Board of Directors
Board position open:
NELA's EOP (External Outreach Program) is in need of a Director to lead a group of volunteers from the SM/Leather/Fetish Community in educating human service agencies about our lifestyles. Our outreach is focused on law enforcement, medical, mental health and social service professionals. Additionally we are committed to empowering individuals in our community to effectively communicate with these professionals in their everyday lives. Please send your statement of interest to chair AT NELAonline.org before 7/30/2010.
The job description is as follows:
External Outreach Director
This position is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the External Outreach Program (EOP). The EOP is the area of NELA responsible for educational outreach outside of the SM/Leather/Fetish community and includes such areas as law enforcement officials, the medical community, mental health workers, and social service agencies. The External Outreach Director is responsible for representing NELA and giving EOP trainings, as well as training others to give EOP trainings. The External Outreach Director is also responsible for facilitation of EOP planning meetings, working with NELA volunteers who would like to be part of this program, delegating responsibilities to volunteers, arranging trainings for these volunteers, and development of the training curriculum. The external outreach program is also responsible for collecting and disseminating legal information that impacts the SM/Leather/Fetish community, as such the EOP Director is responsible for coordinating volunteers towards this work.
Board Member Requirements
- Attend 10 of the 12 board meetings
- Introduce two speakers at events - if appropriate
- Attend three of the four major NELA functions: Pride, Associates Meeting, the two FFFs
- Respond to email within 48 hours during the week
- Notify the Board of extended travel plans
- NELA should be one's primary volunteer activity
- Abide by all NELA's policies and bylaws
Board Members
Rae - Chair (rae AT NELAonline.org)
Rae has a long history of community organizing and activism and has brought all those years of experience in the vanilla community to NELA. Involved in the public leather scene for 10+ years, she volunteered for NELA events before joining the board. As one of the original organizers of the Kaleidoscope Munch, she continues to co-host what she hopes will become a successful munch/social outlet for leather People of Color in the New England area.
Scott - Director of Community Relations (scott AT NELAonline.org)
His knot tying education started at the age of 4 by many ole salts who had been boating for more than 40 years. When he came out at 21, he started applying the knots to bondage, and it has been fun ever since. He considers his leather journey a life long pursuit. Scott has been active with NELA over the past few years, and decided to join the NELA board in 2007, and served as Co-Chair from 2007 to 2008.
Scott held the title of Mr. Boston Leather in 2004. In 2003, Co-founded the Bay State Marauders, and served as the inaugural President from 2004 to 2005, and Vice President from 2006 to 2007. In 2007, won the Pantheon of Leather New England Regional Award. In 2009, was elected to the National Board of Leather Leadership Conference.
Vivienne Kramer - Treasurer (vivienne AT NELAonline.org)
Vivienne was Chair of the New England Leather Alliance from 2001 through 2006 and served as Treasurer from 1996 through 2003. She also holds the position of Chair of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and was one of the Co-Chairs of Leather Leadership Conference - Seven held in April 03. In addition to her leather activism she squeezes time out to be the Treasurer of the Greater Boston chapter of NOW, something she's enjoyed doing since 1989. Vivienne identifies as bisexual Jewish feminist and would like to be mistaken for Cher. Barring that, she'll settle for being known as a dedicated sexual freedom activist.
Danny - Board Member At Large (danny AT NELAonline.org)
Danny joined the NELA board as vendor liaison back in 1999. In addition to continuing to act as vendor liaison for NELA's Fetish Fair Fleamarket™, he is currently NELA's Board Member at Large and he remains a member of the PDL Steering Committee. Danny entered the public scene in 1989. His passion for bondage inspired him to make his own bondage equipment. It was the popularity of his unique Grip-cuff™ design that inspired him to start his own business, "Leather By Danny". Leather by Danny now carries a wide range of bondage equipment and can be found in shops around the country. Danny enjoys traveling the country vending as well as teaching classes on bondage.
Jack and Kerry - Co-Director of Associates (JandK AT NELAonline.org)
Jack and Kerry have been involved in the local leather community for over ten years. They were unwittingly sucked into lugging boxes for NELA at the Summer Flea several years ago and became steadily more involved, helping with and volunteering for the Fleas, Pride, Volunteer Coordination and other duties. They wanted to increase their activism in the leather community AND kill off every scrap of what little free time they had left, and so in 2009 they joined the NELA board as Co-Directors of Associates, in which position they continue to lug boxes at the Flea, just with a fancier title.
Percival Du Chat Gris - Director Of Programming (percy AT NELAonline.org)
Lord Percival (Percy to most) has been active in the scene both in private and in public for the last 35+ years, and been teaching, lecturing, mentoring, and training others for more than 20 of them. He's been involved and associated with many NELA events for a large number of years, from volunteering here and there, to giving classes. Seeing a need for someone to step in and take a hold of the role of arranging for such educational occasions to continue, and finding that he would enjoy doing such, Percy stepped forward to take up that responsibility. Educating others is a particular passion of his and he looks forward to arranging for many folks to come and share their knowledge and expertise with the NELA community. He is more than willing to shoulder what is necessary to get the job done and looks forward to working with the great group of people on the NELA board.
George - Secretary/Webmaster (george AT NELAonline.org)
George has been volunteering for NELA for several years, and has been the NELA webmaster since October 2006. Prior to that, he assisted on the website. He has also been a volunteer at many FFFs. George is a rope top who enjoys learning new stuff; he and his partner have attended many regional and national rope conferences as well as national educational events such as LLC. A desire to further help the Kink community was George's motivation in becoming part of the NELA board.