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, Anita D. McClellan
Boston-area freelancer Anita D. McClellan (www.anitamcclellan.com), a developmental editor, project manager, publishing consultant, workshop facilitator, and writer, joined EFA in 2006 and was elected a member at large in 2007. She currently serves on EFA's health insurance subcommittee. While serving as secretary, Anita hopes to continue helping increase and improve member services and activities. When she is not racking up billable hours or volunteering, she may be found wandering somewhere along New England's Great Salt Marsh in the company of her Airedale terrier and/or her two children.
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, Jennifer Maybin
Jennifer Maybin, MA, has been a medical editor and writer for more than twenty years and currently works as a freelance in Branchburg, NJ. She has worked for medical education companies, medical and healthcare publishers, healthcare Web sites, pharmaceutical companies, and journals during a career that spans more than twenty-five years. Jennifer is also a member of the the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, the American Association of Healthcare Journalists, and the American Medical Writers Association, for whom she serves as co-chair of the Freelance Workshop of the Delaware Valley Chapter. She is also an adjunct instructor of English at Raritan Valley Community College in Somerville, NJ.
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, vacant
Members at Large
Scott Bogue
Scott Bogue has been an EFA member since 2002, and became a member at large and coordinator of the North Carolina chapter in 2007. He sees EFA as a place where freelancers can both give and receive through networking, assistance from colleagues, social contact, and opportunities to help others. His interest in continuing as MAL comes from a dual desire: to help EFA grow, and to help bring more value to members as the board explores, selects, and develops programs, information, lines of communication, and other initiatives. Scott has been a freelance technical editor and writer of training materials, work instructions, marketing materials, and related publications since 1996, after more than twenty-three years as a full-time employee in manufacturing. That background has provided him with a business perspective that he hopes is helpful to the EFA. Raised in New Jersey, Scott has called North Carolina home since 1979.
Chuck Brandstater
Chuck has been a freelance editor and translator (specializing in computer, business, and legal areas) for twelve years, a member of EFA for eight, and a chapter coordinator for EFA Boston for close to eight. In addition to working to help the Boston-area chapter to grow year by year, he has frequently introduced contacts all over the country in order to help other chapters and potential chapters develop. As an EFA member at large, Chuck has for some time enjoyed formally exercising his long-adopted role as an advocate, before members and others, of the association's services, and has greatly appreciated the member votes that have continued to make such formal exercise possible.
Marion DS Dreyfus
Marion Dreyfus, longtime writer, editor, and journalist, teaches business writing and media at top metro colleges, and pens analytical briefings and papers for a Washington, DC-based policy center. She is a consultant for a national PR agency, is a judge for annual film festivals in NYC, and writes a newsletter for her Upper West Side mixed-use condo. This might be a paradigm for an über-involved EFA member, and it is. Immersed in events impacting the city and writers/editors in general (congestion pricing, anyone? charter schools race your pulse?), she brings a committed perspective to her work and positions; she can attest to many nights scrivening letters to legislators, and shoe leather eroded by rallies for causes from environmental enhancement and benign management, to sustainable management of animals and assisting the physically challenged. An EFA member since 2006, she has worked abroad in Europe, Central and South America, and Asia.
Amy Fass
An EFA member since 1994 and a board member since 2000, Amy Fass is a medical and science editor. She is the board's unofficial insurance liaison and coordinated the effort to find replacement health insurance when CIGNA ended coverage through associations in New York State. She lives in Manhattan.
Laurie Lewis
Laurie's association with EFA almost coincides with the day she began freelancing twenty-three years ago. The organization and the people she met through EFA were so helpful as she launched her New York-based medical writing and editing business that she soon decided to join the board, first serving as member at large, then as co-executive director, and finally as education chair. She returned to the board last year as an MAL. A frequent instructor in EFA's education program, she has also served as co-leader of affinity groups. Laurie's proudest EFA role by far, she notes, was as organizer of the association's first all-day conference, held more than a dozen years ago. In the future, she hopes to work on another conference or similar program.
Ida Walker
Ida Walker has worked in the publishing industry for twenty years. In 2006, after several years of balancing freelance work with full-time in-house employment, Ida took Walker Manuscript Services (www.idawalker.com) full-time, providing editing, project management, research, permissions, fact-checking, and related editorial services. In addition, Ida is the founder and CEO of the Lily M. Foundation, Inc., which runs two programs: Lily's Friends, an animal-welfare program, and the Lily M. Literacy Campaign, which provides awards, scholarships, and support for literacy programs throughout the country. An EFA member since 2004, Ida is also a co-moderator of the EFA e-mail discussion list. As a member at large, Ida, who lives in upstate New York, wants to be an advocate for people who freelance on a small scale, as well as for those who do not live in the New York City area.
Erin Wilcox
Erin Wilcox has been an editor for seven years, a freelancer for one. She joined the EFA after striking out on her own in August of 2007, and was immediately satisfied with the rewards of membership. In particular, she was elated when potential clients began contacting her through the membership directory, just as she was building up her client list in a new town. Erin moved to Tucson, Arizona from Anchorage, Alaska where she copyedited for acclaimed national literary journal Alaska Quarterly Review. She holds an MFA in creative writing and literary arts from the University of Alaska, Anchorage (plus an honorary degree in moose wrangling) and a BA in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley. Erin was elected to the EFA Board of Governors as member at large in 2008. Her goals include strengthening the newly founded Arizona chapter of EFA and working to increase member benefits to include health care for members outside the New York area.
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