From Keith Karaff:

Good morning everyone. After a couple of interesting days I can now take a short breath and compose my thoughts here. Last weekend at the 2016 Great Pepper's Meeting in Austin, I was voted in as the new Executive Director for the Chili Appreciation Society International. I am extremely honored and humbled by all the support and enthusiasm I received from the Board, the delegates and spectators. I am very excited about the next two years and i hope that we continue this great foward momentum we are on.
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First I want to thank Richard Knight, Tim Collier, David Manske, Harvey West and Ted Fichtl for their commitment, dedication and perserverance while serving on the BOD. Thank you very much for everything you have done and do. Without individuals like you we can't continue to move our fantastic organization forward. You did an amazing job and for that I say thank you.

To Susan Armand...who probably had the toughest job there was this year. Thank you for your dedication and commitment for stepping into the ED shoes and taking on that monumental task. All the communications, the emails, the phone calls, the meetings...I truly appreciate all you have done to help me ease into this position and thank you for the forgiveness when i messed up. I look forward to the next years working with you.
Looking forward in year 51, I have some ideas that i am wanting to implement over the next several months to help the membership take on a more involved roll in our family. Without the Pod support and involvement we can't move forward. We are in an ever changing, very social media culture now and we have to find ways to use this to our advantage; To excite and encourage family, friends, and the public to participate in our passion...our dedication...our commitment...to raising money for charity and sharing this one unique experience that is a cookoff. No where are you going to find a such a group of people focused on Chili, Charity and Fun.
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I said last Saturday, I have billed this as the Year of the Pod. I believe the Pods are our strength and i want to see our organization become bigger, better, and the best that i know we can be. Continue to invent, affect and change the cookoffs with your imagination and creativity. Thank you everyone for everything you do.
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Looking forward to serving you for the next two years. Take Care and God Bless.

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