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| OBCAI’s new staff team handles the day-to-day work of the Association. Meet your staff team. |
 Cheryl Balalong (Annual Conference Support)
Cheryl helps to ensure that everything runs smoothly at the Annual Conference, handling registrations, gift auction purchases, social events
and anything and everything else that occurs during an association conference. |
 Julie Jacinto (Bookkeeping)
Julie handles OBCAI’s bookkeeping duties. Julie has 22 years of bookkeeping experience including 15 years of medical office management. She handles all aspects of full-service bookkeeping and financial reporting including budget maintenance, consolidating chart of accounts, and aging reports. Julie has handled bookkeeping services for retail, construction and real estate companies as well as medical offices, property management companies and associations. She has also taught QuickBooks courses. |
 Mark Lukas (Web Design & Print Ads)
Mark designed both the new website for OBCAI and the new eNewsletter, The Office Wire. Mark is a professional Web Developer with 12 years of experience. Since 2003, he has served as a mentor and teacher to other professionals learning Web design, HTML, CSS, and XML.
Mark has developed and maintained large corporate websites as well as small business websites, blogs, and intranet portals. He has also served as a contract Web designer on numerous projects with nearly every Web technology including XML, CMS, HTML, PHP, Perl, C, JavaScript, Ruby, and Java. Mark received a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communications from the University of Washington. |
 Richard Meyers (Executive Director)
Richard is responsible for implementing Board policy and for the day-to-day operations of the staff team.
Richard has fifteen years of association management experience. In 2004, he founded Association Growth Management, an association management company. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of the Alliance Business Centers Network (ABCN) for seven years. He also served as the Director of Government Relations & Communications for the Natural Products Association, a 401c3 association comprised of 8,000 dietary supplement and health food manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers.
Richard also worked in the corporate marketing department for IHOP Corp. as a liaison between the franchisees and the franchisor company. Prior to that, his experiences on Capitol Hill included work as a Legislative Director to a Member of Congress and as a lobbyist for a lobbying firm specializing in health care appropriations for non-profit associations, including the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Richard has testified before Congress and state legislatures on behalf of associations and served as a national industry spokesman for several associations. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio and quoted in The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. He has contributed to the growth of every association with which he has been affiliated. |
 Cathy Palmateer (Annual Meeting Planner)
Cathy coordinates and helps in the site selection process and handles conference hotel negotiation for OBCAI’s annual conference. Cathy represents 21 years of experience in the meetings industry. An expert in meeting planning, she handles all aspects of meeting and conference logistics including: site selection and contract negotiation, on site meeting management, on-line registration and housing management, food and beverage planning and comprehensive program production. |
 Ruth Sarreal (Communications Manager)
Ruth Sarreal writes for The Office Wire. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in English and Communication. She has five years of experience writing for the office business center industry, having served as Communications Manager and Managing Editor of Officing Today for the Alliance Business Centers Network. |
 Valerie Tomlin (Deputy Executive Director and Database Management)
Valerie is OBCAI’s Deputy Executive Director, available in Richard’s absence. Her primary role is to manages OBCAI’s member database system.
Valerie’s list of computer systems and software capabilities reads like a textbook on “what you need to know about computers to survive in the new millennium.” An expert in contact management and database software, Valerie provides our clients with quick and seamless mail merges and up-to-the-minute extensive database management – the backbone of any association. Valerie’s background includes administrative management with Stewart Title as well as operating a business management service. |
 Tanna Violi (Receptionist/Administrative)
Tanna handles receptionist and telephone answering services for OBCAI and always adds pleasant greetings when visiting the OBCAI office. |
 Rick Whittaker, CPA (Tax Preparation)
Rick Whittaker handles the Association’s tax preparation. Rick’s firm, Accounting Solutions, is a full-service Certified Public Accounting firm representing both individuals and businesses but specializing in non-profit tax management. |
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