A Message from the Leadership Team of ACCT

It is with great pleasure today that I am announcing the official hiring of Melissa Webb as the next Executive Director of the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT). Melissa has been a valued member of the ACCT staff for a decade now, and in May of this year the Board of Directors named Melissa as the Temporary Director of Operations. During that time, I have worked very closely with her to facilitate a smooth transition, ensure ongoing stability, and prepare us for success. Melissa has done a remarkable job of assuming responsibility for the day-to-day operation and management of the business of ACCT, and she has very clearly demonstrated her ability to lead. So it is with complete confidence and an abundance of excitement for the future of our association, that all of us on the Board support her in this new role.  

-  ACCT Board of Directors Chair, Korey Hampton

Without further ado we present to you, Melissa Webb - Executive Director of the Association for Challenge Course Technology: 

I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank ACCT Board Chair, Korey Hampton for leading the association for the past several months as acting Executive Director. The commitment Korey has shown to this association is commendable. In addition to managing the daily operations at her Accredited Operation French Broach Adventures, she has continued to steer this association through some amazing changes. We have had an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of running the association as we’ve worked very closely the last 4 months and intend to continue to work together to help guide the association through the next chapter. 

I have had the pleasure of working with many volunteers and vendors over the years however, I’d love to share a little bit more about my background and what has led me to this new role. I joined ACCT as a conference attendee in 2010 in Atlanta, GA while employed with Iredell County Parks & Recreation and the US Whitewater Center, both in North Carolina. Making a bit of a shift from working in the hospitality industry for the previous 10+ years I was exploring new opportunities and pursuing my passion for the outdoors. This exploration ultimately led to getting plugged into the Challenge Course Industry. While participating in an ACCT Level 1 training hosted by Challenge Towers at Iredell County I was encouraged by Leigh Carruth to join the ACCT Service Crew in Atlanta for the upcoming conference. Piggybacking on the very few connections I had to the industry I jumped on the opportunity to learn more about what this Challenge Course world was all about. It didn’t take long for me to realize that these were my people and this was an industry I wanted to stay engaged in. In 2011, I learned about an opening within the Conference Committee (now known as the Conference Work Group) and immediately put in an application to join this group. Recognizing I knew very little about the technical side of this new world I was in, I felt this was the safest way for me to engage with my new community since after all this is what I was most familiar with from my previous years of service in the hospitality industry. After serving on the committee for 2 years the association decided to create a role as they identified there was a need for more full time support overseeing membership as well as the annual conference. In June of 2013 I joined the ACCT team as a Special Events and Membership Coordinator. After just one year in that role it was clear that the events work dominated my time and quickly I shifted into a Events Management role solely focused on the success of the annual conference. Over the last decade I have had the pleasure of working with numerous volunteers year round as well as onsite for the annual conference. Being a volunteer for ACCT was the start of it all for me and I fully recognize just how crucial volunteers are to this amazing organization. Over the last several months I’ve had the opportunity to be more involved with the daily operations of the association in my role as Interim Director of Operations and have enjoyed getting to see the different aspects of the association. Due to my ten year involvement with this association I feel I have a good understanding of where the association is currently and I am excited to continue serving ACCT in a new role as Executive Director. For those of you who know me you know I tend to over communicate. That said, I would love to hear from you melissa@acctinfo.org! I’m always open to feedback and truly want to see us strengthen our efforts to better serve our global challenge course community.

- ACCT Executive Director, Melissa Webb.