ATA News and Activities
ATA 2007 Elections: Candidate Statements
ATA will hold its regularly scheduled election at the upcoming 2007 ATA Annual Conference in San Francisco, California, to elect a president-elect, secretary, treasurer, and three directors.
| President-elect | Secretary | Treasurer | ||
Nicholas Hartmann |
Virginia Pérez-Santalla
 |
Peter Krawutschke |
||
| Director | ||||
Alan Melby |
Michael Metzger
 |
S. Alexandra Russell-Bitting
 |
||
Caitilin Walsh |
Ted Wozniak |
President-elect (two-year term)
Nicholas Hartmann
nh@nhartmann.com
Very soon—possibly by the time you read this—ATA will, for the first time, have 10,000 members. This event signals a qualitative change in what our association does now and what it will be able to do in the future. Big numbers mean a bigger budget and potentially greater influence, but also greater responsibilities. The principal responsibility assumed by the officers and directors of ATA is to manage the association properly—in other words, to make the best possible use of your membership dues.
Because good management cannot happen without a good understanding of the system one is managing, I have spent the last two years as chair of the Governance and Communications Committee—with the support and assistance of ATA Secretary Alan Melby, Executive Director Walter Bacak and his Headquarters staff, my fellow directors, and many other ATA members—gathering information to help the Board, and ultimately everyone in ATA, understand how our association functions and how it can be made to function even better. We have all learned a great deal, and we have already begun to act. New policies and procedures have been developed for the Nominating Committee to help it shape ATA’s future leadership, and we have taken steps to improve transparency and responsiveness in every area of communication, both with the outside world in the form of our many public relations efforts, and among ourselves through The ATA Chronicle, our website, the conference, and many other avenues.
I intend to continue with this essential effort as your president-elect and president. ATA already provides a wide variety of benefits to all of us: an annual conference that offers knowledge, inspiration, and a stimulating environment in which to make new connections and new friends; many other opportunities for everyday interaction with colleagues; and a strong, confident, assertive association that advances the interests of everyone in our unique line of work. But in this time of rapid growth and change, I believe our administrative and volunteer infrastructure must constantly be examined and optimized in order to keep the machinery of governance running smoothly. I also believe that as we all gain a better understanding of how our association works, we will also realize how easy and rewarding it is to participate in its activities. Greater involvement by more members is a prerequisite for the development of new ideas and new approaches, without which we cannot continue to prosper.
It is on this foundation that I hope to establish over the next four years an association governed with care and objectivity by volunteers who fully understand their duties, and an association invigorated by the cooperative efforts of all its members. I invite all of you to join me in building the ATA of the 21st Century.
Secretary (two-year term)
Virginia Pérez-Santalla
virginiasps@gmail.com
When asked to run for ATA Secretary, my first thought was, “what a great honor and vote of confidence.” Being secretary entails much work and responsibility. I have had the privilege to work with current ATA Secretary Alan Melby, giving me the opportunity to learn the task firsthand.
Last year, at the end of my first term as director, I was reelected to a second three-year term. The fact that I am now running for secretary does not affect the way I will serve you. As a freelance translator and interpreter, I am here to listen and to do what I think is best for our profession and our association. In this new position, I will still concentrate my efforts toward trying to achieve even greater professional recognition and benefits for my colleagues.
During my tenure on the Board, there have been many positive changes thanks to present and former Board members. A translation quality standard was approved by ASTM International. We are on the verge of offering the certification exam on computer. We are working to have our certification test accredited by the American National Standards Institute (www.ansi.org). Members can now belong to as many divisions as they want without having to pay additional fees. Like other professionals, we now have professional designation initials (CT for certified translator) that we can add to our names. ATA’s website was made more user-friendly for the benefit of both translating and interpreting professionals and for those who look for our services. We have worked hard on all these areas and many more, but I would be remiss if I did not say that Headquarters has been of the utmost help doing research and implementing our goals.
I am chair of the Ad-hoc Interpreter Certification Committee, where we have been hard at work researching the feasibility and costs of such a program. Lately, there has been great interest toward certification in the community of non-legal interpreters. We plan to cooperate with other stakeholders in the field to see if we can offer recognition of interpreter achievement.
I will continue doing my best to achieve all those goals that are foremost in our minds. We need a strong association that commands respect from government and business alike. We need to keep working to educate those outside our profession on what it takes to be a good translator and/or interpreter.
