wfn.org | WACC 2010 North America Executive Committee Elected Online

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

2010 WACC North America Executive Committee Elected in Online AGM  	

WACC North America held its first-ever online Annual General Meeting
11 December 2009.  WACC North America members cast their vote for  the
proposed slate for the Offcers and members of the 2010 Executive
Committee from December 8-11, 2009, using the polling capabilities of
the WACC Global website.  The Executive Committee nomination was
endorsed by 100% of voters. A proposed budget for 2010 was also
adopted at the meeting.

The new WACC North American Executive Committee includes both seasoned
Executive Committee members and 7 brand new members, bringing a rich
diversity of talents and experiences to the work of the Executive
Committee and WACC North America. At this AGM, new officers were
elected, with Keith Knight completing his term as President. The new
Officers include Sheila George (President);Rebekah Chevalier (Vice
President); Jean Robinson (Secretary); Basilio Monteiro (Treasurer)
and Keith Knight (Past President).

> 2010 WACC North America Executive Committee
> Officers and Directors

> President
> Sheila George (U.S)
> Principal, Illumicom Communications
> Lakeland, FL
> Class of 2012

> Vice-President
> Rebekah Chevalier (Canada)
> Senior Editor
> Resource Production and Distribution Unit
> The United Church of Canada
> Toronto, ON
> Class of 2010

> Treasurer
> Basilio Monteiro (U.S.)
> Professor of Communications
> St. John's University
> Queens, NY
> Class of 2012

> Secretary
> Jean Robinson (U.S.)
> Video Producer,
> Proclamation, Identity & Communication Ministry (PIC)
> United Church of Christ
> Cleveland, OH
> Class of 2012

> Past President
> Keith Knight (Canada)
> Communication Consultant
> Guelph, ON
> Class of 2010

Paul Edison-Swift (U.S)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Communication Services
Chicago, IL
Class of 2010

George Conklin (U.S.)

Communication consultant; founding member of ECUNET and Project
Director of Worldwide Faith News; retired professor of communications,
Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley
Berkeley,CA
Class of 2011

Wesley ("Pat") Pattillo (U.S.)

Senior Program Director for Justice, Advocacy and Communication
National Council of Churches USA
New York, NY
Class of 2011

> Trina Gallop (Canada)
> Manager of Communications
> Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
> Winnipeg, MB
> Class of 2010

> Erik Alsgaard (U.S.)
> Director of Communications
> Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church
> Lakeland, FL
> Class of 2011

Erin Green (Canada)

Director of Communications, Canadian Council of Churches, Toronto, ON
- Class of 2012

Erin Green has served as the Communications Officer for The Canadian
Council of Churches since early 2008. As staff person for the
Council's Communications Committee, Ms. Green works with
communications experts from a range of Christian denominations. She is
also very involved in planning the 2010 Interfaith Religious Leaders'
Summit, which will coincide with the G8/G20 Summit in Canada.

Ms Green's time is also spent as a full-time doctoral candidate in the
field of theology & philosophy of science at Emmanuel College, Toronto
School of Theology/University of Toronto. With a Bachelor of Science
degree (Mount Allison University), a Master of Divinity ( Emmanuel
College - University of Toronto) and a MA (University of St. Michael's
College), pedagogy is of great import to Ms Green; she is currently
developing an ecumenical curriculum on faith and genetics.

Paul Schratz (Canada)

Editor, The B.C. Catholic, Vancouver, B.C. - Class of 2012
Paul Schratz has been editor of The B.C. Catholic since 1997 and is
also former communications director for The Archdiocese of Vancouver,
British Columbia. Before moving to the archdiocese's weekly newspaper,
he spent 15 years in mainstream journalism, as a reporter,
photographer, columnist and editorial page editor at various daily
newspapers in Ontario and B.C. He and his wife have six children.

Craig Tower (U.S.)

