STC Montreal

Andy Gural has been elected President of the Montreal Chapter of STC, while Everett Larsen has been elected Secretary-Treasurer.

Sixteen members (or 28% of the chapter membership) took part in the vote, and all 16 voted for both Andy and Ev. Because Andy and Ev were sole nominees, a ratification vote (Yes/No) was held for the two positions.

Andy has served previously as chapter President and as chapter Secretary. Ev is also a former President, and also served as Treasurer.

Charles Roburn ends his term as President, but remains on the 2011-2012 Administrative Council as Past President.

Since there were no nominees for Vice-President, the position remains vacant for 2011-2012. The Administrative Council can, however, appoint a chapter member to fill this position.

Marta Cepek and Manuel Gordon
Elections Committee
STC-Montreal

It’s time for STC-Montreal’s election for members of the administrative council. The polls are open. If you’re a member, vote today!

Two people have been nominated for the executive of STC-Montreal:

• Andy Gural is running unopposed for President.
• Everett Larssen is running unopposed for the combined position of Secretary-Treasurer.

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It’s your turn to participate.

This is STC-Montreal’s annual call for candidates for the elected positions on the Chapter’s Administrative Council. Close of nominations is Friday, April 22, 2011, to be followed by the election.

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The 2010 election of the STC-Montreal Chapter Administrative Council closed at 9 pm, 7 June 2010. As all positions were uncontested, the election process was a simple ratification by Montreal Chapter STC members.

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Voting for the 2010/2011 STC-Montreal Administration Council has begun.

The candidates are:

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Charles Roburn – Vice-President

Charles has worked as a technical writer in Montréal for the past 16 years, and been an active member of STC Montréal for several years. Most recently he served as Vice-President this past year. During that time he helped to organize the successful Mediaville meeting of October, and coordinated the chapter’s participation in the Concordia Humanities & Social Sciences and Education Career Fairs in February in addition to his regular duties.

Rolf Hecken – Treasurer

Rolf is an Independent Consultant with a focus on linguistic technologies, project management and QA, internationalization, localization, globalization process improvements, production process reviews, technology implementation, training and optimization, resource development strategies, marketing, e-Marketing, and strategic business development. He has nearly 20 years in the translation and localization industry with a vast experience in translation-related technologies. Rolf served as STC-Montreal Treasurer for 2009-2010.

Lydia Shuster – Secretary

Lydia turned to technical writing after working in the banking sector for almost a decade. Now employed by a retail software developer, she creates user guides, online help and quick start installation documents. She has also authored audit procedures, administrative guides and reference manuals.

Lydia received a B.A. Honours in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at McGill University. She has a certificate in technical communication from Concordia University. Lydia practices yoga regularly and intends to go for a teaching certificate once she retires from tech writing.

An active member of STC Montreal since 2001, Lydia has served in the positions of Programs coordinator and Treasurer for the chapter.

This is STC-Montreal’s annual call for candidates for the elected positions on the Chapter’s Administrative Council. Close of nominations is Friday, April 30, 2010, to be followed by the election.

Become a Community Leader!

The STC-Montreal Chapter is a volunteer-run organization that has been providing its members with a variety of services since 1988, including:

• monthly speakers on subjects related to technical writing or of interest to its members
• educational seminars and hands-on workshops
• publications competitions
• an active job bank
• a website with news, blogs, employment listings, an events calendar, and other relevant STC-related information
• opportunities for local professionals to develop their public speaking skills by giving talks in their areas of expertise
• recognition of members’ professional and community service achievements
• increasing the value and visibility of professional technical communication
• networking opportunities with other technical communicators and with members of other associations in related fields
• and of course, our social events and banquets

None of this happens spontaneously – it takes a dedicated team of talented people to bring all of these services to the community. If you are ready to become one of the leaders on this team, this is your call to make a difference to the Chapter and develop your leadership skills.

Elected Positions

The STC-Montreal calendar runs from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. The STC-Montreal Chapter must elect officers to respect the STC Bylaws, to ensure the Chapter’s continuity, and to expand its value to you, its members. The chapter’s leadership has both elected and unelected positions.

The elected positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Descriptions of the positions follow below.

For the elected positions, we have a formal nomination process and a formal (online) election. If there is only one candidate for a position, the election is a ratification vote (Yes/No) for the candidate for that position.

Candidates for all elected positions must be current STC members, and must remain current through their term of office.