ATA was started by a few translators in New York City almost 50 years ago, and has since grown to almost 10,000 members strong. We all need to work to keep our association strong and effective. We need to keep ATA advancing toward our objectives as professionals. I will keep dedicating my efforts toward that end. If elected, it will be my pleasure to keep serving my friends and colleagues and working toward our goals.
Treasurer (two-year term)
Peter Krawutschke
peter.krawutschke@wmich.edu
I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A few miles to the north, on the banks of the Kalamazoo River, lies the city of Parchment. The Parchment City Commission recently passed its $2.1-million 2007-2008 city budget. At its meeting this July, ATA’s Board of Directors passed a $2.7-million budget for 2007-2008.
I am awed by the growth of our association during the past 30 years, and I continue to be aware of the responsibility the treasurer assumes to safeguard the association’s resources and to report on the financial health of the association to its membership. Therefore, I am pleased that the Nominating Committee once again gave me its endorsement to run for a second term as ATA’s treasurer.
Service to our association requires a considerable amount of time, and I believe that my time was well invested. In the past year, we have looked at the costs of three ATA programs (The ATA Chronicle, the Certification Program, and ATA’s Annual Conference) in order to establish actual revenue and expenses, including overhead, for each program. This year, we began keeping minutes of the meetings of the Finance Committee as well as documentation of our individual investment decisions.
Should you reelect me for a second term, I will continue to make sure that the financial resources are available to accomplish the Board’s goals, that all ATA members continue to receive value for their dues, and that our Headquarters staff continues to have an economically secure work environment. The Finance Committee and I will review our auditor’s recommendations carefully and take appropriate steps to implement those that are necessary.
I would consider it a privilege to serve our association once again, and I thank you for your support.
Director (three-year term)
Alan Melby
akmtrg@byu.edu
At the San Francisco conference, I will have completed a second two-year term as ATA secretary, and have been invited by the Nominating Committee to run for one of the three director slots on the ballot. I am pleased to accept this opportunity to offer my continued service within ATA. In my 2005 candidate statement, I promised that, in addition to fulfilling the basic secretary duty of taking minutes at ATA Board meetings, I would help with three ATA-related projects: a) translation quality assurance standards; b) accreditation of ATA’s Certification Program; and c) computerization of ATA’s certification exam. Let me report on progress in these three areas.
(a) After a concerted effort by the editing team and input from many ATA members, the American translation quality assurance standard was finally published last year by ASTM International (www.astm.org). About the same time, the European translation standard was published. Sensing the danger of the American and European standards being seen as competitors, I undertook a comparative study and came up with a way they can be used together, right now, and contacted Chris Durban of ATA’s Public Relations Committee about co-authoring a brochure that introduces these standards as a complementary pair. This brochure is currently in draft form and, when completed and approved, will be available as a free download to ATA members and other interested parties.
(b) In partnership with ATA Director Claudia Angelelli, I have been evaluating the possibility of seeking accreditation of ATA’s Certification Program by the American National Standards Institute (www.ansi.org). You expect a college or university to be accredited, and I hope that someday translator certification programs will also be expected to seek and maintain accreditation. Working toward accreditation will enhance the real and perceived value of ATA’s credential. Over the past two years, I have informed ATA’s Board of the steps that will be needed along this path. As a side note, ATA Director Virginia Pérez-Santalla is investigating the possibility of an ATA certification for interpreters.
(c) Building on the solid initial design developed by ATA Director Gabe Bokor, I have worked over the past two years with ATA member Jost Zetzsche, Terry Hanlen, Manager of the Certification Program at ATA Headquarters, and a professional software development company on a solution to the difficult technical problem of allowing ATA certification exams to be keyboarded, using almost any keyboard layout and input method and allowing for the possibility of CD-ROM-based and web-based dictionaries, while not unduly compromising security. The certification software system is now being tested and will soon be used in a real exam sitting.
In summary, through cooperative efforts, progress has been made on all three of these strategic long-term projects, and I ask for your vote so that I can continue to serve at the Board level to help move these and other projects along, for the benefit of ATA members and the translation and interpreting professions as a whole.
