As we settle into the second half of the year, I want to start by welcoming Dr. Karin Pfeiffer into her role as ACSM’s President. Karin officially assumed the presidency during the Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, and I know many of you have already had the opportunity to connect with her. She brings tremendous experience, a thoughtful and inclusive leadership style, deep connections within the field, a sense of humor, and a shared commitment to advancing ACSM’s mission to her leadership.
One of the best things about being CEO is the opportunity to work with and learn from ACSM’s presidential leaders. While I always experience a tiny pang of sadness as one moves into the Immediate Past President role, that is a natural response when you spend so much time with a person. I’m excited to continue to partner with Dr. Pfeiffer over the coming year as we continue working to move ACSM forward together and with you all.
While the Annual Meeting often feels like the culmination of a year’s worth of work, it also marks the beginning of the next cycle. Behind the scenes, many of our volunteer leaders, committees and staff are already hard at work shaping what’s ahead.
The Nominating Committee has begun work on the 2027 election slate. This is one of the most important governance responsibilities within ACSM, ensuring we continue to identify leaders who bring the expertise, perspectives, and commitment needed to guide the organization into the future. Thank you to everyone involved in what is always a thoughtful and careful process and a special thank you to past committee chair and Second Past President Stella Volpe, PhD, FACSM and current committee chair and Immediate Past President Carrie Jaworksi, MD, FACSM.
Our Awards and Tributes Committee is also beginning its work to recognize the outstanding individuals who have advanced the fields of sports medicine and exercise science. A shoutout to Awards and Tributes committee chair and President-Elect John Jakicic, PhD, FACSM and committee staff liaisons Danielle Apostolidis and Julie Stoelting for leading this important work.
Planning is also well underway for the 2027 ACSM Annual Meeting in Indianapolis – ACSM’s headquarter home. Our Program Committee and staff have begun building what I know will be another exceptional scientific and educational program. Developing an Annual Meeting of this size and quality takes many months—and a tremendous amount of volunteer expertise. If you’ve ever wondered how the meeting comes together, this is one of the many examples of the work happening long before we gather together each spring. Thank you to past Program Committee chair Eric Rawson, PhD, FACSM and current Program Committee chair Sandy Hoffman, MD, FACSM, and staff liaisons Danielle Apostolidis and Abbie Ryan.
I also wanted to share an important governance update. During the May 2026 Board of Trustees meeting, the Board approved updated Conflict of Interest (COI) and Code of Ethics (COE) policies. I want to extend a note of gratitude to the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee led by committee chair Marisa Hastie, PhD, FACSM, for the many months of intense work they invested in these important documents. I want to thank the committee staff liaison Julie Stoelting, and staff Shelby Mandla and Katherine Schowengerdt for supporting this important implementation work. We’ll share additional information as that work progresses.
By the time you read this issue of the DASH, the board will have reviewed the proposed, updated 2027-2029 strategic plan. This marks an important milestone in ACSM’s full adoption and implementation of a standardized model for strategic planning. I want to send a special thank you to Strategic Planning Committee chair Heather Chambliss, PhD, FACSM, the ACSM BOT and Strategic Planning Committee, and staff liaison Katherine Schowengerdt for their many months of work on this important and mission-driven guide for the organization.
Finally, ACSM staff and the Budget and Finance Committee led by treasurer Brad Roy, PhD, FACSM, are well into 2027 budget planning. Gratitude to all ACSM staff, the Budget and Finance Committee, past treasurer Carol Garber, PhD, FACSM, and staff liaison Katherine Schowengerdt for the time and work already spent and to come on developing a strategic plan-aligned 2027 budget.
I will close with a CEO Pledge update. I would first like to thank the Pledge Pals staff team for their work in making ACSM a more active workplace. Gus Rayce, Chris Walter, Jessi Warner, Julie Stoelting, Sarah Rose, Shelby Mandla, Laura Young and myself along with our fearless leader, Emily Gibson, comprise the group and I am excited to report that among the group several staff hold ACSM certifications and/or relevant degree designations.😊 To date, we have built additional flexibility into our workday including normalizing putting the Do Not Disturb on if a staff person has stepped away to engage in physical activity, encouraging active meetings when appropriate and we have created the Active ACSM Teams channel where staff can share photos and stories of how we are moving. All this is designed to help enable and empower staff to be more active throughout the day. Emily is now leading the group in developing educational resources and programming to further assist with increasing physical activity levels.
As always, thank you for everything you do for ACSM. Whether you’re serving on a committee, reviewing nominations, planning educational programming, mentoring future leaders, or representing ACSM in your own communities, your volunteer leadership is what makes this organization so special. It was wonderful connecting with so many of you in Salt Lake City. I appreciate your partnership and look forward to everything we’ll accomplish together over the coming months.
As always, if you have ideas, suggestions, questions – please do not hesitate to reach out – kfeltman@acsm.org.
Katie