President

• Exercises general supervision over the affairs of the chapter
• Presides at meetings of the Chapter and of the Executive Council
• Appoints heads of Chapter committees subject to Council approval
• Is an ex-officio member of all Chapter committees

Vice President

• Assumes the duties of the President in the absence or incapacity of the President
• Performs other duties as the President or Council may assign

Secretary

• Keeps minutes of all Chapter and Council meetings and distributes these in accordance with set procedures
• Conducts official correspondence
• Maintains records so that they are available at any time to the President or the Council
• Performs other duties as the President or Council may assign

Treasurer

• Supervises the Chapter’s financial affairs
• Prepares an annual financial report for submittal to the Treasurer of the STC
• Prepares and submits an annual declaration to the Quebec Government
• Maintains books and records so they can be inspected any time
• Authorizes disbursements

If you are willing to serve in one of these positions, please nominate yourself by sending an email to the STC-Montreal Elections Committee.

Other Positions

There are many volunteer positions on the council that do not require election: Job Bank Coordinator, Membership Coordinator, Programs Coordinator, and several more. For a list of the current positions and the names of the people who hold them now, visit the contact us page of the STC-Montreal website.

Since these positions do not entail election by the community membership, when a vacancy arises we put a notice on the Chapter website and actively look for volunteers among Chapter members. Coordinator positions are held for the entire STC-year (that is, to the end of June). Coordinators are expected to participate at the monthly Executive Council meetings and to attend as many of the Member meetings as they can.

If there is a position you are interested in, even if it is already filled, let us know. We can always use some help and if we know you are interested, there is a chance you can take it over for the following STC-year. If there is a position you don’t see listed but would like to create it or revive it, for example, Newsletter Editor, let us know too.

What next?

If you are interested in serving in any of the elected or unelected positions, or have any questions, please contact the STC-Montreal Nominations Committee at election [at] stc-montreal [dot] org.

The STC-Montreal chapter is your chapter! Your participation is needed to ensure that it continues to thrive. We ask you to step forward if you are ready to serve.

Close of nominations is Friday, April 30, 2010, to be followed by the election. We hope to hear from you!

Manuel Gordon & Marta Cepek
Nominations Committee
election [at] stc-montreal [dot] org

Important Notice Concerning Chapter Elections

• Only current STC members are eligible to run for elected positions.
• Only current STC members are eligible to vote.
• STC-Montreal Chapter Election notices are sent to the email address on your STC membership record.
• There will be no postal mailings concerning the Election.

The 2009 election of the STC-Montreal Chapter Administrative Council closed at midnight, 1 June 2009. As all positions were uncontested, the election process was a simple ratification by Montreal Chapter STC members.

Twenty-five votes were cast, representing nearly 24% of eligible STC-Montreal Chapter members at the time of the election.

Here are the results:

The Nominations/Elections Committee thanks all Chapter members who participated in the election.

On behalf of the newly elected Administrative Council, we invite you to become involved in your Chapter, and look forward to seeing you at STC-Montreal Chapter events.

Marta Cepek & Manuel Gordon,
2009 STC-Montreal Nominations/Elections Committee

Nominations for the STC-Montreal Administration Council are now closed, and voting in the 2009/2010 election has begun.

One candidate has stepped forward for each of the elected positions:

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(Version français en suite)

Everett Larsen – President

Everett is a freelance technical writer, medical writer and trainer. He has over 25 years of experience in technical communications, and has worked in the areas of software development, bids & proposals, postgraduate academic research support, hardware engineering, and pharmaceutical manufacturing documentation.

Everett has been a member of STC Montréal since 1990, and has served the past two years on the chapter Administrative Council as Treasurer. He has also been active in Vermont STC, and served that chapter for two years as their Job Bank Coordinator. Everett lives in Rouses Point, New York on the U.S./Québec border.

Charles Roburn – Vice-President

Charles has been an active member of STC Montréal for the past two years, working as PR and Inter-Association coordinator. He helped to organize the successful Inter-Association meeting that was held in May of 2008 and the chapter’s participation in the Concordia Humanities & Social Sciences Career Fair this past February, in addition to advertising the regular monthly presentations and attending the Administrative Council meetings.

Charles has worked as a technical writer in Montréal for the past 15 years.

Ming Sabourin – Secretary

Ming is employed full-time as a senior technical writer. She was a technical publications manager only twice and chose to stay with writing. She was a contractor once for a nine-month period. With nearly 25 years of full-time writing experience, Ming has produced training, marketing, and user documentation for several software development firms, mainly in the area of telecommunications. She strives for excellence, brevity, and usability in technical communications.

