With the exception of the office manager, EFA is run entirely by volunteers. The board of governors oversees EFA's operations and keeps the membership informed of important developments within the association. The co-executives manage the day-to-day business of running EFA. The committee chairs handle the day-to-day business of the various activities sponsored by EFA. The members at large help set policy at EFA Board meetings. They also serve as representatives of EFA, providing outreach to new and potential members. Often, members at large serve on one or more committees.
Board of Governors
Co-executive, Margaret L. Moser
Margaret trained in the parallel universes of theater and the law in her native Michigan before unexpectedly landing on Wall Street in the 1990s. Happily, she eventually came to her senses and switched gears to become a full-time freelance writer/editor. More happily still, the EFA was there to help in her transition with both job opportunities and collegial support. She has been co-leader of its New Freelancers' Affinity Group since 2004 and was a board member at large, also serving on the EFA's Executive Committee, for the 2005 and 2006 terms. As co-executive director, Margaret looks forward to welcoming more freelancers of every stripe as they navigate the often murky, but ultimately rewarding, waters of working on one's own. (Perhaps she could get some metaphor assistance in return.) A vibrant, growing organization depends on a magical mix of old hands and new blood—and the input of the membership is vital to that elixir.
Co-executive, J.P. Partland
J.P. Partland started freelancing in college. The idea was to eventually land a staff position at something or other somewhere, or other. This led to more freelancing. He ran a magazine for five years—as a freelancer. He got in on the ground floor of the Internet revolution—as a freelancer. He was a copywriter for Revlon—as a freelancer. When he finally landed a staff position at an internet startup, he was also editing a book, as a freelancer, and writing articles for other publications. Naturally, the staff position occurred months before the internet bubble burst and he was back to freelancing. Along the way, clips and jobs piled up. He has checked facts and written for more than sixty publications (newspapers, magazines, you name it), promotional copy, quiz questions, booklets, and three books. He's still working at all of these. J.P. joined the EFA in 1998, was elected to the EFA board sometime thereafter, and has served as a co-executive director since 2001.
Secretary, Trudy Balch
Trudy Balch joined EFA in 1981 while still moonlighting on top of a full-time job as a meeting planner. Several years later, she packed herself and her linguistics-Spanish degree off to journalism school, eventually working as a magazine editor in the New York City area and as a newspaper reporter in Mexico. Since going freelance as a writer, editor, and Spanish- and Ladino-to-English translator in 1993, she has written and edited magazine and newsletter articles; edited travel guidebooks; translated museum exhibition catalogues, book selections and many other kinds of texts; written film subtitles; and in 2007 translated and adapted her first children's book: a biography of the Aztec-era king Nezahualcóyotl. Following election to the board in 2004, she has organized EFA general meetings, co-led New Freelancers Affinity Group meetings, helped analyze issues and documents at board meetings; and—of course—maintained official EFA records. She looks forward to meeting many more of you and encourages you to throw your hat into EFA's volunteer ring.
Treasurer, Anthony P. Johnson
Anthony P. (Tony) Johnson has been an EFA member since 1996 and on the EFA board of governors as treasurer since 2005. He has been writing and editing freelance and within organizations for much longer. Although much of his freelancing is for reference works, he has published articles in scholarly journals, newspapers, and newsletters. His areas of expertise include religion and the social sciences, areas in which he has also taught. His freelancing also includes organizational consulting. He is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and Milano—The New School for Management and Urban Policy. Tony is married and lives with his wife, Jody, an attorney, and two cats, Obsidian and Ebony, in urban New Jersey. Of EFA he says, "I belong to several good professional associations and EFA is the one that most effectively and efficiently serves its members."
Chapter development, Jesse Weissman
Jesse A. Weissman, EFA's volunteer chapter development chair, has been an EFA member since 1984 and, since 1986, a freelance proofreader of fiction and nonfiction books and financial statements for book publishers and accounting firms. Jesse joined EFA's board of governors in 1997, launched EFA's chapter development program that year, and has recruited and supervised the association's volunteer chapter coordinators and regional liaisons ever since. He invites you, as does EFA's board of governors, to volunteer as a chapter coordinator or regional liaison in EFA's efforts to improve networking and other services for the betterment of the association and its membership.
