Over the weekend we received an update on the GAMA Retailer Division dispute in which board members were seeking to have recently elected Chairman D.P. 'Vern' Vernazzarro removed (see 'GAMA Retailer Division Election Aftermath') from Vice-Chairman John Kaufeld of More than Games in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  According to Kaufeld, while the statement released by GAMA accurately reflected the feelings of the board of the GAMA Retailer Division at the time it was written in late March, since then a compromise has been reached in which Kaufeld will be the GRD representative to the full GAMA board while Vernazzarro serves as Chairman.  Kaufeld said, 'The GRD board felt that this gave Vern the opportunity to rebuild his strained relationships with many GAMA member companies, while also giving the GRD a voice on the GAMA board that comes without any extraneous relational baggage.' 

 

The release of his statement about the dispute to the membership was unintended, according to Kaufeld.  'What you [saw was] an incomplete draft document,' he said.  'Because I wrote it from my memories of what happened at the show, I distributed the document to the GRD board members involved in this issue to make sure it accurately portrayed everybody's thoughts and concerns about Vern's election.  I also sent a copy of the document to the GAMA board solely to give them an update of what was going on. This was only for their information, not for inclusion in the newsletter.'

 

Kaufeld expressed satisfaction that the dispute had been resolved.  'It took a lot of discussion and compromise from all of us on the board to get to where we are today,' he said.  'I'm proud of what all of us -- Vern, Janis, Jim, Rob, Steve, and Billy -- achieved to move through our initial problems and begin functioning as a group.'