Note: This is a candidate page for a Judge Foundry Election. Information on this page is provided by the candidate, and does not represent the opinions or positions of the Elections Committee or of Judge Foundry. For more information about this election, see the schedule and index for the 2024 Regional Advocate Election.
- Name: Gary Roland
- Location: Anniston, Alabama
- Election: Regional Advocates 2024
- Running For: South Central RA
Nomination Statement
My name is Gary Roland. I became a level 1 judge in 2016 and promoted to L2 in 2018. During this time I have experienced the numerous changes to the judging community, and helped shepherd my part of the world through every step. I was previously an Area Captain for Alabama and Mississippi from 2018 until the start of Judge Academy under Nicolette Apraez. I’ve worked events scaling from FNM to Day 2 of Grands Prix. Presently, I regularly work SCG Cons and Regional Championship events across the US, and love helping new judges get onto their first events.
I started playing Magic in a small town in rural Alabama. When I started playing, the nearest judge was an hour away. So we had to rely on the “person who plays a lot” for rulings. There were some very far off rulings that came as the result of this and I wanted a change. So, I became the change! After studying and reaching L1, I was now available for the nearby prereleases and game days (the “competitive” event at the time) as needed. This was very well received by local stores and I wanted to drive more opportunities for judging. After working with my L2 mentor out of Birmingham, I was able to convince stores to run PPTQs. They absolutely loved them and wished they started them sooner.
This is all to say that I understand our region’s unique challenges. Driving two hours for an RCQ is not strange to me. During both the prior judge programs and Foundry I was able to work with stores to host six different conferences in Alabama and Mississippi. I felt very happy that I was able to provide judges in smaller communities the ability to meet up with other judges and create those relationships. It’s something I wish I had been able to find easier when I was a new judge, and is something I want to provide everyone in the South Central region. I want to grow this community despite our distance from each other. If you vote for me, I will do my best to create a cohesive region for all of us.
At the end of your first six months as Regional Advocate, what does “success” look like?
Success looks like open communication channels for all judges in our region, or at least better than it currently is. I want all judges to be able to find someone relatively near them they can talk to for advice or to just bounce an idea off of them. I’ll also have results from our region about the best way for them to gain information about events or new members in our region
What skills/experience do you bring to the role of Regional Advocate?
The experience I bring is having been in any role you can think of. I’ve been an organizer, I’ve been a head judge, I’ve been a floor judge, and run or help run everything from FNM to 1000+ player events. I’ve been a regional captain for Alabama/Mississippi from 2018-2019 where I tackled similar roles that are very similar to what Judge Foundry is asking for regional advocates.
Describe your plans to recruit and utilize Area Communicators.
I plan to open all lines of communication to me and see who’s interested. I want this to be something that someone wants to do, not something that feels overwhelming or like a chore. The area communicators will be best suited to help spread information on a more local level, and help understand, and provide to me, any good or bad things that may be happening in their area. This will be a person that I can depend on, as well as others in their area. Even though I am familiar with the region’s problems being rural, having someone with boots on the ground can be better suited for various reasons.