Please submit any questions you may have via the contact form. Depending on your question, I will provide the answer to you privately and/or post it in this section of the website.
According to our rules, the voting process is handled by an independent outside company, YesElections.
As you can see on their website, one of their main concerns is the accuracy and confidentiality of the voting process. TICA only receives a report with the election results. Follow this link to see the results of the 2023 elections. I used this example because that was the last time the President, Vice President, and Breed Committees were elected. Nobody can find out how you voted - unless you tell them 😉
A Message from Pam Barrett and Ralph Stadter
Candidates for President and Vice President of TICA
Honoring Our Strengths. Putting Members First.
TICA has made real progress with its computer systems. Breeders can now register litters, transfer ownership, and claim titles more easily. The people behind those improvements deserve credit. But there is still more to do. We believe every decision should start with a simple question:
Does this make the TICA experience better for our members?
Whether someone is registering a litter, entering a cat in a show, tracking titles, or exploring TICA for the first time, participation should be welcoming, intuitive, and rewarding. Today, that experience can still be frustrating.
TICA uses TOES for shows and entries, and TFMS for registrations and titles. These systems should work seamlessly together. Instead, members still face password confusion, mismatched sources of data, and a show entry process that can be difficult to navigate.
The same challenges exist on our website and mobile app. Our website should be the first place anyone turns to learn about TICA, yet important information can be difficult to find. Our app should simplify participation, but often creates another barrier. These are not just technology issues. They are member experience issues.
Our Priorities
We believe TICA should focus on a few practical goals:
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Connect our systems. Continue working toward a seamless TOES and TFMS experience that reduces confusion and unnecessary duplication.
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Make our website work for people. Help members and newcomers quickly find registrations, show entries, rules, forms, and support.
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Improve our app. Create a mobile experience that is intuitive, useful, and easy to navigate.
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Welcome newcomers. Explain who we are, what we offer, and how to get involved without expecting everyone to already understand TICA's terminology.
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Make participation rewarding. Explore new ideas, meaningful recognition, and member-focused incentives that encourage people to join, participate, and remain active.
Technology Should Serve Members
To achieve these goals, we should listen to the people who use our systems every day, the people who understand the technology behind them, and newcomers who can help us identify barriers we may no longer see. Then we should establish priorities, measure results, and make sure our investments are delivering value.
We don't believe in technology for its own sake. We believe in technology that serves our members and helps TICA grow.
TICA has wonderful cats, dedicated breeders, passionate exhibitors, and a community worth sharing. We have much to offer people who have never attended a cat show or registered a pedigreed cat. Our responsibility is to make it easy for them to find us, join us, participate, and stay involved.
It's time to make the TICA experience as welcoming, easy to use, and rewarding as the community we represent.
There are various areas where we have been stuck - or things have gotten worse. The main issues I would like to tackle are the following:
Customer Service
I just heard for the first time that there are issues with the response times at the Executive Office. Most of what I need, I can do as a self-service. This issue hadn't been on my radar until recently.
The only reason for this that I have heard so far is that we lost our most valuable resource in the Scoring Department. I also just heard that the integration between TOES and TFMS has still not been completed. One of the main projects before I left the board was that the results could be imported into TFMS. I am shocked that this is still not working - we are more than 3 years into this project.
Cat Show App
The Cat Show App has great potential in many aspects - this also has stagnated for several years now. We need to make this a top priority to enable our clubs to use it efficiently, and to decrease the workload of our Executive Office.
TICA Website
There has been a lot of criticism of our website - even before its launch. The "Client Corner" is difficult to navigate and not well-structured - whenever I need something I use Google to find what I'm looking for.
What Are Your Priorities?
To me, these seem to be the most pressing issues that should be resolved relatively quickly. Do you agree with these points? Do you feel there is something more important that needs to be addressed as soon as possible? Please provide your feedback 😊
I have served this Association as both Regional Director and Vice President under 4 Presidents for a total of 17 years. I have seen and experienced the power of a Board and President working towards a long-term strategy. Much of what we see as TICA’s success and accomplishments in previous years were built on a strategy we developed and executed together. This strategy brought us forward in leaps. But we have stagnated for several years now.
A priority for me is to focus our Board, Membership and Staff on a collective vision for the future of our Association:
- Where do we want to be in 5-10 years?
- How can we collaborate with other cat associations regarding legislative changes - and can we extend the reach of our cooperation into the dog fancy?
- What do we do about the "aging of the cat fancy" in the parts of our world where that is a problem?
- How do we support our clubs to have more shows and have them be financially viable?
- Where have we grown in the past, where are we growing now, and where do we need to look for positive development?
- What can we contribute to the welfare of cats, all over the world?
Much has changed in TICA’s 48 years of existence, and much will change. We need to embrace that change and plan for a future that ensures that our Association and hobby is sustainable for years to come.
The Future is coming! Your vote is important. Please give me the opportunity to serve as your Vice President and listen to your input on our future.
I just wanted to state that I do not see any of the achievements of our association as personal achievements of any individual board members. We achieved these things as a group.Â
A lot of our success from 3 years ago are based on TFMS. Our COO at the time had the vision to explore software solutions that would transform the way we were doing business. The board had the courage to empower his vision - and the result was that we were able to finally work through the backlog which had accumulated over several years.
There's only so much that any board member as an individual can influence. What I can promise is that I will be open for constructive feedback and dialog. The President is responsible for setting the agenda. Personally, I would like to cut back on Executive Session time a lot - I hope that the President you elect will be open to that.
There's only so much that any individual board member can influence.
What I can promise is that I will be open for constructive feedback and dialog. Please note that the President is responsible for setting the agenda. Personally, I would like to cut back on Executive Session time a lot. I hope the President you elect will be on the same page with me.
I love TICA as an association. We are a democracy and our members make the ultimate decision on any changes that are proposed. A change in leadership certainly won't change the underlying principles of TICA. I chose TICA as my association. I don't want to turn it on its head - nor could I 😊
Changes to (the rules of) the association are membership-driven. Any member can propose a rule change. The amendment then needs to get the majority vote of the board as well as the membership. The leadership of the association has rather limited power in that respect.
The membership ballot is scheduled to be sent out 19 October 2026.
You will receive an email from