Dan Oswald elected NEPA president.

Dan Oswald, president and associate publisher at M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC, Brentwood, Tenn., was elected president of NEPA at its board meeting held during the annual conference. He succeeds Robert Jenkins of Health Resources Publishing, Manasquan, N.J.

Elected vice president was this year's conference chairman, as is the association's "formula" of officers' progression, Ira Myer, EPM Communications Inc., New York City. The new secretary is Thomas Hagy, LexisNexis Mealey Publications & Conference Group, King of Prussia, Penn.

The new treasurer is Nancy McMeekin, Oakstone Publishing LLC, Birmingham, Alabama.

Lynn Freer, Spidell Publishing Inc., Anaheim, Calif., was newly elected to the board, replacing Marjorie Weiner, American Lawyer Media, Philadelphia, who stepped down.

Oswald's major goal

Oswald told NL/NL, "Greater member involvement is my single major goal." He will oversee initiatives to get members more involved from the most basic action such as reading Hotline, NEPA's newsletter, to becoming active in listservs and local chapters and Special Interest Groups.

Oswald said the association wants to broaden the reach to more members because board members work too much and need more people to get involved. That would also help the association recognize a new generation of leaders.

Name change

Before the conference, it was rumored that Oswald would be looking into a name change for NEPA. Asked about that, Oswald said that when the association added "& Electronic" to form its current name in 1999, it was seen as a temporary move to appeal to online publishers.

But rather than revisit earlier, hours-long, name-changing discussions at board meetings. Oswald said he is putting together a task force to survey the membership and then make a recommendation to the board.

The association began life in 1977 as the Newsletter Association of America (NAA)--following the advice of Mary Hudson, wife of Howard Penn Hudson: "Whatever you decide, keep Newsletter as the first word so people can find you in directories."

In the early 1980s, reflecting its increasing international makeup, the words "of America" were dropped to form Newsletter Association (NA).

A few years later, Paul Warren of Warren Publishing, as board president, noted, "We aren't really an association of newsletters, but of newsletter publishers. Voila! The Newsletter Publishers Association (NPA) became its third name.

The internet and online publishing then inspired the board to change that to the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association.

1501 Wilson Blvd., #509, Arlington, VA 22209 703-527-2333, fax [phone], www.newsletters.org.

RELATED ARTICLE: NEPA's financial house in good order

In the absence of outgoing NEPA treasurer Tom Hagy, Finance Committee chairman Jim Sinkinson presented the treasurer's report to the membership at the Washington conference.

He said total revenue is expected to reach $886,000 this year, an increase over each of the past two years. He also said the association should show a positive cash flow this year after experiencing losses over the past two years. Sinkinson described NEPA's balance sheet as "healthy," with more than $1 million in liquid assets.

RELATED ARTICLE: Jim Sinkinson named NEPA's Volunteer of the Year

Jim Sinkinson, president of Infocom Group, Emeryville, Calif., was presented NEPA's Volunteer of the Year Award for the following contributions:

* He has served in just about every capacity possible for the association.

* He has spoken at innumerable NEPA conferences.

* He has served as Northern California chapter president for 20 years.

* He served on the board of directors for a full six years before returning to the board for his current tenure.

* He was NEPA president in 1993-94.

* He regularly posts to NEPA's Marketing Listserv.

* He now chairs the association's Finance Committee.

* He is a member of the NEPA Publishers Hall of Fame.

Infocon, 5900 Hollis Ave., #L, Emeryville, CA, 94608, 510-596-9300, fax [phone], www.infocongroup.com