Minutes of 15 October 2020 OWRC (MOAA) Annual Business Meeting
The annual business meeting of the Ohio Western Reserve Chapter of MOAA was convened at 1900 hours by the chapter president, Donald Bratton. The meeting was conducted via Zoom.
The president opened the meeting with a welcome statement, announcements and introductions. The first agenda topic was the election of officers and trustees for the year 2021. This was conducted by Colonel (retired) Dick Calta who presided over the election of the Officers and Trustees. He presented the positions and names as follows:
President Mrs. Lynda Farkas
First Vice President LTC (ret) Andy Emanuele
Second Vice President BG (ret) Tom Luczynski
Treasurer LTC (ret) Dave Riegler
Secretary LTC (ret) John Anderson
Trustee One Year 1LT (Fmr) Jack Harig
Trustee Two Years CPT (Fmr) Don Bratton
Trustee Three Years (Second of Three Years) LT COL Tom Harnden
The 2021 officers and trustees will be installed during the 4 December meeting.
Upon completion of the introductions and swearing in of officers the president introduced the guest speaker, Colonel Terri Coles, USA (Ret), MOAA Senior Director Council and Chapter Affairs, MOAA. Colonel Coles discussed the various aspects and responsibilities of her office as to what it provides chapters in areas of administration, communications, community involvement, recruiting and membership, training and awards. She closed out her presentation by discussing the aspects of the ‘Virtual Chapter’ and how to establish one. The virtual chapter is organized exactly like traditional MOAA chapters, but members are associated through subject matter interest rather than geographic area. Currently there are two established virtual chapters. They are the Uniformed Services Nurse Advocates Virtual Chapter and the Surviving Spouse Virtual Chapter. Following Colonel Cole’s presentation she responded to questions and comments from attendees.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at approximately 20:30 hours.
John Anderson
Secretary, OWRC, MOAA
Enclosure: Biographical Sketch Colonel Terri Coles
Col. Terri Coles, USA (Ret)
Senior Director, Council and Chapter Affairs
Col. Terri Coles, USA (Ret) served over 20 years in the U.S. Army as a Signal Corps officer, serving in a wide range of command and staff assignments including postings in Korea and Germany and command at both the battalion and brigade level. She also served on the Department of the Army staff as an Inspector General and culminated her military career serving as a division chief in the Command, Control, Communications and Computer-J6 Directorate, on the Joint Staff, Pentagon.
After leaving active duty, Coles became active in the local Frederick, Md., community and was selected as a member of the board of associates for Hood College, where she worked to nurture strong relationships between the student vets on campus and the greater Frederick community.
Coles joined MOAA in 2012 and served as Deputy Director in the Career Transition Center before assuming her role as Senior Director in Council and Chapter Affairs.
She is a native of Philadelphia and holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Villanova University and a Master of Arts in strategic studies from the Army War College Pennsylvania.