2013 Board of Director Elections

There are five (5) candidates for three open seats on OWAC's Board of Directors (listed here alphabetically).  Please vote for three.  Sometime in March you will receive an email with a BallotBin link and voting code.  If you do not receive one--or if your ballot for some reason did not list all five (5) candidates, or if you have any trouble with the process, please contact Election Administrator Barbara Steinberg.  The election closes at midnight on Wednesday April 24, 2013. 

John Henigin:

I am a past President of OWAC; a Board member of OWAC, Lake Cachuma Nature Center, Santa Barbara Carriage and Western Art Museum, and Ambassador at large for Vagabundos Del Mar. I have been responsible for some of our best OWAC Conferences.

Living in Santa Barbara, I am also a resident of Mexico with a condo in
Baja. As host of Fish Talk Radio I am heard on 24 broadcast stations in the USA and have multiple first place awards for "Best Outdoor Radio Show" from OWAC.

Serving on the OWAC board for the last six years, I believes we have become an outstanding professional organization but there is still more to accomplish.

Tom Martens:

Outdoor writing has given a lot to me over the years. Now it’s time give something back, so I am seeking a position on the OWAC Board of Directors. My experience is in two areas: outdoor writing (of course) and expertise in creating, funding and managing nonprofit organizations. I currently write the “Politics of Trout” column and the “Trout Towns of California” series as Editor at Large for California Fly Fisher magazine. I have written Over 200 outdoor stories as a reporter, outdoor editor or freelancer for Tahoe World, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, Davis Enterprise, Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Pacific News Service and Klamath Falls (Oregon) Herald and News and as a freelance writer.

My nonprofit credentials include serving as executive director of the California Wildlife Foundation, Friends of the River and the League to Save Lake Tahoe. I have held fundraising, executive and teaching positions at the Planning and Conservation League Foundation, Trust for Public Land and the University of San Francisco (USF). I am a former member of the Board of Governors at California Trout. My current work includes writing and photography as the editor/owner of the Fishy Business News Service, web site design and maintenance for California State Parks and projects for others. My past clients have included CALTIP Foundation, Discover the Delta Foundation, Lake Tahoe Conservation Fund, California Waterfowl Association, American Land Conservancy, California Department of Veterans Affairs and others.

I have earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Nonprofit Administration Degree from the USF and a Planning Giving Certificate from California State University at Long Beach. I have one wife and two grown children and live in Davis. See more information at http://tommartens.net.

My outdoor writing and nonprofit management experience will bring a unique perspective to the board of OWAC, an organization that I have been a member and supporter of since 1997. I look forward to helping OWAC become even more of a leader in outdoor writing techniques and letting Californians know that the “great outdoors” is more than a computer program.

 Kathie Morgan:

I joined OWAC in 1986, becoming a charter member in our first year. A lone female in what was then a man’s world, I was the first woman to attend an OWAC conference. Our Red Bank Ale & Quail Lodge hosts had to curtain off a private sleeping space for me in the main lodge because the good old boys had assumed I would be comfortable only if I stayed at a motel in town and had failed to alert the hosts that there would be a woman aboard at the lodge.

Pioneering is not in my nature, but being where the action is is. I have found plenty to do in OWAC, having been first to suggest a publicity chair and somehow landing the job. I am admittedly a slow learner and so suggested that OWAC needed a historian, which job I also ended up with, almost by magic.

I have nominated three fine outdoors folks for Californian of the Year, and you voted two of them that honor. I then took over as chair of the COY committee and ran that election for four years. I have served on board election committees and conference committees and the committee to celebrate OWAC’s 20th anniversary in 2006. I also chaired the massive overhaul of OWAC’s bylaws a few years back.

Am I too old? In 2012 I caught a personal best striped bass of 16 pounds and a PB steelhead of 11 pounds. I am hanging in there.

I have attended 42 conferences, 42 face-to-face meetings, and countless teleconferences. I have made countless friends among OWAC’s members. You know who you are. I hope you will vote for me.

Tom Wilmer: 

I am passionate about OWAC, and extremely proud of the organization. I would consider it an honor to contribute my time and expertise as a board member.

As a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW) in San Francisco, serving as Membership Chair, I have been directly involved in all aspects of the organization, including evolution of the organization's web presence, re-writing the by-laws, recruiting new members, targeting monthly meeting venues, promotional concepts, brainstorming on the Anthology we recently produced, and working to raise the bar of the organization to ensure that it is continues to evolve as a truly professional organization of producing writers, and multi-media creators. I have also been involved in targeting key industry presenters to be guest speakers at monthly meeting to discuss cutting edge aspects of our industry from blogs, to Facebook, tweeting, app creation and more. My years of service on the BATW board will provide added insight to the OWAC board as we also evolve as a professional group of producing professionals.

My 25-year background as a journalist has included stints as a ghost writer for a New York Times Syndicate travel columnist, author of three books, winner of the prestigious Henry Lawson Travel Writer Award from Tourism Australia which included a $10,000 trip for two Down Under, and numerous other awards. I have served as travel editor and or columnist for numerous lifestyle magazines, including five years with Las Vegas Magazine, Central Coast Magazine, Tahoe Quarterly and others. I produce a daily radio travel show for KRML in Carmel, California, as well as monthly on-air travel features for Central Cal Coast NPR affiliates (23rd year) along with producing a weekly hour-long Podcast for NPR.ORG.

Bottom line, I know I can bring fresh, innovative ideas, and contribute invaluable time to assist in making OWAC the best it can be.

Patrick Young:

Starting in 1978, I was involved in the bass fishing industry as a professional tournament angler and fishing guide.  My success as a tournament angler opened many doors in the outdoor communications world, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only OWAC member who has appeared topless in Playboy Magazine (Japanese Edition-March 1984).  I joined OWAC about 8 years ago when I was the team tournament director in the Delta Region for WON BASS and writing tournament reports.  In 2008, I was hired by Bill Karr as an associate editor/staff writer for Western Outdoor News (WON) to write hunting and fishing reports, and for at least the past 4 years have been lucky enough to have been in the group of writers who placed first in the “fiction category” for outdoor writing according to Tom Stienstra.  I was recently approached by two current or former board members to run for office.

I retired from the Contra Costa County Public Works Department in 2007 as the Senior Vegetation Management Specialist and supervisor of the Sheriff’s Department inmate work crew after 23 years of service.  Between the WON Associate Editor job and my farming and boot building, I have plenty of time to do what I can to advance the cause of OWAC and would like the chance to help.

I’m a former vocational agriculture instructor of animal science and butchering, UC Cooperative Extension field man, San Francisco Bay/Delta tugboat captain, Delta black bass/striped bass fishing guide, hunting guide, professional tournament bass fisherman, agricultural pest control advisor, and currently farming and building custom western boots in Shasta County near Lassen Park.  During the 20-plus years I spent working in the bass fishing/tournament industry, I appeared in newspaper and magazine, on radio and television with In-Fisherman, on the seminar stage, and did promotional work for sponsors in outdoor shows all across the country.  I’ve hunted and fished throughout North America and in 1990 made a video produced by the Bear Archery Company on field dressing and butchering deer.   With the help of  my communications major son, I  filmed and produced a promotional hunting video for the Colusa Casino Outdoor Adventures hunting/fishing outfitting service that appears on YouTube and is shown regularly at sports shows in Northern California.  With all this outdoor experience behind me, I found myself looking for an outlet to share and expand my knowledge, and OWAC seemed like a natural fit.  I think it’s time I try to give back to the organization that has given me the chance to grow as a communicator.