OWAA Elects Board Second Vice President and Treasurer
OutdoorHub 06.09.14
At the recent Outdoor Writers Association of America annual conference, the OWAA Board of Directors elected Brett Prettyman, of Salt Lake City, Utah, to serve as second vice president of the association. Ty Stockton, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was elected treasurer of the board.
Brett Prettyman recently served on the OWAA Board of Directors from 2010-2013. He will serve a two-year term as vice president, ascending to OWAA president in 2016. An OWAA member since 1992, Prettyman is the outdoor editor and an environmental writer at The Salt Lake Tribune.
In a letter provided to his electors – the OWAA Board of Directors – Prettyman wrote: “As is the case with most of you, my involvement in OWAA has increased over the years as I realized the value and importance of the organization to my career and the future of outdoors reporting as a whole.
I’m deeply dedicated to the members of OWAA and view this next step of involvement as a part of my continued growth as an outdoor journalist.
I am familiar with the ongoing issues the organization has faced through the years and my recent stint on the board has given me a solid understanding of current obstacles preventing the growth and sustainability of OWAA.
I have made a lot of friends during my now almost 24 years as a member of OWAA and I plan to lean on many of them (past, current and new) … I look forward to many more years of being a part of OWAA and will continue to serve its members, my friends, any way I can.”
Ty Stockton will serve a three-year term as treasurer of the OWAA Board of Directors. Stockton is the public relations director at Laramie County Community College, as well as a freelance writer, photographer and radio host.
“I’ve been a member since 2000, and my first conference attended was in Spokane, Wash. Since those early days, I have participated in every way I could to help improve OWAA,” Stockton said in his statement to the board.
“During a term on the board [2009-2012], and in committees both before that term and after, I have seen the organization make ‘efficiencies’ that were necessary, though not always palatable. I firmly believe we’ve cut all we can cut out of the operating expenses if we hope to continue to be a viable organization.
In my day job as public relations director of a community college, I am entrusted with a $1.5 million budget. I also have a say in the implementation of the entire college’s $60 million budget. While we in Wyoming have escaped the budget cuts many other state educational institutions have faced in the last several years, we have been asked to do more with less. …
I will use my experience working with and staying within budgets to carefully manage OWAA’s funds. This experience also will help me to work with our executive director and our Endowment Trustees to plan budgets and clearly understand where our money is going. I will keep the OWAA board informed of important budget issues, as I do at the college when I report monthly to that institution’s board of trustees. …
As the treasurer, I’ll give the OWAA budget the same careful scrutiny I give the Laramie County Community College budget. I’ll make sure the income outpaces the expenditures, and I’ll find new ways to increase the income. … OWAA coffers will not fill up magically overnight while I serve as treasurer, but our accounts will remain in the black; and I will do everything I can to boost the membership – and income – of the organization.”
