Erick R. Kinney embodies a legacy forged in the skies, an unwavering commitment to excellence and an insatiable passion for pushing boundaries. For over two decades, Erick served as a parachute rigger in the military, carving a path adorned with numerous military accolades and civilian commendations within the parachuting community. His expertise and skill became a beacon, leading him to the United States Air Force as a distinguished military freefall jumpmaster instructor—one of a select triumvirate certified by U.S. Special Operations Command to mentor the USAF course. Fueled by an unyielding dedication to advancing aerial expertise, Erick transitioned to bolster the prowess of an elite Guardian Angel reserve unit at Davis-Monthan AFB. Here, he orchestrated intricate air operations and delivered high-level military freefall training to qualified military jump personnel, elevating their capabilities to new heights. Since 2020, Erick's trajectory has taken a pioneering turn as he assumed the mantle of operations manager of multiple prestigious parachute, SAR and life-support manufacturing facilities. His tenure is defined by tireless research, development, testing, evaluation of safety products spanning diverse aerospace realms—from sport/experimental aircraft to cutting-edge urban/advanced aerial mobility, electric propulsion, interplanetary, tandem, military, emergency bailout and unmanned aerial systems.

Hello SkyFam, Looks like the USPA is in need of a new director seat, and I'm here to help in any way I can. I'm the DZO of Rocky Mountain Skydive here in Colorado, and I take pride in having one of the safest DZs on the planet. I've owned RMS for around 10 years and wouldn't trade it for the world, Skydiving has been the best thing that's happened to me, and I want to bring this passion to a USPA director position, not reinventing or trying to change anything, it seems to work well for now. Thank you for considering me. Blue Skies.

Look, go refer to my previous candidate bio, it remains unremarkably unchanged. I was still born in Italy, I am still jumping in Houston, and yes—I am still doing it primarily for the memes. My qualifications for the job of national director remain as questionable as ever. I have no idea what I’m doing, and I have no plans to begin learning, especially because this is a “special” election. Let’s not kid ourselves—is it even a "real" election? Not with Melissa sitting right there and as easy to copy as ever. That said, I must take this solemn opportunity to point out that Parachutist magazine continues to lack a tasteful, double-fold center section dedicated to memes, Playboy-style. Our loyal members deserve to read it. The disloyal deserve to be featured in it. Should you ask why I’m running, I will respond candidly: to add “national director” to my LinkedIn profile. I don’t even want to be here. I just want to swoop. Respectfully (and with minimal effort), Daniele

With over 26 years in the sport, including roles as a full-time jumper, tandem instructor, and tandem examiner, I bring extensive experience and a global perspective to this position. I have traveled to drop zones across the United States and five continents, participating in remarkable events and helping to expand skydiving interest in places like Iceland, Madagascar and Egypt. In 2023, I worked with the Bahamian government to establish their first skydiving regulations. If elected as your national director, I will focus on three key areas: 

1. Amplifying the Voice of International USPA Members: Nearly 28% of USPA members reside outside the U.S. I propose creating regional representatives to ensure better communication and support for international members, providing them with localized contacts and improving the flow of information. 

 2. Expanding USPA’s Educational Outreach: One of USPA’s main functions is to educate skydivers. If elected, I want to work to expand that educational outreach by making USPA decisions more approachable and work to better communicate changes that the membership needs to embrace. 

 3. Traveling National Director: I want to be your traveling national director, one who takes the word “national” to heart when connecting with the membership. I want to be constantly at different drop zones, listening to feedback and collaborating with board members to resolve USPA members' issues.

 I am committed to improving the USPA's global reach, educational conversations and being out there with the membership. I respectfully ask for your vote and support to bring these changes to fruition.

I would like to be considered for the open board position. I have been skydiving for over 40 years, making my first jump in Williston, Florida, in 1985. Since that time, I have competed at Nationals in both 4-way formation flying and canopy piloting. I have been on numerous world records attempts and completions. I have been a tandem instructor since 1989 having ratings with UPT, Strong and Jump Shack and well over 11,000 tandem jumps. I earned my AFF rating in 1994 and Pro rating in 1998. I have been a senior rigger now for over 20 years with over 3,000 reserve packs and 160 saves. More recently, I have worked with several military contractors developing new systems and being involved in training of both new and experienced jumpers on new technologies. I am currently the DZO of Skydive Palatka and the lead rigger for Round Canopy Parachute Team. All of this experience will definitely help bring a well-rounded individual with a wealth of knowledge in our industry, with the ability to complement the work of our board.

