MACNA to Denver Colorado.
Juan is employed at Seachem Laboratories as the Midwest Regional Sales Manager. He deals directly with pet industry distributors and independent retailers, and travels and attends events on behalf of Seachem.
Aaron Ediger - please tell us a little bit about yourself, including how long you've been in the hobby, any relevant industry experience, how long you've been a part of the club, what your day job is, etc.
Derek Provin - Derek has had his current 240 gallon mixed reef setup for almost 2 years, which replaced his previous 40 gallon that was up for a year. Derek grew up in the San Diego/Los Angeles area and has been involved with marine activities and animals since his youth. His 5yr old daughter actively helps him maintain his tanks. She show's a great interest in the hobby already and claims that all the fish and pretty corals are her's and names each accordingly.
Derek is currently serving on the Board of director's of the Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado and has been an active member since 2009. One of his main duties includes maintaining and updating the MASC web site.
Derek works as a Supervisor of Network Operations at DIRECTV and is a member of the DIRECTV Dive Club, although being based in Denver he does not get much time to dive with other members in California.
Adam Monchak has been a long time critter keeper. Since 1992 Adam has had an aquarium of one sort or another. Starting with the first 10 gallon freshwater tank and then upgrading to a 55 gallon freshwater in 1997 and eventually taking the saltwater plunge in 2001. Currently Adam has a multi saltwater tank setup including a 65, 55, and a 29 gallon aquariums.
Adam has been an active participant in the MASC community. He has served on the MASC board of directors since Mid 2011 and has been a member of MASC since April of 2009. He has helped to organize several DBTC (Don't Break the Chain) meetings, severl frag swaps and a fundraiser event for a local reefer's family as well as the monthly meeting for the last two years for MASC. The other tasks Adam has completed in efforts to help MASC to succeed include membership updates and sponsorship correspondence in order to ensure that the relationship between MASC and the sponsors remain mutually benefical for both parties.
Adam is currently employed as a project manager / project engineer for a Consulting Engineering Firm. Adam's expertise includes water and wastewater design, system optimization and budgeting / project planning. THe project management skills that are used on a day to day basis will fit well in the planning of the MACNA event.
While not full fledged members of our MACNA committee we have also recruited Michael Drumm, a member of MASC, and a lawyer. ---I know that Michael works for some industry companies, I'll have to get that from him (if he'll tell me them all haha) and add that here as it shows he has lawyer experience also in our industry.--- We have also recruited Brent Ward, a local member, and graphic designer. ---Aaron, can you please get a _small_ bio from Brent that describes how many years he's been a part of the club, as well as his experience in the the designing field. --- Brent has helped design our MACNA logo, as well as helped design our club logo.
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