Social Researcher, Baltimore, MD - Class of 2012
Craig Tower is a cultural anthropologist with a strong interest in
media and social justice. During the mid 1990s, he served as a Peace
Corps volunteer in Mali, assisting villagers in the southeast of the
country with gardening and forestry projects at a time when local
radio had just been introduced in the area. Intrigued by the impact of
this new technology, he decided to conduct research on this phenomenon
as part of his doctoral training at Northwestern University. For his
dissertation, he earned his PhD after 18 months of research on the
adaptation of FM radio in Mali, evaluating how FM stations negotiated
the expectations of international donors, on the one hand, and local
audiences on the other. He is interested social justice uses of all
forms of media, as well using the media to increase awareness of media
and social justice issues worldwide.

Paul de Silva (Canada)

President, A4One Media, Toronto, ON - Class of 2012
Paul de Silva is a Gemini award winning Television
Producer/Director/Writer and Media and Arts and Culture Consultant.
His career has spanned television broadcasting, independent film and
television production, journalism, public education, and
inter-cultural communications.

He is President/Executive Producer of A4One Media, a multi-platform
Media company.
He was most recently Project Director for Canada One TV, an
application to the CRTC for a Diversity focused specialty TV/Internet
channel and formerly Vice President of Programming for Vision TV /One,
The Body Mind and Spirit Channel. In the six years he was at Vision he
was responsible for commissioning documentary, drama, and music
programs both in Canada and internationally. He was formerly Vision
TV's Director of Independent Production.

Burton Buller (U.S.)

Executive Director,Third Way Media, Harrisonburg VA - Class of 2012
At Third Way Media, Burton Buller produces television specials on
select topics, develops and hosts Internet sites and produces a weekly
radio program. In Canada, he served as Executive Director of Family
Life Network, an agency producing more than a dozen radio programs in
seven languages for international release.

With experience as administrator, writer, director, narrator,
producer, cinematographer, editor, and videographer, Mr. Buller has a
deep understanding and award-winning experience in media
production.His productions have been broadcast on ABC-TV, NBC-TV,
Hallmark Channel, National Public Television, The Discovery Channel,
CBS:60 Minutes, The Learning Channel, FamilyNet, and multiple cable
and broadcast outlets in Canada, Europe and Japan. Mr. Buller is also
president of his own production company through which he produces
programs for broadcast and general release, and distributes his own
work to educational markets in the US and Canada.

Tiffany Vazquez (U.S.)

Graduate Student in Communications, St. John's University, Queens, NY
- Class of 2012
Tiffany Vazquez, originally from the Bronx, NY.and proud of her Puerto
Rican heritage, holds an undergraduate degree in Mass Communications
from St. John's University in New York. She is currently a St. John's
graduate student in International Communications, and roots her
interest in this area from her study abroad experiences in various
European countries and India. Ms. Vazquez hopes to build an exciting
and fufilling career by combining her love for global culture and film.

Sadie Miller (U.S.)

Graduate Student in Communications, St. John's University, Queens, NY
- Class of 2012
Ms. Miller, a graduate of the Mass Communications program at St.
John's University, continues her studies there as a first year
graduate student in Communications. Originally from Seattle,
Washington, Ms. Miller also serves as a Graduate Assistant in the
Office of Alumni Relations at St. John's as well as a part-time
specialist at Apple Retail. She looks forward to serving on the WACC
North America Executive Committee, to both expand her academic
knowledge and apply what she has learned from her years of studies and
experience.

> Regional Contacts

> President
> Sheila George
> U.S.A

> Vice-President
> Rebekah Chevalier
> Canada

> Treasurer
> Basilio Monteiro
> U.S.A

> Secretary
> Jean Robinson
> U.S.A

> Past President
> Keith Knight
> Canada

> Members

> Paul Edison-Swift
> U.S.A

> George Conklin
> U.S.A

> Wesley ("Pat") Pattillo

> USA

> Trina Gallop
> Canada

> Erik Alsgaard
> U.S.A

> New Members

> Erin Green
> Canada

> Paul Schratz
> Canada

> Craig Tower
> U.S.A

> Paul de Silva
> Canada

> Burton Buller
> U.S.A

> Tiffany Vazquez
> U.S.A

> Sadie Miller
> U.S.A

> Staff Liaison
> Philip Lee

WACC promotes communication for social change. It believes that
communication is a basic human right that defines people's common
humanity, strengthens cultures, enables participation, creates
community and challenges tyranny and oppression.