OPA Executive Board

President: Sue Fagalde Lick

Vice-President: Nancy Christopherson

Secretary: Debra Worhmann

Treasurer: Melissa Broderick Eaton

Historian: open

Member-at-Large: Lauren Mallett

Member-at-Large: Efrain Diaz-Horna

Member-at-Large: Lorna Rose-Hahn

Member-at-Large: Jade Rosina McCutcheon

OPA Special Positions:

Membership Chair:  Efrain Diaz-Horna
Adult Contest Chair: Nancy Christopherson
Youth Contests/Cascadia: Lauren Mallett
Newsletter and Verseweavers Editor: Dale Champlin
Webmaster: appointment pending
Book Review Editor: Carolyn Martin

Board Minutes

Benefits of Being a Board Member

  • Engage in meaningful public service
  • Gain experience working for an arts non-profit
  • Develop professional contacts and friendships in the literary arts community
  • Support and promote poets and poetry statewide

OPA Board Member Responsibilities

  • Board members attend monthly meetings via Skype. Meetings are Saturdays or Sundays and last no more than three hours.
  • Business will also be done by email between meetings (sometimes just discussion, other times motions and votes).
  • The Board holds an annual board retreat. Location is determined by member needs, and has most often been Eugene.
  • The Board consists of five officers and four at-large members. Officers have specific duties (see WHO WE ARE, scroll down to Constitution Article V and VI). At-large members have no specified duties beyond attending meetings.
  • However, OPA has no paid staff. The Board is a working board. Board members should be prepared to take on some volunteer work above and beyond attending meetings. This may consist of one-time projects or tasks, periodically recurring tasks, or ongoing responsibilities.
  • Board members are elected by the OPA general membership at the annual general membership meeting, held during the annual conference. They serve a three-year term, and may choose to run for the Board as often as they wish.
  • Board officer terms are for one year. An officer completing her or his term may continue as a member at large, and vice versa. Officer elections are held at the conference, after board elections.
  • Board meeting minutes are public documents, and are posted to the OPA website (see WHO WE ARE, Board Minutes). As much as possible, board member names are not used.
  • Board members cannot enter OPA contests, but remain eligible for NFSPS member contests.
  • Board members need not be OPA members at time of election, but must become members if elected.

Many important OPA roles can be filled either by board members, or by non-board members who volunteer. These include:

  •           adult contest chair
  •           student contest chair
  •           membership chair
  •           Verseweavers editor
  •           newsletter editor
  •           Facebook editor
  •           webmaster
  •           book review editor
  •           grant writer
  •           conference coordinator/coordinating committee
  •           volunteer coordinator

For detailed descriptions of any of the above roles, please contact the President using the email contact form at the top of this page, or by mail at: PO Box 14582 Portland OR 97293

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