Meet your communications/ public relations team.

Dedicated to extending lines of communication with our members and supporters as well as a wider audience, this lean team is concentrating its efforts on utilizing current technology to its fullest to meet our mission. Reaching out from M Street is primary along with spreading news about the good work at all levels of the League. To this end, the team is in charge of our improved interactive Web site (www. lwv.org), The National Voter magazine, the new electronic newsletter, the regular flow of press releases and op-eds, and publications (e.g., Navigating Election Day and Choosing, the President 2004). Here are Communications' "mighty four" with whom you might have spoken or exchanged e-mails. Now you have faces and some personal information to attach to those names.

Kelly Ceballos has been with the League as senior director of communications for two and a half years. Prior to joining the League, Kelly worked as a public affairs official for the federal government, serving within the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of Commerce. After working for the Democratic National Committee in the early 1990s, Kelly served as a regional press officer for the White House Conference on Small Business, an independent federal government commission from 1993-1995. Kelly lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC with her husband and two small children.

Gretchen Knell, the League's Web development and content manager, came to the League over three years ago after working at the American Medical Writers' Association. She first learned the intricacies of HTML during her studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Gretchen's American Studies professors were fascinated by the impact of the Internet on American culture, so they substituted the building of a Web site for final research reports. In her spare time, Webmaster Gretchen volunteers as a Base Camp Operator for SARDOM, a local Search and Rescue team that utilizes air-scenting German Shepherd dogs to find lost persons in a variety of situations.

Shirley Tabata Ponomareff, editor of The National Voter and production manager of special publications, came to the League almost three years ago. Prior to joining us, she was newsletter editor for The European Institute and assistant editor of their journal, European Affairs. Shirley's circuitous route began in Hawaii, led to an undergraduate degree in chemistry and work as a research associate in biochemistry, was followed by graduate work and a doctorate in Slavic linguistics from UCLA, and crowned by full-time "momhood." The skills gained via this unlikely path and her longstanding interest in public policy issues are her contributions to the team.

Lyndsey Farrington, communications coordinator, joined the League in January and is the newest addition to our team. Energetic and versatile, she works on a wide range of projects that include writing and distributing press releases, updating the news clips, helping to create better ways of communicating, fielding media calls and taking on new assignments as they come up. Originally from Montana, Lyndsey has held a variety of positions in Washington, DC, and New York City including the Close Up Foundation, NBC and The McLaughlin Group.