Position: Executive Committee member (two-year term)
Candidate
Ron Friedman
Job title: Writer and proofreader
At: AbbVie Creative Network, Chicago
Job description: Writer-proofreader for a health firm, formerly known as Abbott, the editorial gatekeeper, ensuring that all print and multimedia projects are well written and free of errors.
How has the nominee contributed to ACES?
Ron is a relatively new member who joined less than two years ago. He says his passion for the written word has found an affirming home in this organization of professional wordsmiths. Ron attended the Chicago workshop in 2012 and enjoyed meeting the ACES officers from the Chicago area.
What makes the nominee the best candidate for this position?
He has worked to hone his skill sets of writing, copy editing and proofreading. From serving as homeowners association officer (secretary and president), elected library district trustee, and elected officer in Toastmasters, he has learned about working collaboratively and diplomatically to fulfill a mission His work as a writer/copy editor in a corporate setting while also working on other freelance writing projects will help him understand the spectrum of the ACES membership.
If elected, what does the nominee envision for ACES during his or her tenure?
I believe that my energy and efforts will further the goals the officers and members have set, which no doubt will include plans to assure members and potential members that ACES listens to its members, provides more learning partnerships, honors its members and their differences, and respects the intellectually satisfying and legacy-building profession to which we belong.
This year, for the first time, none of the board candidates is currently working in newspapers or magazines, and the new board will have a majority from outside of newsrooms. How can ACES keep its credibility as a journalistic organization as well as its increasingly important role as a resource and advocate for copy editors who do not work in news? Indeed, should it?
As wordsmiths, we value and propagate the importance of writing well. Of crafting language, while keeping context always in mind: that fashions quick, snappy, cogent, intelligent, fun and funny expressions to convey information across a diverse array of print, multimedia and Web platforms. Consider a juicy, delectable mango. The mango purveyor (reader) shops at Safeway, Whole Foods, Mariano’s, Piggly Wiggly, Trader Joe’s or Treasure Island. And the consumer finds many mangoes worth buying. Ones that most mango mavens would say taste great. Ones worth the 90 cents or $2 spent. Does one then conclude that no amazing mango can be found outside a traditional grocer’s aisles? Toll Trader Joe’s customer-service bell, for I say no mango is an aisle of its own. The talented copy editor strolls the corporate aisles too. One’s criteria ought to be decided on whether one’s literary palate explodes with flavor in each cerebral-rich byte.
