Welcome to Alpacas in the News, the weekly segment of Paca Talk dedicated to bringing you alpaca-related news items from around the world. I’m your host, Maren Bradley Anderson, and this is Alpacas in the News for August 21, 2009.

Alpaca Industry News

AOBA Member Death

It is with great sadness to let you know that Susan Ratti died after a brief illness. She had been sick for only a few weeks, and late last week Russell and Susan learned that she had metastatic cancer.

Susan and her husband Russell operate Affaire de Coeur Alpacas and have been members of AOBA since 2003. The Ratti’s are also members of Calpaca.

The family will be holding a  memorial for Susan at their farm in Oakdale, CA
Wednesday, 9/19.

Please keep Russell and their daughter, Micala in your thoughts and prayers.

AOBA Office

AOBA office welcomes Michael Trubee as Information Technology Manager

News from AOBA’s home office – Nashville, TN

We are pleased to announce Michael Trubee has accepted the position of Information Technology (IT) Manager for AOBA.  He officially started last week, though Mike has been with our staff here in Nashville since early June, when he was instrumental in getting our website up and operational along with securing our local and web-base database systems.  Mike has also outlined and documented our complete computer system allowing us to forecast strengths, weakness and future needs for IT.

Mike brings to the job over 16 years of direct technology management experience with a focus on team enhancing management, business, security, technology, computer operations and system administration.  His broad work experience includes, technical design and planning, managing operations and professional support teams, project management of network infrastructures, departmental budgets, disaster recovery, administration of customer and vendor systems, supervision of support, engineering, and technical staff nationally and internationally.

Mike’s extensive background fits perfectly in meeting the needs of our association’s information technology manager, supervising the overall growing needs and operations of our IT segment.  He will be responsible for all aspects of the association’s technical requirements including computer systems, websites, telecommunications and general association automation systems.

William A. Edmunds
Executive Director - AOBA

AOBA Fiber Committee Needs Volunteers

If someone asks you, “What do I do with this fleece,” and you know the answer, why not consider applying to join the AOBA Raw Fiber and Fiber Products Committee?

The Fiber Committee is a very dedicated bunch.  We share the mission to build public awareness and demand for alpaca fiber and products by encouraging members to improve the fiber they produce and by educating members on options for producing finished products.

We are looking for individuals who are enthusiastic and creative. We are currently working on the Alpaca Fiber Characteristics Study, Student Design Competition and creating protocols for spin off and fiber arts/skein competitions.

There are other ongoing projects that we feel will help our mission.  Committee members are assigned tasks that suit their background and abilities and all committee members are expected to participate.

The future of alpacas will definitely include the advancement of the fiber industry.  Our committee members are very passionate about this goal and all work very diligently to promote this part of the industry.

If you have a strong interest in fiber and are willing and committed to working toward promoting an alpaca fiber industry, then please log in to your AOBA account by clicking here and complete the membership application.

Thank you,
Raw Fiber & Finished Products Committee

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm and is filed under Alpacas in the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.