TRUCKEE

Newly elected members to the Western Region of Professional Ski Instructors of America & American Association of Snowsports Instructors (PSIA-AASI) Board of Directors were disqualified and suspended on March 21 after they were found in bad standing.

PSIA-AASI West is a membership-based organization representing, certifying, and educating the professional snowsports community on the West Coast and is headquartered in Truckee. Clinics, webinars, and assessments are held monthly throughout the ski season to support, pass, and maintain instructor PSIA-AASI certification. It held its bi-annual election for four seats on its board of directors between Feb. 23 and March 13. A group of four members from the Tahoe/Truckee area — Bryan Martel, Brent Boblitt, Alycia Glines, and Barclay Moore — campaigned as a Team4Change on a platform of greater transparency, listening to member voices, supporting women, better education, and friendlier exams.

“This is a great time for change,” stated the Team4Change campaign website. “Members are dropping out, disheartened by the irrelevancy of the organization or because of plain poor value. We can develop new policy and governance for better educational events.”

In a video campaign statement, Martel said the organization needs to shift resources and money from the executive office and toward the continuing educational staff, which he says isn’t paid enough. The Team4Change group also said there aren’t enough on-hill clinics to support the western region, which covers California, Nevada, and Hawaii.

A screenshot of the election results shared with Moonshine Ink by PSIA-AASI West member Loren Rupp shows the initial winners of the election: Boblitt, Martel, Julie Brown, and Moore. However, eight days after the results were released, Moore and Martel from Team4Change were disqualified, meaning their seats went to the candidates with the next highest number of votes. Glines, who came in fifth place, was also disqualified, leaving Moore and Martel’s spots to sixth place incumbent Neil Bussiere and seventh place Sue Spain. 

“Redoing the election would throw out all valid ballots and effectively disenfranchise the larger majority of members who already voted,” said the FAQ on the PSIA-AASI West website. “It would also subject the candidates who remained in good standing and followed all requirements to the undue burden of running a second time.”

According to the same FAQ, Moore, Martel, and Glines were disqualified after voting concluded because they weren’t “members in good standing.” However, concerned voting members created a petition so that members can hear a full explanation from the board before its new members are seated on April 27.

“The FAQ confirms investigations began in January 2026. Yet all nine candidates remained on the ballot through the entire voting period,” said the petition. “If any candidate was ineligible, that determination could have been made before the election. Instead it was applied between the close of voting and the publication of results. Members voted without knowing any candidate was under investigation.”

According to the petition, once the new board is seated, no further actions can be taken. The petition also claims PSIA-AASI’s CEO who was board appointed, could have had financial interests in the election since Team4Change wanted to shake up the system.

The petition can be found at psia-petition.vercel.app. The group is also raising funds for legal fees to fight the change in results.

~ MR