Education, Lisa Owens
After a decade as an in-house editor who freelanced on the side, Seattle-based writer-editor Lisa L. Owens turned to full-time freelancing in 2002 with the launch of her business, Owens Editorial Ink. Currently, she focuses on writing children's books under the pen name L. L. Owens. She also edits books, writes reviews, conducts school visits, and teaches classes in writing and editing. Lisa says, "Working with EFA's education program means that I get to help implement a major membership benefit. My role provides me with great built-in reasons for professional networking and staying abreast of publishing industry news—and I get to work with many wonderful people in the process."
Job List, Sheila Buff
Sheila Buff began freelancing in 1981 and joined EFA soon after. She has been a member of the EFA board of governors for more than twenty years and served as co-executive director from 1995 to 2001. She was Job List chair from 2001 to 2005, took 2006 off, and came back in 2007. She is also the founder of the EFA discussion list. A writer, co-author, and ghostwriter specializing in health, nutrition, and consumer-oriented medicine, Sheila is the author of six national bestsellers. Her other writing and personal interests include birding, natural history, gardening, and the outdoors. She lives in the small town of Milan in the beautiful mid-Hudson Valley with her husband Joe, a novelist, and their dog Dina. She is an honors graduate of Washington Square College at New York University, where she was a University Scholar and received the Alfred Bush Baer Award as outstanding English major of her class.
Membership, Bill Keenan
Bill Keenan has worked in publishing for twenty-plus years, serving as managing editor of Sales & Marketing Management magazine, editor-in-chief of Selling magazine, and editorial director for Alexander Communications Group, a business and technical newsletter publisher. He has been freelancing full-time for five years, writing/editing newsletters on sales and customer service, and writing business articles for a variety of other publications. He joined EFA in 2005 and was elected to the board as a member-at-large in 2006. As co-chair of the Membership committee he's looking for ways to make EFA more attentive, more responsive, and more valuable to all of its members.
Newsletter, Ruth Thaler-Carter
Ruth E. "I can write about anything!"™ Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) has been a successful freelance writer/editor for more than twenty-five years, honing her career in St. Louis, MO; Washington, DC; and Baltimore, MD. She joined EFA in 2004 and is EFA's Rochester, NY, chapter coordinator; chaired and spoke at EFA's 2005 national conference; developed and presented a workshop on "Getting Started in Editorial Freelancing" in 2006 and 2007; is writing a booklet for EFA based on the workshop; has helped with the Job List; began chairing the EFA newsletter in 2007; and hopes to help EFA offer more conferences in the future. "I'm active in EFA because I believe in networking and in being more than a checkbook member; being visibly involved in an organization yields wonderful results—not just new jobs or projects, but new skills and lasting friendships among members."
Publications, Elaine Will Sparber
Elaine Will Sparber has been an editor and a writer for more than twenty years, spending some of that time on staff and some of it as a freelancer. Before founding the Sharp Pencil Editorial Services in 2003, she worked for a number of book publishers, several magazines and newspapers, and a website. The skills and experience she picked up in each field allow her to feel comfortable today with a wide variety of formats and subject areas. In addition, she has become equally proficient at project acquisition and development, substantive editing, and copyediting. Elaine joined the EFA in 2003 and took over the chairmanship of the Publications Committee in 2006.
Website, Helen Glenn Court
In publishing since 1990, Glenn went freelance as an editor in June 1995 (www.formandsubstance.com), joined EFA in 2003, and began serving on its board of governors in 2006 as a member at large. Her editorial work, bolstered by ten years in accounting and fourteen in web development, is guided by two simple principles: maintain the author's voice and focus on one task at a time. Projects she has particularly enjoyed include an encyclopedia of New York State, policy analysis on the former Soviet republics, and a bilingual art catalog. A firm believer that professional networking and activities are only as effective as the effort put into them, she is pleased to direct some of her versatility and energy to the EFA.
[ back to top ]