Officers of the Southwest Chapter

The By Laws of the FSMTA set the term of service at two years for each office state wide. The current board began on January 1, 2007 and will continue through December 2008 when a new election will take place in January 2009. Committee members are nominated by the President. All of the work in FSMTA is done by volunteers. FSMTA has grown from virtually nothing to the largest massage association in the country through the efforts of volunteers desiring to raise the standards of their profession. Members CAN make a difference by contributing just two or three hours a week. The mission statement of FSMTA is "To unify the massage therapy profession while creating, representing, and promoting standards of excellence in health care."

State Officers

To see who the people are who sit at the hub of FSMTA's Central Office, click on the link: http://www.fsmta.org/html/meet_the_board.html . The Board of Directors which governs FSMTA includes its officers and the presidents of the 19 Chapters. The Board of Directors meets four times a year, which our president attends.
 
History of FSMTA

Since its inception on July 15, 1939, the FSMTA has grown to become the leading professional state massage therapy association in the country, becoming a trend-setter for the rest of the nation. Due to the efforts of FSMTA, the Florida State Massage Law was passed in 1943, and in 1945 committees on Ethics, Membership, Finance, and Constitution/Bylaws were created. Local chapters began to form in the early 50's to help educate members and address issues that popped up. In 1953 education programs began to be held at chapter meetings and eight hours of continuing education courses were incorporated into the annual convention. The Association stabilized throughout the 1960's and 1970's, and in the 80's the FSMTA became more centralized. It grew to 14 chapters and in 1986 it was reincorporated as the Florida State Massage Therapy Association. That same year the "Massage Message" magazine was published as the official magazine of the FSMTA. In 1988 the Insurance Committee made liability insurance available to members, and the Legislative Committee helped Chapter 480 of the Florida Statutes become more responsive to the needs of therapists and the public. Also in 1988, the Educational Standards Committee was developed to work with the State of Florida, the FSMTA Annual Convention, and local chapters to provide continuing education programs. The last two committees formed in the late 1980's were the Sports Massage Team Committee, known throughout the state for its service to athletes, and the Public Relations Committee, designed to promote the FSMTA and its members to the general public. The FSMTA Central Office was established in Orlando in the 1990’s to consolidate its services to its members. In 2001 the FSMTA added it's 19th Chapter, with the possibility of a 20th in the planning stages.