2024-2026 GC Term

By joint decision of the HEMA Alliance Board of Directors and Governing Council, the general HEMAA GC Elections for the 2024-2026 term will not be held. There were five positions up for election and five eligible candidates.

Aidan Blake and Nickolys Hinton will continue in their roles on the GC. They both do a lot of work behind the scenes and we’re thrilled they decided to run for their third and second terms, respectively.

We're pleased to introduce our new GC members: Donald McKay, Edward Meyers, and DJ Nero!

Donald started HEMA in 2017 with an interest in I.33 and sword and buckler. He has been the president at Vier Blossen Historical Fencing since 2021. He loves the research side of HEMA and the community of people HEMA has brought together.

Edward briefly started HEMA when he co-founded a high school club back in 2009. Since then, he has trained with Dawn Duelists in Edinburgh, Scotland before taking a break for law school. He now trains with Black Cat Historical Fencing in Rhode Island.

DJ Nero has been studying HEMA proper since 2011 but has always had a fascination with swords and blades, slaying his first “monster” as a child with a stick of some sort. His parent club is Sword to Sword in Houston, but he was also formally adopted through blood, might and glory into Nachreisen (Formerly known as Ordo HEMA). He is a proud member of SHFL (Southern Historical Fencing League), a non-profit association with multiple clubs throughout the South. Outside of HEMA, DJ has nearly 30 years of martial arts experience, having dabbled at some level from Judo, Taekwondo, Karate and other Eastern arts. He is primarily an IT Admin, web developer &/or code scripter by trade during the day and a professional DJ by night. Throughout the HEMA-sphere he is known as “The King of Hugs” which if you meet him, you will nearly immediately understand why.

The HEMAA and the HEMA community are grateful for the work Jordan Hinckley and Michael Thompson have done during their time on the GC. Their efforts both behind the scenes and in public-facing roles have helped immensely and we wish them well as they move on to other endeavors in the HEMA community.

The GC handles the day-to-day operations of the HEMAA. This mostly includes answering questions regarding membership, policies, insurance, and event, promotional, and research support. Additionally, the GC works with the Curriculum Council to shape its programs, handles updates to the website and Club Finder, arranges discount codes with vendors, community outreach initiatives, and meetings with other martial arts and martial sports organizations to see how we can each best support and learn from each other.

To continue on our core mission, we need volunteers to help with these initiatives. Please get involved. The HEMAA is an organization tasked with providing services to the HEMA community. It is whatever we make of it. Volunteer for a project and help guide our course.

Regards,

HEMA Alliance Governing Council and Board of Directors