Today is the final day for nominations (and self-nominations!) for AoIR officers. I am the current vice-president, and am honored to be taking over for Mia as president in Seattle this September. I'm writing mainly to say that if you are thinking about running you probably should. I ran for two reasons. First, for me--like, I suspect, for many of you--AoIR has served as a scholarly home, a place to work through ideas, methods, and approaches that might not have been as familiar in my own department or discipline. I've been involved in this Association, and benefited from the work of the volunteers that make it work, since I was a graduate student. I felt obligated to follow those who had put time into making it work.. And second, I wanted to make it work better. In particular, I wanted to focus on the role of AoIR in disseminating the best research and helping to incubate that research, the two things I think are at the core of what AoIR does. I also wanted to make the machinery of the Association work better. I have particular ideas about how these things should happen, and I'll continue to pursue those through over the rest of my term. You might agree with my ideas of what AoIR should be, in which case you should join me on Exec to help make them happen. You might disagree with these ideas, in which case you should join me on Exec to make sure you influence of AoIR in another direction. Either way, you should run for Exec, because in running you get the opportunity to talk about what you think AoIR should be, and others get a chance to think about that when they read your statement and ask questions and discuss the future of our Association. Those of us on the Exec now have a vested interest in handing the reigns over to a great group of new members of the Executive Committee. We're happy to answer questions narrow or broad about any of the positions. I know this comes near the 11th hour, but if you are on the fence, throw your hat in the ring (mixed metaphor FTW). Best, Alex Halavais (AoIR VP)