Ming is a member of the STC Usability and User Experience SIG and has been a member of STC Montréal since 1990. She won an Award of Merit from this chapter in the 2006-07 Technical Publications Competition. Ming served as a judge in the 2008-09 Technical Publications Competition. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Victoria. She lives with her two daughters, Kelsey and Kayla, in the borough of Saint-Laurent.

Paul Giovannetti – Treasurer

Paul Giovannetti is a technical writer working at Ericsson Montreal. He has 20 years of experience in technical communications, having worked in the area of software and hardware documentation for the computer graphics and telecommunications industries. Through the years he has completed a Bachelor of Science at St. Francis Xavier University, a diploma of Photographic Arts at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, and an Attestation of Collegial Studies in Programmer/Analyst: Science & Engineering at Vanier College. He’s now working on learning the practice of Tai-Chi.

Paul has been a member of the STC since 1998, and has been involved with the STC-Montreal Chapter Executive since 2005. He served as Membership Coordinator from 2005-2007, and was elected Secretary from 2007-2009. Paul lives in the city of Montreal.

Everett Larsen – Président

Everett travaille à la pige dans les domaines de la rédaction technique et médicale, et de la formation. Il a plus de 25 années d’expérience en communication technique dans les domaines suivants: informatique, soumissions et appels d’offres, recherche postdoctorale, ingénierie, et pharmaceutique.

Membre STC Montréal depuis 1990, Everett a servi au Conseil Administratif en tant que trésorier durant les deux dernières années. Il a aussi travaillé avec le chapitre STC Vermont pour lequel il a géré la banque d’emploi durant deux ans. Everett demeure à Rouses Point, New York près de la frontiére entre le Québec et les États-Unis.

Charles Roburn – Vice-Président

Charles est membre STC Montréal depuis deux ans et s’occupe des relations publiques et des liens avec d’autres organismes. Il a aidé à organiser la rencontre entre organismes qui a eu lieu en mai 2008, et la participation du chapitre à la foire de l’emploi Concordia Humanities & Social Sciences en février dernier. De plus, il s’occupe aussi de la promotion des présentations mensuelles et participe aux réunions du Conseil Administratif.

Charles est rédacteur technique à Montréal depuis 15 ans.

Ming Sabourin – Secrétaire

Ming occupe un poste de rédactrice technique principale à temps plein. Elle a été gestionnaire des publications techniques à deux reprises mais a préféré continuer dans la rédaction. Elle a aussi travaillé à son compte durant une période de neuf mois. Ayant près de 25 ans d’expérience en rédaction, Ming a rédigé des documents pour la formation, le marketing, et l’utilisation de produits pour plusieurs entreprises reliées aux logiciels dans le domaine des télécommunications. Elle s’applique à fournir une communication technique centrée sur l’excellence, la concision, et l’utilisabilité.

Ming est membre STC Montréal depuis 1990 et fait partie du groupe STC Usability and User Experience SIG. Elle a gagné un prix (Award of Merit) lors du concours des publications techniques en 2006-07, et a été juge lors du concours 2008-09. Elle détient un Baccalauréat en philosophie de l’université de Victoria, et demeure avec ses deux filles, Kelsey et Kayla, à ville Saint-Laurent.

Paul Giovannetti – Trésorier

Paul Giovannetti est rédacteur technique chez Ericsson à Montréal. Il a 20 ans d’expérience en communication technique, et a rédigé la documentation pour du matériel et des logiciels dans les domaines de l’infographie et des télécommunications. Il détient un baccalauréat en Science de l’université St. Francis Xavier, un diplôme en arts photographiques du Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, et une attestation d’études collégiales en informatique du cegep Vanier. Il essaie présentement d’apprendre le Tai-Chi.

Paul est membre de la STC depuis 1998, et fait partie du Conseil administratif du chapitre montréalais depuis 2005. Il a été coordonnateur des adhésions de 2005 à 2007, et a été élu secrétaire de 2007 à 2009. Paul demeure à Montréal.

STC-Montreal is issuing its annual call for candidates for the elected positions on the chapter’s Administrative Council.

Do you have great ideas about how to improve our chapter? Would you like to gain experience that can open the door for new job opportunities? Take a moment to read further. It could steer your career in a new and exciting direction.

Close of nominations is Sunday 17 May 2009, to be followed by the election.

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