I’m honored to accept this nomination to serve my colleagues on ATA’s Board of Directors.

As chair of the Membership Development Committee, administrator of the Slavic Languages Division (SLD) since 2023, and assistant administrator and volunteer in other capacities before then, I’ve always appreciated the spirit of mutual service that makes ATA a welcoming home and source of support for language professionals. My top priority as a volunteer, including if elected as director, will always be maintaining a dutiful and responsive relationship with my fellow ATA members, especially those who take the initiative to improve the life of our profession.

I began translating while I was a graduate student and English teacher living abroad, and I earned ATA’s Russian-to-English certification shortly after returning to the U.S. in 2017. During the pandemic, I started taking online Ukrainian classes and eventually started working out of that language. It’s important to me to hear various perspectives within our industry, which is part of why I volunteered in the SLD and have engaged with several other divisions, in addition to joining both my local chapter and affiliate, the Upper Midwest Translators and Interpreters Association and Iowa Interpreters and Translators Association, respectively. In my time as an ATA volunteer, I’m especially proud of working with members to nurture their initiatives and confront the challenges of our times.

In a recent book, Cory Doctorow, a science fiction novelist, journalist, and technology activist, juxtaposed the concepts of “centaur” and “reverse centaur” in relation to workplace technologies. The former represents human intelligence that can—if it so wishes—use automated tools like a rider does a horse, to safely improve speed and dexterity, while the latter image has resonated with workers across many professions as an already-present dystopia of AI-empowered taskmasters. The good news is that society’s attitudes have grown ripe to the idea of establishing qualitative and ethical standards for the use of AI, and ATA has great potential for leadership and partnership among an entire family of industries—a herd of centaurs working smartly and defending our interests.

ATA’s greatest strategic resource has always been its members’ authoritative expertise in matters of translation and interpreting. Even before the recent breakthroughs in large language models, ATA counted among its members some of the world’s most experienced experts in machine-assisted translation and its commercial applications, and we’ve led the way both in providing human-centered education on new technologies and establishing standards for using them. We should share our experience with other professional organizations to raise the bar in ways members will appreciate and clients will respect. We so often speak about client education. Now that the world recognizes the danger of “slop,” we can make ourselves part of the bulwark against it.

Please reach out to me directly if you’d like to have a broader discussion about my goals. Our organization is strongest when all our voices are heard. I hope to earn your vote. Thank you for this opportunity to be of service.