Biography of Steve Mestad for Vice President

As Vice President, my goals will be to promote a user-friendly club by working with the Board of Directors to support your goals, ensure fiscal responsibility, improve operations, provide access to club information, and solicit new ideas from the members. I will do what I can to bring your club and you together for enjoyment as we preserve the Oldsmobile heritage.

I joined OCA and the Minnesota Olds Club in 1991. In the Minnesota Club, I served as Treasurer during 1995 and 1996, Vice President in 1997, and President from 1998 thru 2000, and have been awarded a Lifetime Membership in the Club. In 2004, my wife Lori and I chaired the 2004 OCA Nationals held in Minneapolis, one of the largest OCA Nationals turnouts. Lori has been involved in many activities and was also Treasurer in 2002 for the Minnesota Olds Club. Since moving to Iowa in 2004, I am active in the Iowa Oldsmobile Club and am currently serving as Treasurer.

I have a BA degree in Finance and Banking along with 14 years experience in the insurance industry servicing and supervising Commercial and Personal Lines Claims in General Liability, Products & Completed Operations, and Bodily Injury Claims, Property Claims, Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and Errors and Omissions claims of Insurance Agents. I currently own and manage a grading and excavation business in Des Moines, IA. We own a 1968 442, and our daughter Holly owns a 1936 2 door Street Rod.

In 2006, I was elected Zone Director for the Western Great Lakes Zone which includes WI, IL, IA, MN, ND, SD & NE. I came onto the Board of Directors one year after the 2005 year Board Meeting, in which the current executive committee had just completed 34 Bylaw changes and 49 Policy Manual changes, some of which included the removal of term limits for the executive positions, granting voting rights to appointed positions, allowing the financial bookkeeping to depart from Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures, and posting a Sgt of Arms at the Board Meeting doors to keep OCA members out.

We need to restore the quality bylaws put into effect years ago. Those bylaws were the result of a lot of thought and good business decisions. We need to get back to good business operations which will ensure a strong, fair and open transparency of the club for continued operations, for us and our children, who enjoy Oldsmobile and its history. We need to make changes that will end the four-year trend of net membership losses of 60 per year - for every 640 new members; we are currently losing 700 members.

Please join me in your support of the following:

• Restoring term limits to all Board positions so that new candidates and their ideas can be encouraged to participate in the operations of OCA.

• Publish minutes of the Board Meetings for all OCA Members and interested parties can know what is going on within their club.

• Establish a balanced budget.

• Conduct a financial audit and schedule audits on a regular basis.

• Provide financial transparency so the members know how their money is being handled when reports are published or if they inquire.

• Restore the requirement that only persons who hold elected positions may vote on Board issues.

• Provide national support for the chapters and members with open communication with elected Zone Directors.

• Control of the OCA should be retained by the Zone Directors, Chapters, and members.

I appreciate your time and consideration of your support. Please vote and urge other OCA members to vote. Thank you.

Steve Mestad.

OCA # 16975