Director
(three-year term)
Michael Metzger
mm9@sbcglobal.net
It is an honor to be nominated for the 2007 ATA Board of Directors. I accept this nomination with excitement about the possibility of serving on the Board and with esteem for my fellow candidates, whom I deeply respect for their individual contributions to the profession. Running for the directorship means a lot to me, and if I were to be elected, I would like to contribute to the association’s direction in three areas I consider most important for the future. First, there is the mission of the ATA and its relationship with organizations sharing mutual interest. Over the past few years we have seen, within the organization, great improvement in services, transparency, and channels of communication for the membership at large and, externally, an awareness program and public relations campaign to educate the public about the translation and interpretation industry. At conferences other than the ATA’s own, I have seen sound evidence that these efforts are paying off and are reaching the intended audience. I believe we should now take a moment to reflect on what the ATA wants to be, apart from serving as the spokesperson of the profession. What policies and initiatives are worthwhile for an organization such as ours, and not just a simple reflex reaction to an apparent need? And then, as we more clearly define the mission of the ATA, I think we also should explore our professional relationship with other organizations with similar objectives and interests, identify mutually beneficial activities, and establish new relationships that can only enrich the membership through new perspectives and possibilities. In addition to these two areas, I am also very interested in volunteer work, and would like to examine directions that ensure that this will remain a rewarding and professionally educating experience for those willing to contribute to the greater good of the association and its membership. Strengthening these three areas I consider foundations will make the ATA an even more attractive and respected organization in the world of our profession.
For those who have never had a chance to meet me in person, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My professional biography begins 20 years ago with my first technical translation. I spent the next several years working for a translation agency in Japan as an in-house language expert. There, I was introduced to all aspects of the profession and related fields such as localization. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1995, I started my own business specializing in the translation of technical documentation. Onsite client contracts exposed me to localization engineering. For the past five years, I have held a position in the localization department of Apple, Inc., where I have helped drive the localization and translation processes. In my volunteer life, I have served on the board of the Northern California Translators Association, both as director and president, and am currently the administrator of the ATA’s Language Technology Division. I enjoy working as a volunteer as it gives me an opportunity to explore and learn about areas I would otherwise have no exposure to. Thank you for your consideration.
Director (three-year term)
S. Alexandra Russell-Bitting
alexandrarb@yahoo.com
If there is one thing I have learned about life over the years, it is that “actions speak louder than words.” I can stand here as a candidate for ATA director and promise you that I will support the membership by finding creative solutions to the need for continuing education, certification, dispute resolution, translation standards, and health insurance, not to mention promoting translation and interpreting among the public at large, but talk is cheap. What kind of a track record do I have in delivering the goods to the association and the greater translation community?
For starters, I have some knowledge of the profession, with over 25 years of experience as a translator working from Spanish, French, and Portuguese into English, including several as a freelancer. For the past 19 years, I have been on staff at the Inter-American Development Bank, an international organization based in Washington, DC, as both a translator-reviser and more recently as an English editor, where I have gained experience as a translation buyer as well as provider.
With all these years of experience, have I given anything back to the community? I have taught translation at the University of Paris in France and at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, as well as mentored several interns. I have attended ATA’s Annual Conference every year since 1996, giving presentations almost each time, mainly in my fields of expertise: international development, economics, and quality control. I have also published dozens of articles in The ATA Chronicle on translation events, language, translation, and culture.
In addition, I have stepped up to the plate when called upon: at ATA’s Annual Conference in St. Louis in 1999, I asked ATA’s Board what more we could do for public relations. Then co-chair of ATA’s Public Relations Committee, Chris Durban, who, with Kevin Hendzel, was beginning groundbreaking work to enhance the image of the profession, asked me to join the committee, which has been widely recognized for making ATA the source on translation for major media.
At the grassroots level of our association, since 2003, I have served my local chapter, the National Capital Area Chapter of ATA, as vice-president for two years and now as president for two years. We face many of the same challenges as other chapters: balancing our limited resources with the need to provide our members with opportunities for professional development, business development, networking, and socializing.
We have met those challenges by reviving our newsletter, recruiting new board members, and organizing events in partnership with other organizations in Washington, DC, such as American University, the U.S. State Department, and the Red Cross. We have championed an inclusive approach to our activities, which are open to as many attendees as possible, while providing incentives for chapter membership through discounts.
As you decide which of the candidates to elect as director, allow me to suggest that, based on my experience as a chapter leader, committee member, event organizer, writer, and speaker, I can make a positive, concrete contribution to our association.
Director (three-year term)
Caitilin Walsh
cwalsh@nwlink.com
I earned my first degree from a small liberal arts university in Oregon. Willamette University’s motto is non nobis solum nati sumus—not unto ourselves alone are we born. It comes from a treatise written by a father to his son—in this case, the father is Cicero. The treatise maintains that the purpose of education is to train people to be of service to others and to the common good.
