On 19 December, the Board met for the final time in 2015. It has been a bittersweet year with some successes, some shortcomings, and the tragic loss of our greatest freediver, Natalia Molchanova. Kimmo Lahtinen, president for the past 6 years, is moving on to pursue other dive-related interests and spend more time with his family. We are eternally grateful to Kimmo for his strong leadership, passion, dedication, and for laying the groundwork for Aida's future. He has left Aida with a solid foundation for the next wave of volunteers to guide us into the coming year.

For our first order of business, Vedran Milat, treasurer, reported that all is good and the financial reports will be ready in January for review. The Board also discussed an old accounting issue involving two volunteers. It was determined that there are not sufficient financial records to warrant any further investigation and the case will be dropped.

Kimmo reported that the new website is almost complete and will be launched by Jakob Galbavy very soon. There are still some issues with the platform and some of the systems and the Board agreed to seek proposals from capable IT firms to repair and maintain the programs.

In regards to the 2016 World Championships; the sports office and judge responsible will be sending out a call for judges in January for the pool competition scheduled for 24 June- 4 July in Finland. The Board also agreed that Aida will ask organizers to submit proposals for the 2017 & 2018 championships ASAP after the first of the year. This will allow more time for better planning and acquiring sponsorships.

Jean-Pol and the education office reported that the new Aida *, **, *** course materials are complete. A webinar is planned to introduce the new materials to Aida instructors for these courses and the **** and other specialty courses are slated for completion in June. Jean-Pol then recommended that Natalia Zharkova of Ukraine been promoted to Master Instructor and the Board approved.

The new IOP ( internal operating procedures for judges) will come into effect in January. The algorithm is set in JOS but it needs to be synchronized throughout the system. A project manager will be assigned to this task.

The rules update is complete and is being finalized. It will be sent to the Assembly for review in January.

The results of the Aida Board elections were announced. The following persons were chosen to represent Aida 2016-2018:

• President: CarlaSue Hanson
• Vice-President: Mario Zuzic (one- year term)
• Technical Officer: Antero Joki(re-elected)
• Education Officer: Jean-Pol Francois (re-elected)
• The vacated secretary position will be open for candidates in January.

The Aida International Board wishes all of our members a very happy holiday season. Happy and safe diving in 2016! As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or topics that you would like us to discuss.

On behalf of AIDA Board,

Carla Hansen