Board of Directors Meeting: January 2026
Meeting Details
Date + Time: Sunday, January 25, 2026 | 1602-1729 (1744)
Location: Virtual
Attendees | Voting
Anne Diggs, President
Sujitra Pookpanratana, VP of Operations
Jennifer Perkins, VP of Programs
Jodi Heidmous, Secretary
Stephanie Acerra, At Large Director
Andy Rabus, At Large Director
Kena Holmes, At Large Director
Erica Prakop, At Large Director
Cullen McDonald, Finance Director
Non-Voting
Andrea Fuller, Communications
Rachel Freedman, Incoming Communications
Meris Steele, Safety Co-Chair
Monica Freedman, Safety Co-Chair
Anne Iyer, CRC Rep to ACBA
Toni Kerns, iCrew Manager
Bob Reichart, Director of Coaching
Jamie Nelson, Comp Sweep Men Co-Rep/Race Coordinator
Susan Driano, Sculling Rep
Tieran Settles, PM Sweep Rep
Andy Waiters, Comp Sweep Men Co-Rep
Maggie Burns, Sun’s Up Sweep
Sherman Anderson, CARP Rep
Courtney Dell, Junior Parent Rep
Lucas Bockner, Junior Captain
Absent
Barbara Brocker, Treasurer (voting)
Ellis Drechsher, Junior Captain
Rebecca Hollins, Comp Sculling Rep
Jacqueline Battistini Comp Sweep Womens Rep
Bethany Banakos, AM Sweep
Alicia Morales, AM Sweep
Taylor Eling, Sunday Rowing
Dominique Carlier, DEI Rep
TBD, INR Rep
Meeting Agenda
Opening Comments and December Actions Review
Operations Update (VP Operations)
2026 Spend Plan
Annual Board Meeting Preparation (President and VP of Programs)
Topics, slide development timelines, dry-run planning
Current Activities (facilitated by Secretary)
Injury Prevention for Rowers - taught by Rose PT (Jodi)
ACBA Update (Bob R)
iCrew + USRowing Guideline (Bob R)
Masters Spring Calendar (Bob R)
Coxswain Test Implementation Update (Kena)
Winter Training Drop-ins (JP)
Plan for Juniors Spring Rowing (Review RAH only)
Treasurer/Finance Director Update
2026 filing dates and review timeline
ACTION: Credit Card Update
Secretary Update and Action Review
Technology/Application use/enforcement
Google Account / Email management and update protocol
File Management [Official Records / Restricted Content / Public Content]
Annual Calendar
Executive Board Topics
Adjournment
Meeting Minutes
Meeting commenced at 1602: Board approved Dec 2025 Board Meeting Minutes - Called by President (Anne Diggs); Seconded Director At Large (Stephanie Acerra) - no opposition, the minutes are approved and will be submitted by the Secretary for posting to the CRC Members Portal website by CRC Communications
President’s Opening Comments:
Two topics for Thanks; CRC contributions to Parks Service on RFK and ACBA Donations, CRC led the way on both efforts. The President requested Program Reps to send out thanks to each program.
Introduced Rachel Freedman as New Comms Director and thanked Andrea Fuller for the incredible work she’s done for CRC Communications
Highlights from the End of year Survey - biggest issue is communication; more to come on common themes and recommendations between now and next Board meeting
Volunteer Coordinator is an important job for the club. Kevin has done a great job but needs a break; we are looking for a new Volunteer Coordinator for the 2026 Season.
Highlights from the ACBA Off-site: All clubs complain about leaking pipe. David O’Brien, with a team of support, is working on the locker room construction plan. CRC is proposing Anne Iyer and Fana Daley as Development Directors for ACBA to look toward the future - how do we raise funds for and build a permanent-structure Boathouse.
VP of Operations Spend Plan Review (Sujitra Pookpanratana)
Review of Ops Status Update RAH.
Point of discussion: confirmation that sale of the Velocity 1x does not come with a rack space.
Review of Ops Proposed Equipment Spend Plan
The board raised concerns over the budget for the proposed purchases; not the recommendations for the purchases.
The board discussed the need for a new launch which would replace #3 and eventually replace #2 wakeless which is in below average shape and cannot really retrieve a rower in the water. Director of Coaching explained that the club is fielding faster rowers and the wakeless launch is necessary to keep up with the faster crews; concerns over dock space were also mitigated, CRC is economical with the dock real estate and is within bounds to ask for more.
