Steven Payne
Looking for a deeper involvement in The Mountaineers? The Seattle Hiking Committee is holding biannual officer elections in September 2024 for fiscal years 2025-26. We're excited to share details about the open positions and encourage all interested members to self-nominate, joining the organization's legacy of volunteer leadership.
Our Nominating Committee seeks two candidates for each officer position as defined by our Activity Charter:
Chairperson
This is an elected position: incumbent Stacey Lissit, presumptive nominee Steve Payne, seeking one additional nominee. Responsibilities of The Chairperson include:
- Preside at all committee, Executive Committee, and special meetings
- Confirm all subcommittee chairs
- Be an ex-officio member of all committees, except the Nominating Committee
- Be the spokesperson for the committee
- Oversee the operations, activities, programs, and budget of the committee
- Recruit and develop new At-Large members
- Attend Seattle Branch Council meetings or appoint a delegate
Vice Chairperson
This is an appointed position: incumbent Steve Payne, seeking two nominees. Responsibilities of the Vice Chairperson include:
- Act in place of the Chairperson in their absence
- Assist the Chairperson with duties of the office
- Coordinate the operations of the Nominating Committee
- Assist the Chairperson with recruiting and developing new At-Large members
Secretary
This is an elected position: incumbent and presumptive nominee Daniel Poor, seeking one additional nominee who can learn the role and serve as Daniel’s backup. Responsibilities of the Secretary include:
- Serve as the recording officer for the committee
- Work with the Executive Committee to develop the agenda for all committee meetings, and for all substantive Executive Committee and special meetings
- Take, transcribe, distribute, and archive the minutes of all committee, Executive Committee, and special meetings
- Regularly review and update committee rosters
Treasurer
This is an elected position: incumbent and presumptive nominee Marcia Harper, seeking one additional nominee who can learn the role, serving as Marcia’s backup. Responsibilities of the Treasurer include:
- Oversee the financial affairs the Activity
- Assist in the preparation of the annual budget
- Interface with the Seattle Branch Treasurer and Mountaineers Staff, as necessary
- Provide periodic reports to the committee
Training Officer
This is an appointed position: incumbent and presumptive appointee Stacey Lissit, seeking one additional nominee who can learn the role, serving as Stacey’s backup and assisting with new hike leader seminars. Responsibilities of the Training Officer include:
- Oversee and schedule leader training issues pertaining to the Activity
- Coordinate the hike leader mentorship program
- Recruit, train and support presenters and assistants for new hike leader seminars, Introduction to Hiking, and other seminars associated with the Activity
- Interface with Mountaineers Staff on training-related issues, as necessary
- Provide periodic reports to the committee
Safety Officer
This is an appointed position: incumbent and presumptive appointee Heidi Walker, seeking one additional nominee who can learn the role, serving as Heidi’s backup. Responsibilities of the Safety Officer include:
- Take the lead on all safety-related issues pertaining to the Activity
- Interface with the Seattle Branch Safety Committee, the Seattle Branch Safety Officer, and the Safety Officers of other Activities, as necessary
- Coordinate with the Communications Officer to disseminate pertinent safety-related information to hike leaders and course administrators
- Provide periodic reports to the committee
Communications Officer
This is a new appointed position for FY 2025-26: seeking two nominees. Responsibilities of the Communications Officer include:
- Coordinate with other members of the Activity Committee to solicit and communicate important information, course news, and events related to the Activity to internal and external audiences
- Coordinate with Mountaineers Staff to select the most appropriate mode(s) of communication for delivering important information, course news, and events related to the Activity
- Determine best practices for outreach to and engagement of internal and external audiences, particularly potential course participants, hike leaders and other volunteers, specialty interest hikers, affinity groups, and diverse populations
- Suggest and promote potential one-off activities, miniseries, seminars, and courses to attract new participants of all backgrounds to the Activity
- Chair a Communications and Outreach Subcommittee, and attract and guide volunteers to assist with the above duties
- Provide periodic reports to the committee
Contact any of the incumbents with specific questions about their role. These are wordy and formal job descriptions, but the reality is you’ll do the best work you can in the time you have to give, with an experienced team of fellow volunteers to support you. If you have a sincere interest in the role (and hiking in general), you’ll find committee service to be an easy lift.
Nominate yourself
To self-nominate for one or more officer positions, fill out our interest form or contact any member of the Nominating Committee (Steve Payne, Daniel Poor, or Dick Nicholson) and we’ll be in touch mid-August with updates and next steps. Candidate statements are welcome, but not required.
What’s the time commitment?
The committee will utilize a new meeting format, starting FY 2025. We will meet via Zoom five times each year, the evening of the second Wednesday every other month (August's meeting will likely shift to September, so the committee can hike!). We will have a five-hour, in-person offsite retreat in February to tackle one big topic (this year it was the Communications Officer role) and take a fresh look at our goals, priorities, systems, and timelines. Executive Committee meetings of the seven officers are called as-needed and are usually brief, as are most subcommittee meetings. We accomplish nearly everything else via email and telephone. Your volunteer time in between meetings is managed by you as your schedule allows, and the few deadlines we have are announced well in advance.
We encourage diverse candidates of any race, socio-economic status, gender, sexuality, physical abilities, age, education, or religious beliefs to join us! Thanks for your consideration.
Don't see yourself as an officer?
Consider joining the Seattle Hiking Committee as an At-Large member. At-Large members are vital to the committee’s operations and accomplish a lot behind the scenes. In fact, they vote for nominees for the elected officers, and consent to the nominations of appointed officers. At-Large members must be active Mountaineers members in good standing and confirmed by the Chair to serve a two-year term, serving for as many additional terms as they like. We accept interim appointments — join at any point if the timing isn’t right for you to onboard in October.
