The American Club Magazine Feb - Mar - Apr | 2020

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Members, Happy New Year, twice. From the tree lighting in early December to fantastic celebrations on New Year’s Eve welcoming the calendar new year, events at The Club were nearly filled to capacity. Celebrations continue for the second new year, Chinese New Year, including special meals and the daily Prosperity Toss that continues through Februar y 8. I hope you’ve enjoyed these events or, if you were traveling, that holidays with friends and family were fabulous. It’s a delight to enjoy these activities in the redeveloped Clubhouse. From new restaurants to the new spa and gym, and more,The Club has become even better.Vir tually all the facilities are fully open now, with some work ongoing to fix small issues or enhance spaces fur ther. I hope you’re enjoying the new spaces and settling smoothly into new routines. And do take advantage of The Club’s expanded activities, from new spa ser vices and meal options to speakers and author talks. I’d like to thank the four General Committee (GC) Members who stepped down in November—Dana Hvide, Ken Fagan, Aaron Kim and Ashok Lalwani—for their years of dedicated ser vice. There have already been many changes in the shor t time since the AGM in November, when four new Members were elected to the GC. Longstanding Committee Members and Chairs were removed in December and new Committee Members were appointed, as you’ll see from lists online, so you’ll likely see changes in Committee activities. Bylaw changes sped through, as you’ll see in the bylaws on the website, and you may see fur ther changes once the Rules Committee has a chance to review these changes or fur ther changes are proposed. Upcoming areas of focus for the GC include the budget for the next fiscal year and taking full advantage of our Clubhouse. Identifying a new General Manager is also a key task for the GC, and the GM Search Group that is working

on the selection process has committed to providing regular updates to Members, so you’ll hear more about their effor ts soon. I’d like to give special recognition to the Green Team at The Club for their work on sustainability. Some of their work, such as better recycling bins and using less plastic in food outlets, is ver y visible. There is also lots happening behind the scenes, from replacing inefficient taps with water-saving ones and housekeeping using many fewer plastic bottles to using new fr yers that reduce electricity usage while producing tastier food and replacing lights or equipment to reduce electricity usage. Along with helping to save the planet, the Team is saving tens of thousands of dollars annually. You can do your par t by signing up to receive news about how you can do more (http://bit.ly/tacsustainability), returning towels (600 disappear ever y month!), opting not to take plastic containers and more. To close, please let me suggest three areas of focus for us as Members this year. The first is joy, to enjoy the new Club building and new activities. The second is kindness, to focus on being kinder to our fellow Members and bringing back the unity that is central to The Club. And the third is thanks, for our fantastic staff who make The Club such an enjoyable place. While I’ll reach term limits later in the year and will move out of this role as well as off the GC, I look forward to continuing to ser ve you while I remain your president and wish you a wonderful year ahead. Best Regards,

Richard Hartung

1 THE AMERICAN CLUB SINGAPORE