PPA recall fails at contentious meeting

Following last week’s article on the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) board drama detailed last week, the result was no change for the beleaguered industry association. There have been no official minutes or reports from the Feb. 3 PPA Council meeting at the Gaylord National in Dallas, Texas. On the schedule were normal committee reports and association business – which included the unsurprising tidbit that the PPA membership is down significantly and Professional Photographer magazine revenue is down 5%.

According to a report filed by Lynn Cartia, the New Mexico-based professional photographer who has chronicled the PPA drama on her Substack, the proposed recall of the PPA officers involved in the unusual ouster of Allison English Watkins, the current Vice President of the PPA, was voted as the next President of the organization in October 2024, and Pete Rezac, the current treasurer, was voted as Vice President.

” I think about how after three hours in the meeting, we were never given an explanation for why the PPA Chair, President and CEO formed a coup and invalidated that very valid October election,” writes Cartia. “No one ever point blank asked the Chair for an explanation. All of this, all of it, and they still aren’t transparent. I wonder how many other shady things we don’t know about with these people.”

PPA itself has not responded to requests for comment.