Sheila M. Byrnes
President
Sheila M. Byrnes has held numerous National positions including first, second, and fifth vice presidents; historian; 2016, 2020, and 2022 Biennial chair; and Letters chair and served as a member of the Finance, Governance, Letters, and Vinnie Ream committees. Since joining the Central New York Branch in 2004, she has served as branch president and New York state president.
Janie Owens
1st Vice President
Janie Owens became a letters member in 2000 and has served as secretary and president of the Daytona Beach Branch, as well as Florida State Association (FSA) secretary (two terms) and second vice president, and national Memorial Endowment Fund chair. She is currently FSA president and in her second term as national recording secretary. Owens has served on nonprofit boards for six organizations in the past 35 years, holding every position but treasurer. She has been traditionally published since 1998.
Nancy Avery Dafoe
2nd Vice President
A poet, author, editor, and educator, Nancy Avery Dafoe has 14 published books across multiple genres. Her poetry and prose appear in numerous literary magazines and journals and have won multiple awards. Dafoe offers presentations and writing workshops for various organizations and is a member of the steering committee of the group Being Female: Art as Empowerment. She is a member of the Central New York Branch and currently serves as national second vice president.
Jamie Tate
3rd Vice President
A member of NLAPW for more than 20 years, Jamie Tate has served as art chair and president of Delta Branch, national art chair, and national ethics chair. During her tenure on the national board, she served on various committees, including long-range planning, finance, Biennial, and governance. Tate has also served many nonprofit arts organizations as a board member, founding member, and 18 years as director of the Mississippi Art Colony.
Grace Joy Reid
4th Vice President
Grace Joy Reid has been a piano teacher for over 30 years and has arranged and composed over 100 works for piano, voice, and other instruments for small ensembles. Currently, she is the pianist for the McLean Symphony and arranges and composes music for several groups. Reid has served as Washington, D.C., Branch treasurer, secretary, vice president, and president from 2009 to 2020, and is currently national fifth vice president.
Jennifer Hambrick
5th Vice President
Six-time Pushcart Prize-nominated poet Jennifer Hambrick authored “In the High Weeds” (NFSPS Press), Stevens Award, National Federation of State Poetry Societies; “Joyride” (Red Moon Press), Marianne Bluger Book Award; and “Unscathed” (NightBallet Press). U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser featured Hambrick’s work in “American Life in Poetry”; hundreds of her poems also appear in The Columbia Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Santa Clara Review, and elsewhere. The recipient of numerous commissions and awards, she lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Evelyn B. Wofford, Ed.D.
Treasurer
Evelyn B. Wofford, EdD, is a career educator holding a doctorate of education in the specialized areas of curriculum and administration, which required numerous courses in leadership, personnel and institutional management, school finance, and school law. She is currently National president, and has served as Mississippi state president and vice president, Delta Branch vice president and president, and National treasurer.
Jessica Rigouard
Recording Secretary
Jessica Rigouard is the NLAPW Governance Committee chair. She has served as a federal investigator for over 30 years. Her career includes, among other things, conducting personnel security investigations for the U.S. Department of Defense and conducting investigations related to the federal crop insurance program. Rigouard is currently a deputy clerk of court for Pitt County, North Carolina. She has held numerous offices as a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.
Jill Adler
Ethics Chair
A member since 2006, Jill Adler has served as secretary, vice president, and president of the Modesto Branch, and is currently the branch treasurer. She also previously served as president of the South Lake Tahoe Branch (now defunct) and member of the Palm Spring Branch hospitality committee. Adler is the former editor of NorCalNews, the newsletter of the NLAPW Northern California Association. She has published over 300 articles in a variety of publications.