WCF SECTION PRESS RELEASE #20-47

NEW SECTION MANAGER ELECTED FOR THE ARRL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION

Mike Douglas W4MDD, the ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator for the ARRL West Central Florida Section, has been elected as the 4th Section Manager for the ARRL West Central Florida Section.   The nomination period ended on Friday September 4th, and Douglas was the only candidate to submit a nomination form and to be received by ARRL HQ by the end of the nomination period.  Darrell Davis KT4WX, the current Section Manager for the ARRL West Central Florida Section decided not to seek re-election for the 2020-2021 term.  Davis made the following comment concerning the election of Douglas as the new Section Manager, “After praying and thinking about it, I decided not to seek re-election as circumstances in my personal life have changed over the last two years.  I appreciate all of the support that I have received from all of you and I am not ‘riding off into the sunset’.  My role in the ARRL West Central Florida Section will simply be in a supportive role and different.  Mike will do a fine job as our new Section Manager and has traveled all over the ARRL West Central Florida Section with me over the last three years and has gotten to know many of you.  Please give him the same support you have given me.”

Douglas has been a licensed radio amateur since 1991, first holding the callsign of N9OEV, and was previously almost a lifelong resident of the Chicago, Illinois area.  Douglas relocated to Florida in the summer of 2016, following his retirement, and obtained his current callsign of W4MDD.  Douglas became an Assistant Emergency Coordinator with Hardee County ARES in late 2016 after coming to Hardee County from the east coast of Florida.  Douglas then became the ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator in late 2017.  Douglas in his professional career was commercial tour bus driver, was in commercial bus sales, and for 20 years of his career was with Educational Tours, a tour bus company devoted to providing tours for school age children of educational sites in places all over the United States.

Douglas’ term as Section Manager will begin on January 1, 2021.  Davis has served as Section Manager since January 1, 2015 and his current term as Section Manager will end on December 31, 2020.

END OF PRESS RELEASE