I love this sport for how it brings incredible humans together, shifts our perspective on fear and focus, and transforms strangers into friends and family. I’ve jumped at 41 drop zones across eight regions. About three-quarters of my jumps are fun jumps, mostly wingsuiting, and the rest are work-related, including AFF, coaching, and tandem video. I’m incredibly grateful for this sport, the amazing humans who make it awesome, and the hard work that goes into maintaining this organization. I want to help protect and grow that for all of us. I spent over a year working at USPA Headquarters as a full-time staff member, gaining valuable insight into how the organization operates and how decisions impact members from small Cessna DZs to large turbine operations. The SIM has been completely re-written cover to cover. I helped write the new Wingsuit Recommendations in Chapter 5-8, designed to better support wingsuiters throughout their progression. It's a valuable resource for current and future wingsuit flyers. My goal is to represent you: the 41,000-plus diverse, vibrant members who make up this community. Whether you're new to skydiving or a seasoned pro, your voice matters, and I’m here to make sure it’s heard. I want to bring more transparency to board decisions and make it easier for members to follow and participate in the process. If elected, I’ll bring an informed, collaborative, and community-driven voice to the boardroom. nikko.mamallo.com

Thank you for considering me to represent your best interests as a USPA National Director. My goal is simple: to be a force for good in the sport. Over a 20-year career—not only as a full-time, multi-disciplinary skydiver, but also an educator, entrepreneur, innovator, artist, photographer, writer and pilot—I have become known for innovating nontraditional (but very effective) ideas and solutions, both in competition and education. From that vantage, I am in a unique position to valuably contribute to the work of the USPA. I’d like to take on that mission, as your representative: not to posture as a guru-luminary, but to serve this sport as a useful, welcoming, powerful source of light. For more information visit axisflightschool.com/nd4nd

Hey all. I’m throwing my bid into the election hat for three reasons: 

 1. Interject proactive initiatives into a (historically) conservative institution. Let’s not wait for catastrophe before evaluating a change, recognize culture shifts, or adapt to new pressures *cough markets.* AKA strategic direction and risk mitigation. 

 2. Members pay a lot of money per year… Let’s get the voices of jumpers heard with a better idea-intake process and knowledge base to enrich the change work. DZs and jumpers of all kinds have all kinds of ideas. Let’s collect, sort, prioritize, vote, institute and report on the mostly good ones. 

 3. I’m nerdy, fly tuna-boat canopies, and love 182 hop-and-pops. I'm not cool, but I geek out on process and how organizations serve both core and margin populations. 

Like most skydivers I run toward fires, and I like constructive conflict as a vetting process to select better outcomes. And apparently, I like applying for a job that doesn’t pay money. Candidly, the USPA constitution and by-laws are well written and facilitate a functional committee-based organization. The USPA delivers on its core mission (USPA Governance Manual Section 1-1 Constitution and By-Laws). It’s a great platform, so the next level of work is to use it and flex some invigorated energy to steer USPA toward a mindful future. Vote for me and I will champion this work in tandem to communicating it widely to membership for ongoing feedback and evaluation on whether what we’re doing is … not dumb.

There are big shoes to fill when it comes to Michael McGowan‘s position as national director. With that said, I have known and worked with Michael for over 35 years and witnessed firsthand his unwavering dedication to the sport and the skydiving community he served. Having run one of the world’s largest skydiving centers since 2009, I sincerely believe I can bring forth the same commitment, enthusiasm, and integrity that Michael did as national director. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Shawn Hill, D-13986

I look forward to the opportunity to serve you as a national director! I am an active AFF and Coach Examiner with 20 years of experience, both teaching for civilians and the military. I am the namesake of a foundation that created the Veteran Skydiving Scholarship and the Female Leadership In Skydiving Scholarship, which are expanding according to our plan. I founded the Examiner Working Group, which aims to help standardize and improve the instructional rating process and was one of the members of the team that rewrote the IRM for both the Coach and AFF sections, being published next year. I will do my best to not only represent you to USPA, but also represent USPA back to you. I travel often and hope to meet and talk to as many of you as possible about how we can continually improve our sport and community.

As a professional skydiver with 36 years in the sport, I’m running to be the voice of working skydivers. Let’s stop catering to the lowest common denominator and start empowering instructors to lead, adapt and foster true safety for all in the sky. Tandems, 16,782; AFF/Coach, 952; Fun Jumps, 2,084.

Hello, I'm the author of the online drama affectionately known by some as "Shaggiogate." I am running for national director so that I might gain access to the incident report that was filed with the USPA after my injury 1/8/2022, which resulted in a helicopter ride, a four day coma and ongoing recovery. Secondly, I'm running as a fun jumper candidate because I believe that although the industry, hence the sport, needs tandem operations as an integral part of gaining new skydivers and for providing the profits that let the props turn, I don’t believe that the people in charge of for-profit skydiving ventures should also be in majority control of the BOD, other than by a lack of other viable candidates. I’m 46 years old and have been skydiving since my 29th birthday, when I did my first AFF jump (still no tandems). At the time, I operated an IT business and later worked as a director of communication for a Catholic parish for several years before being elected to the city council in Jackson, Michigan, and was later appointed as a county commissioner just before I was injured under a working canopy. Before my last jump, I had four years in the industry with 1,000-plus video jumps and 300-plus AFF jumps. I hope to be back in the air this season and serving on the BOD!

I don't want this job. I don't want to spend the time or have the responsibility. But, with nearly 30 years working in the sport, I need to give back. I will always do my best to protect skydiving and represent USPA's membership, as a whole, always looking to protect the future of our sport. I’ll do this without giving preferential treatment to any manufacturer, trainer or DZO. I want to hear debates and challenges to every decision. I want to hear your opinion and ask that you challenge me. I don't know everything. I value your knowledge and experience. We have a good BOD, but that's the problem. They trust each other too much and at the last meeting passed rules without enough consideration to the impact. I will always ask why. I want to make having an instructor rating fun again. My principles guide me to having a direct approach and facing challenges with transparency and honesty. I would be honored to represent you.