Industry veteran Gary Forman has been named interim Executive Director of the Bowling Centers of Southern California.

Forman, who is in the process of selling Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, California, with his business partner, Dave Osborn, has served on the BCSC Board of Directors for 26 years, and is a two-term past President of the trade association.

“As an association, we appreciate Gary’s desire to take on this new role while we work to determine what is best long term for BCSC,” said the association’s current President, Jesse Hansen. “As always, we have all members of the association in mind when we look to the future. We will continue to work diligently toward the goal of getting bowling centers in California reopened as soon as possible.”

Forman fills the position vacated by Margot Gallardo, who resigned last week.

“I am pleased to be appointed to this position to serve as the advocate of my Southern California bowling industry colleagues,” Forman said. “I’ve served on this association’s board for a quarter of a century and am excited to further my work as an advocate for our members.”

California’s bowling industry has been shut down almost continuously, with a few isolated exceptions, as part of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s mandated closure of businesses statewide. Yet while other businesses reopened, bowling centers, for the most part, had to remain shuttered.

“My lobbying efforts with state officials and politicians as BCSC’s interim Executive Director will begin immediately,” Forman told the Cyber Report. “There’s a lot of work to do to educate the state’s politicians about how safe bowling centers are.”

Governor Newsom is the target of a recall effort in California, initiated by people unhappy with the way he has managed the coronavirus pandemic. To date, more than 1.8 million signatures have been gathered, more than enough to trigger a recall election.

Forman’s appointment as interim Executive Director of BCSC is effective immediately.