Alli Macdonald is stepping down as president of Pink Boots Society Australia after three years in the role.

Macdonald announced to members officially yesterday that she would be stepping down at the Society’s AGM this September.

“I have been thinking about it for the last few months,” she told Brews News.

“I knew I’d be coming up to three years at the AGM and the time just feels right!

“It’s not sad, you’ll see me again, but the time feels right because so many projects myself and the board have been working on are coming to fruition.”

During her tenure, Macdonald and the board have made a formal agreement with the US-based Pink Boots founding organisation which they believe is the first agreed globally, automated memberships and launched a programme of virtual education for its members.

“Moving to an automated membership system frees up the board’s time to deliver educational projects,” Macdonald explained.

“The virtual education series which we’ve just started, which we initially discussed three years ago and was on the wishlist, we were always saying we’d get round to it.

“We’ve got a lot of regional members that are in big states and are spread out. We wanted to look at that for regional members and COVID gave us that chance.”

Also stepping down at the AGM is vice president Zoe Ottaway, who joined the board with Alli.

“Zoe has been able to impart so much of her marketing and PR skills and has taken on the role of scholarship coordinator with a passion,” said Macdonald.

“Our scholarship program has grown each year in terms of number of scholarships and number of applications. Zoe has really developed this program in her time in the role and has had a big impact.”

Macdownald said she was proud of what Pink Boots had achieved during her and the board’s tenure.

“[What I wanted] was to have this fantastic network and I wanted people to feel included and they had a place where members were able to reach out to other members and ask for advice, or share their knowledge and make connections in the industry.

“I loved that we’ve been able to expand this network but also nurture it so those connections have happened, and that to me is the thing I’m most proud of.

“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Pink Boots, I can’t wait to see that and be part of that as a member.”

As codified in the Pink Boots constitution, Pink Boots board positions including vice president and secretary will be re-elected at the AGM.

Current secretary Laura Hose will be standing for vice president and current membership coordinator Melinda Christophersen will be standing for secretary.

Pink Boots is also dissolving the membership coordinator position and creating the new position of communication and events coordinator.

Self nominations for the vacant board positions are required by 20th of August, 2020, via email to info@pinbootssociety.com.au.

The Pink Boots AGM is scheduled for Thursday 24th September in a virtual evening session.

Hear Alli discuss her career in beer and the role of Pink Boots in her chat on Beer is a Conversation