MOVTA February Board Meeting Update

MOVTA held their first board meeting of 2024 on February 24th at Midwest Institute to discuss the upcoming year, greet new board members, give committee updates, and work on some big projects.

The first order of business was announcing our 2024 Executive Board Members:

President: Stephanie Gilliam, RVTg, MS, CCRP, VTS (Neurology)
Vice-President: Alyssa Ingerson, BS, RVT, CCFP
Secretary: Katie Willis, RVT
Treasurer: Sarah Wilmes, BS, RVT, CVPM

In addition, the following board members have resigned. We thank them for their years of dedication to the organization.

Whitney Fahrendorf (MVMA)
Kiersten Gillman (membership)
Brian Royce (treasurer)
Erica Nagy (at large)

With Whitney Fahrendorf's resignation, along with Stephanie Gilliam's development of the Legislative committee, the board voted to combine the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) Committee with the Legislative Committee.

Other items on the agenda were to review our constitution and by-laws, appointment of board members to executive positions, and committee updates.

Review Constitution and By-Laws:

Board members will review the proposed changes to the constitution and will then be presented to members for comments and voting over the next few weeks. A brief summary of changes are to redefine membership levels, redefine and streamline committees (Newsletter absorbed by Secretary, MVMA absorbed by Legislative), etc.

Committee Updates:

Legislative Committee (Stephanie Gilliam):

Three years ago, MOVTA earned an ex officio seat on MVMA's executive board to be chaired by MOVTA's Legislative chairperson. Stephanie has been working hard attending Missouri Veterinary Medical Board (MVMB) meetings, educating board members on RVT education and different RVT roles (VTS, technologist), and being active on MVMA's RVT Utilization Taskforce (along with other MOVTA board members).

In 2023, members of the RVT Utilization Taskforce were tasked with coming up with proposed changes to expand the “scope of practice” chart (to include a skills list broken down by RVT/assistant and levels of supervision) to be presented to MVMB for review. While these proposed changes were ultimately declined by the MVMB, they were open to making changes to rules (as statute changes would require opening the practice act).

Currently, Missouri does not have RVT representation on our veterinary medical board. While this would require a statute change, we have received letters of support from the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) as well as the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Board. Our legislative committee will continue pursuing a seat on the board.

By making our presence and desire for change known, we are making very real progress. MVMB members have acknowledged that there are much needed statute changes and are willing to listen.

Student Affairs Committee (previously Student Representative):

Previously chaired by Jessica Leary, Rachael Springmeyer will be the new chairperson.
New for 2024: in addition to the $500 scholarship and certificate awarded, board members also agreed to include free conference registration. The board discussed moving the deadline for scholarship submissions from September 16th to August 15th to allow the scholarship recipient time to plan for attending the fall conference for award presentation, if they so wished.

A greater effort will be made to create relationships with students in MO vet tech programs by implementing student representatives from each program. Student representatives would ideally be board members of their student chapters of NAVTA, if the program has a chapter, but can be any student interested in participating. Our goal will be to implement more involvement with students in our chapter by potentially reinvigorating our Trivia Bowl and other activities to increase student engagement in professional organizations.

Membership:

Previously chaired by Kiersten Gillman, newly appointed Kristen Emily.
Board members discussed the upcoming membership renewal campaign, redefining membership levels (to be voted on by members), and had a long discussion of membership dues. Due to the increased cost of running the organization and retaining the current member benefits and activities, it was voted to increase Full memberships $45, Associate memberships to $55, while student and program director memberships would still be complimentary. There will still be a $5 discount for both levels for early membership renewal in May.

Conference/Events:

Previously chaired by Julie Rutherford, newly appointed Alyssa Ingerson.
The venue for our 2024 Fall Conference has been secured at the St. Louis Zoo for Saturday, September 28th. A tentative agenda was discussed and menu options finalized. Sponsorship has provided four out of five speakers and a fifth has been secured. Speaker contracts were voted on for approval and speaker honorarium/travel expense reimbursement approved, per contracts.

Current platinum sponsors for 2024: Hills, Purina, Truly Force Free, and Humane Society of Missouri/Animal Medical Center of MidAmerica.

Sponsorship levels were also discussed and refined for 2025 offerings.

We will also be exploring options to provide more online CE for our members, including pre-recorded and live webinar options on a monthly basis.

We are so excited to start 2024 out strong. Please keep an eye out in your inbox for more information and updates. As always, if you're interested in serving on the board, please reach out to us at .