Spend Plan motion to APPROVE called by Secretary (Jodi Heidmous); Seconded by Director At Large (Andy Rabus); no opposition. The board did all agree to review the proposed purchases and provide a prioritization for the purchases in the event funds for all purchases are not available.
ACTION: initiate a small group from the Board Members to review the equipment purchases for prioritization.
Secretary accidentally skipped discussion of the Annual Meeting Content and Development Plan.
The board agreed (no formal vote required) to hold the Annual Meeting on 8 Mar 2026 at 4pm. The meeting will be virtual.
Current Activities, facilitated by Secretary (Jodi Heidmous)
Opportunity to facilitate “Injury Prevention for Rowers” - Contact Jodi for details on how to contact and take on this event
ACBA Update from Bob Reichart.
Anne Iyer is the CRC Delegate to ACBA
We officially have a new Member Organization at the Boathouse - the Capital Paddlers Club - a DC-based Non-Profit formed to support and organize recreational paddling on the Anacostia–new Canoe/Kayak/Paddler racks are down by the trailer.
Locker Room project is moving forward to the design phase-ACBA hopes to release the RFP to identify an A&E firm to produce a 30% design for the Locker Room over the course of 2026. This will give us a firm design AND a cost estimate for further fundraising and financing efforts, and an increasingly firm leg to stand on as we work with DC to renew our lease (exp 2030). Huge thanks to David O’Brien for leading this effort, as well as CRC members Mike Arnold, Becky Hollins, Jamie Nelson, and Erica Prakop, among others, who have contributed so much to the project.
158 responses to the “Bathroom Survey”
231 comments submitted to the New Commanders Stadium Project
107 donations to the ACBA End of Year Fundraising Drive - nearly $32,000
ACBA has raised ~$154K towards the Locker Room Project
Mark Heslep (new ACBA site manager) installed new heaters in the erg room; this was a much bigger undertaking than anticipated.
Repair inquiry is underway for the watermain pipe and broken valve near bay 4 - this is an extensive repair, approx $38K and water will have to be shut off at the boathouse while the work is accomplished.
Security concerns at the boathouse remain; ACBA is looking for help with setting up limited wi-fi to support security cameras at a reasonable cost.
US Rowing Membership/iCrew Update from Bob Reichart and Toni Kerns
US Rowing re-set everyone’s waiver because they have rolled out a membership agreement + waiver. Everyone who did not respond to this communication from USRowing was converted to non-current which based on the method how CRC updates iCrew, most people were auto-updated to non-current and locked out.
Board discussed how to overcommunicate about such events in the future.
Coxswain Training Update from Kena Holmes
Club (sweep and sculling) wide, one-time requirement before enrolling in Spring Programs
Kena has been making edits to the test as testers provide feedback
Kena and Bob will discuss information overlap between Small Boats Manual and Coxswain test material.
ACTION: Kena will ensure the requirement is in all the weekly emails in February.
Winter Training Drop-in Plan from Jen Perkins and Anne Iyer
Process, pending Safety review, is ready to allow people to register for winter erg sessions, pay and be checked for currency in USRowing.
Director of Finance, Financial Update (Cullen McDonald)
**NOTE: Treasurer was not in attendance due to a clerical error in the 2026 Board Email Group. Secretary has corrected this oversight for future meetings
Review of Budget versus Actuals.
Highlighted a few atypical (high) expenses: Insurance paid out in January versus February this year; a new sweep boat was purchased in December 2025; Coaching expenses were higher than budgeted.
Director of Coaching (Bob Reichart) explained the additional expenses came from adding a new Masters program during the second half of the year and growth in the Junior’s Fall Program.
ACTION: Board will convene a small review, led by Treasurer with support for Programs and At Large Directors to look at the resources available, club growth, and equipment needs to make sure we have an informed growth plan to with increased transparency about how revenue (dues, program fees, donations, grants etc) is allocated to expenses.
Overall financial health; the last two years the club has operated at a loss. Though some of the expenses were planned to reduce savings from previous years.
2024 Taxes were filed before the 15 Jan 2026 deadline. The 2025 tax year documents will be due in July, with plan for Board review and approval at the June 2026 Board meeting.
Secretary Update, Jodi Heidmous
Conducted a review of CRC knowledge management and recommended updates to CRC file management and email management processes.
This month provided methodology for creating authorities based shared drives for CRC public and private (official, working, and sensitive) files
ACTION: Review all existing shared drives and develop a consolidation and review plan.
Full Board meeting concluded at 1729.
Executive Board meeting concluded at 1743.
Jodi Heidmous, motion to adjourn, Jennifer Perkins seconded, meeting adjourned at 1744.