It is time again for the Council’s elections. Every four years the CVA holds elections. All board positions are up for election, and a newly elected board will take office in 2027. I have stepped down as your elected President these past months—due to increasing familial health matters and increasing personal responsibilities, and as of this writing the majority of the current CVA board will not run for re-election. It is a new chapter for the CVA, and the Council needs proverbial new blood, new board members and new leaders to come forth to continue. As a CVA member we need your participation in the CVA electoral process. Even if you have not held office before, I urge all of you to examine the CVA’s nominating and electoral process and consider running for a board position in this election. There are seven board positions available. Please explore the roles and responsibilities of each board position to see where they are aligned with your interests and skills so you may be of service. 

 

The Council was founded over three decades ago, in November 1993, and I was fortunate to be one of the original seven founding members. I served as the first elected President of the CVA when the Council held its first open elections among its members. I declined a second term. During the economic downturn of 2009 many non-profits experienced hard financial times, lost members and lost volunteers- which are the life blood of non-profits. As a non-profit, the CVA was no exception to those economic hard times. I received an unexpected call in late 2009 from CVA’s Honorary Chairman, Chakrapani Ullal, who wished to encourage and nominate me to again run for Presidency of the Council in the upcoming 2010 elections. The CVA was in the financial red and its very existence threatened during the “Great Recession”. I was hesitant at first to accept, but after speaking with Chakrapani I embraced the challenge and was elected President again in 2010 and I have continued in that role in every successive CVA election since then, until now. 

 

I have had the privilege of documenting the history of the Council, having been there since the beginning. This history of the Council was published on the thirty-year anniversary of the CVA in the 2023 CVA autumnal journal. You can read it here: A thirty-year recollection and tribute to the Council of Vedic Astrology. Having raised four daughters, from grade-schools through graduate schools, I know only too well that this takes a collective village. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have come before.  We at the Council owe a debt of thanks and gratitude to our communal village for their staunch support these last three decades.

 

In addition to all those CVA members I have already thanked in the thirty-year recollection and tribute to the Council of Vedic Astrology, I have yet more members to thank—starting with the current CVA board members, Bruce Davis, Prema Lee Gurreri, Marianne Jacuzzi, Susie Patterson, and Karen Wennerlind for their service on this last CVA board. I wish to thank James Kelleher for his role as CVA’s Provost on the CVA certification committee, and those serving on this committee. 

 

I further wish to thank Marianne Jacuzzi, as managing editor of the CVA journal and for her on-going Equinox to Equinox journal column. Both Marianne Jacuzzi and Bruce Davis, for their combined contributions to the CVA journal these past years. They have both provided thoughtful and engaging articles, interviews, and book reviews of CVA members. The CVA Journal has always been timely, and on time even in the Pandemic years. Thanks to those CVA members who have contributed to the journal. Indeed, it takes a communal village. 

 

There are those who rise to challenge, whom I especially wish to thank. The late Michael Alberts who served tirelessly on this very CVA board until he transitioned in late October of last year. As CVA’s tech IT wizard and website manager Michael’s skills were essential to the CVA in this digital age. Also, Haley Lee who has now assumed Michael’s role. In addition, Bruce Davis, Karen Wennerlind, and the late Michael Alberts, for their endless service with me on the CVA legal-trademark committee. Bruce Davis and Karen Wennerlind yet again, for their timely service on the CVA bylaws committee, both stepping up as I have had to step back. Lastly, I especially wish to thank Karen Wennerlind, who has served as CVA’s treasurer for the last 16 years of my Presidency. Thanks to our combined efforts, and Karen’s financial oversight, the CVA is now fully flush in the financial black—so that a newly elected board will have the financial resources necessary to grow the organization.

 

As I bid you all adieu, I wish to remind you that our organization is getting on in years, and so are your elected CVA board members! Although we are young at heart, we are not getting any younger. The organization needs both younger and capable board members to continue to grow. I will close this farewell with the appeals and words of two great leaders. Firstly, the words of CVA founder and Honorary Chairman of the CVA-the great statesman- Chakrapani Ullal, who urged me in 2009 to again run for election to the CVA board with the appeal: “unless responsible leaders run for election the CVA will cease to exist”. Chakrapani’s words resonate as relevant now as they did back then. Without responsible leaders participating in the electoral process the CVA will certainly face an existential threat. Lastly, the words of a founding figure in the early American women’s suffrage movement and the first President of the National Women’s Suffrage Association- the great stateswoman- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who in 1893 wrote in her diary “I will never forget that we are sowing winter wheat which the coming spring will see sprout and which other hands than ours will reap and enjoy”. The seeds we have sown at the CVA these last three decades are now in your hands, my fellow CVA members. This is your harvest now and all those members who have served on the CVA board these past three decades are entrusting it to you. Step up and claim this harvest and grasp it firmly with your capable hands by running for the CVA board in the upcoming election for indeed, it does take a communal village. 

 

Respectfully and in Gratitude,

 

Dennis Flaherty

President Emeritus CVA