As a freshman, I largely ignored the school motto, but as an adult, it consistently rings true and colors my world. I realize that this background is one of the reasons that I entered this profession and began a career of volunteer service. Our work, which can be rewarding on a personal level, also satisfies that desire to do something that makes a difference. It seems a natural extension to engage in volunteerism. Indeed, I have chosen to serve in many capacities in all the many facets of my life: in the arts, at my children’s school, and in the translation profession.
I have worked in the translation industry for nearly 20 years on both sides of the translation company desk, and on both sides of the classroom lectern. For more than 15 years, I have served my local chapter, the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society, both on the board, as an officer, and in various committee roles. Feathers in my cap include authoring databases and editing numerous directories, attending board meetings, and writing articles, but also “just” licking stamps and stuffing envelopes and setting out cookies and fruit trays at meetings—whatever is needed. My involvement does not stop at the regional level, as I respond to calls from ATA: serving on committees that put ATA’s directories online, polished up the new website content, welcomed ATA to Seattle in 2005, and revamped the ATA’s certification management grid. I have been chairing ATA’s Chapters Committee for the past two years, and feel like I am just getting started.
I am in awe of the efforts of a few souls that have transformed the energy of our association toward the positive, and those who have made a great impact on the perception of us as professionals. But I am reminded that small things often make the difference; I excel in situations that tap my creative problem-solving skills (I hone them every day!). I hope to be able to cast new, thoughtful light on both old and new challenges, encouraging our association to move toward clarity of purpose and transparency of process.
As I review the slate that ATA’s Nominating Committee has put together this year, I am delighted and pleased. Delighted to know that there are so many qualified candidates who are also willing to give of themselves. And pleased because I know that no matter what names the membership chooses, we will be well-served. I hope to be able to continue to serve you as one of your directors.
Director (three-year term)
Ted Wozniak
twozniak@rgv.rr.com
I would like to thank the Nominating Committee for giving me the opportunity to run for a position on ATA’s Board of Directors.
When I first started freelancing full-time, I was surprised by the support I received from my “competitors.” Over the years, I have striven to assist other freelancers whenever possible in order to make my contribution to this supportive community.
As a director, I would continue to focus on supporting individual members of our profession by promoting communication among individual members, the various divisions, and ATA and its members. I would like to explore new ways to provide support and training opportunities that are effective yet affordable.
Some new translators and interpreters may find the expense of attending ATA’s Annual Conferences to be beyond their means. Supporting the divisions and regional and local groups in their professional education efforts may be an option for reducing travel costs while still providing opportunities for professional development and face-to-face networking.
One area in particular that I hope to promote is general business knowledge among freelancers. As a former accountant, I quickly became aware that many freelancers, even those with many years of experience, are hindered by their lack of knowledge of general business practices, both in the U.S. and abroad, and thus sometimes have unrealistic expectations of their clients.
I believe my education, professional background, and ongoing contributions to the profession qualify me to represent ATA members and their interests, as well as the profession as a whole, and to promote the specific areas mentioned above.
Since 2001, I have managed “Payment Practices,” the oldest service dedicated to providing freelancers with information about client payment behavior. This has given me a global view of industry practices and allowed me to interact with thousands of freelancers. My experience as an accountant and stockbroker has provided extensive knowledge of business in general.
I currently teach the German-English commercial translation course at New York University, giving me contact with young translators and career changers who are breaking into the profession. I am the moderator and a regular contributor to Finanztrans, a mailing list dedicated to German financial translation. I also contribute to ATA’s German Language Division (GLD) listserver, partnertrans, and about 15 other translation mailing lists. I have presented at several ATA Annual Conferences and written articles for ATA and GLD publications.
I have a BBA in accounting from the University of Miami, Florida, and a BA in German from the University of Texas at Austin, where I also did graduate studies in Germanic languages prior to becoming a full-time freelancer. I also graduated from the German Basic Course at the Defense Language Institute, as well as several leadership training and professional schools in the U.S. Army.
I have also worked as an accountant, a liaison officer with the U.S. Army in Germany, an interrogation and language instructor at the U.S. Army Military Intelligence School, and as a stockbroker.
I welcome the opportunity to represent you on ATA’s Board of Directors and humbly ask for your support.
