Candidate for Executive Committee

Residence: Sewell, N.J.

Professional position: Copy desk manager, The Vanguard Group Inc., Malvern, Pa.

Years of membership: 2

Biography

Jeff manages editors and proofreaders in Vanguard’s Participant Education department, improving marketing materials for clients of the firm. He helped put together a large contingent from Vanguard to attend the ACES conference in Philadelphia in 2010, and has played an active role in keeping the company involved, including sending a delegation to New Orleans. He also was an active volunteer on the host committee for Philadelphia.

Jeff seeks a first term on the board. He brings together experience in newspapers (12 years at papers large and small) and the corporate world, thus linking ACES’ roots and its present. He is a career editor with a great respect for journalism who also has the perspective of a corporate communicator. He wants to see ACES-level training brought to where the communicators work, and hopes to add to its outreach to connect corporate editors, who can be hard to track down.

ACES’ question to candidate

Board members must show a commitment to the organization’s goals, which center on better serving and increasing the  membership, and keeping ACES financially sound. Everyone’s skills and styles are different. Do you see yourself as stronger in developing ideas, or with putting ideas into action? Are you more comfortable working with a team, or handling a responsibility alone? And how will you organize things to commit the necessary time?

The ACES mission statement calls on our group to set standards of excellence and give a voice to editors. In my nearly 16 years as an editor and leader, those tenets have been essential. My career has taken me from the field of journalism into the corporate world, and in each place I have been surrounded by dedicated wordsmiths who constantly raise the bar. Editors are special people — they deserve to be heard. I know that when I listen, when I seek counsel from my peers, I’m going to hear ideas that are better than I could have imagined. It’s my privilege to put those ideas into action with all the positivity and optimism I can muster. I’ve seen copy editors write winning Super Bowl headlines on deadline and proofreaders clean up a billion-dollar company’s webinar with moments to spare. ACES can bridge both communities, and I want to help make that link.

From the nomination form

How has the nominee contributed to ACES?

Nominator wrote: Jeff helped put together a large contingent from Vanguard to attend the ACES conference in Philadelphia in 2010. He was on the host committee for the conference and worked many shifts as a volunteer. He has been instrumental in keeping Vanguard involved in its support of ACES, including a delegation of six to eight coming to New Orleans.

What makes the nominee the best candidate for this position?

Nominator wrote: Jeff brings together experience in newspapers (12 years at papers large and small) and the corporate world, thus linking ACES’s roots and its present. He is a career editor with a great respect for journalism who also has the perspective of a corporate communicator. That mix will add diversity to the ACES board and help us extend our reach to current and new members.

If elected, what does the nominee envision for ACES during his or her tenure?

Nominator wrote: ACES-level training should be brought to where the communicators work, not only at corporate sites like his own but also at the increasing number of newspaper “hubs.” He also sees his role as adding to our outreach to corporate editors. Great editors are out there but they can be harder to track down outside the newspaper business. and ACES can connect them all.

Nominator: David Sullivan