By:
William A.
(Billy) Morehead, Ph.D., CGFM, CPA, CPM
Welcome to
2010! Mississippi, as well as much of the country, has been facing
record low temperatures during the month of January—some have
actually been snowed, iced or frozen in. Despite the cold, AGA
continues to move forward providing warmth and leadership in
Advancing Government Accountability.
Last fall, I
began highlighting each of the departments within the AGA National
Office and the staff in those departments. This month I am focusing
on the Communications Department. AGA Today and TOPICS
come to you courtesy of this department. Throughout the 24 years I
have been a member of AGA, I can honestly state that we do an
outstanding job with our publications, website, news flashes and the
many documents (programs, signs, etc.) we receive at our
conferences. As one who has contributed to our many communication
outlets, our staff also does a GREAT job of reminding us of our
publication deadlines. When you receive your communiqué, just
remember that our staff, and many volunteers who are contributing or
evaluating content, have already spent weeks and/or months of work
to pull together the final product you are enjoying.
The AGA
Communications Department is charged with getting the word out to
AGA’s membership. Through weekly newsletters, AGA Today and
Government Financial Management TOPICS, the quarterly
Journal of Government Financial Management, publications, the
AGA website and regular news flashes, AGA’s many program areas
depend on the communications staff to keep the membership informed.
Since the current staff has been employed by AGA, we’ve developed a
750-page website as well as a far-reaching corporate identity
program that has been adopted by the majority of AGA’s 100 chapters.
Thanks to the age of modern technology, the four-person
Communications Department works remotely from home offices in
Maryland and Rhode Island.
Marie Force,
director of communications, joined AGA the same week as the
blizzards of January 1996 and at 14 years this month is second only
to Susan Fritzlen in staff tenure. In her 11th year of
full-time telecommuting, Marie serves as editor-in-chief of the AGA
Journal and oversees the development and production of
publications for all AGA program areas. She has a bachelor’s degree
in journalism and political science from the University of Rhode
Island and a master’s in public administration from the University
of Maryland, earned while her husband Dan was stationed with the
Navy in Rota, Spain. The Navy brought Marie to the Washington, D.C.
area, where she worked for three years in AGA’s Alexandria office
until Dan was transferred to Jacksonville, FL, where they remained
for four years. After his retirement in 2001, they permanently
relocated to Marie’s home state of Rhode Island where they reside in
the Newport area with their two children, Emily, 14, and Jake, 11.
In her “spare” time, Marie is a multi-published romance novelist.
Jennifer
Curtin, director of public
affairs, began at AGA in July 1998 as a communications assistant.
Today, she oversees AGA’s public relations program and website along
with numerous special projects including the AGA Case Challenge and
the bi-annual Harris Survey. She was raised in southern Maryland and
holds a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Elon
University, in Elon, NC, and a master’s degree in public
administration, from Clemson University, Clemson, SC. She and her
husband Jason have two daughters, Emma, 4, and Olivia, 18 months.
Jennifer works from her home office on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Christina
Camara, publications
manager, started with AGA as a part-time copy editor in 1999. She
has been a full-time staffer since 2004, charged with managing the
AGA Today newsletter and serving as the staff writer, copy
editor and liaison to the chapter communicators. She earned a
bachelor's degree in journalism and history from the University of
Rhode Island, and spent more than 10 years as a newspaper reporter,
covering local government in Rhode Island, Connecticut and
Washington state. In fact, Chris and Marie worked together at their
first post-college job as newspaper reporters. After 14 years in the
Northwest, Chris and her family moved back to her native New England
in 2004. She and her husband Mike have two sons, David, 12, and
Blake, 9. Chris usually works deep undercover in her Rhode Island
basement, although she has been sighted at the PMC and PDC over the
years.
April Pardoe is on her second
tour of duty at AGA, the first as a graphic designer after college
for three years, working on newsletters, conference programs and
materials (before AGA even had a website). April and Marie spent
several years commuting through D.C. traffic together when they both
lived in Maryland and worked in the Alexandria office. April
returned to AGA as a part-time telecommuter in 2007 to provide Web
support and to produce online publications. She grew up in Maryland
and lives in Elkridge, MD. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in
public relations from Towson University in Maryland, and a master of
arts degree in publication design from the University of Baltimore.
April and her husband Rich have two daughters, Abby, 5, and Megan,
3, and a chocolate lab, her furry coworker!
AGA is fortunate to have such
outstanding staff in our Communications Department. I have enjoyed
the opportunities I have had over the past 14 years working with
Marie—in fact, Marie and I “hit it off” pretty well in our early
days developing the conference materials, publications, and mailings
for the 1997 State and Local Conference in New Orleans. Through that
experience, I knew AGA had hired a “task master” and that we were
going to be in good hands with communications. I have also enjoyed
getting to know and work with Jenn, Chris and April over the past
years as well. All four staff are passionate about their work and
the image of AGA they help shape and create—to them, anything less
than excellence is not acceptable.
As you have a chance to communicate
with these four staff, please join me in thanking them for
facilitating so many excellent tasks in AGA—without these four
ladies who genuinely care about the success of our organization and
its members, AGA would not be where it is today.
THANKS for helping AGA “Think
Big! Act Courageously! Make a Difference!”
Billy