DA Madrid members meeting on Tuesday, May 6th elected new officers for the two-year term 2009-2011. Please join me in warmly welcoming the new team: Rosalind Williams, president; Sean Ansett, vice president; Tom Pauly, treasurer; and Maureen Mehan, secretary.

Statements from the new officers can be found below. It has been a pleasure helping to build the DA Madrid Chapter over the past two years, but the best part was getting to know all of our great members. Best of luck to all of you.

Besos,

Deborah Luhrman

Rosalind Williams, President DA Madrid Chapter

Rosalind Williams is originally from San Francisco, California and has lived in Madrid since 1968. She is fluent in Spanish and also has a working knowledge of French.  Rosalind is married to Tino Calabuig and they have an adult son, Ivan, who is currently an officer with the European Union in Brussels. Her interest in politics began with her participation as a volunteer in the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign in 1959.

After graduating from college, Rosalind spent two years working in communications in the Office of Public Information at the United Nations headquarters in New York. In Madrid she served on the faculty of the American School of Madrid and has been director of Galeria Redor, one of Spain 's firstphotography galleries.

Rosalind now works as an independent curator specializing in photography for the public and private sector in Spain and abroad.  She is also on the faculty of the University Studies Abroad Program at its campus at the Universidad Juan Carlos I in Madrid. As a volunteer in the US, she has served on the Board of Trustees of the Friends of Photography in San Francisco and on the International Advisory Council of the International Center of Photography in New York. Here in Spain she is currently the representative for the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas for the International Newcomer's Club.

Rosalind is committed to Democrats Abroad in Spain as an effort to strengthen the voice of Americans living beyond the borders of the United States.

Sean Ansett, Vice President DA Madrid Chapter

Yes we did! But now the real work begins! 

We have all lived through an inspiring and monumental presidential election campaign and took back the White House! Thanks to everyone who contributed to turning the tables and giving hope and change a chance. But now the real work is ahead of us. 

As Vice President of the Democrats Abroad Madrid Chapter, I will seek to harness the energy and momentum of our members to be a part of positive change. I will work hard to ensure that the Madrid chapter continues to strengthen and sustain, serves our members in a transparent and ethical way to support our party and president within Spain and abroad.

I look forward to working in partnership with my team members and all of you. Please consider voting for Sean Ansett, Vice-President DA Madrid on Tuesday the 26th

Democrats Abroad Participation

Sean Ansett has lived in Spain for three years and has been a member of Democrats Abroad for the same time period.  Sean has been active in the chapter and served for 1.5 years as the Media and Communications coordinator for the Madrid Chapter.  Sean was then appointed as Marketing Chair for the Executive Committee for Democrats Abroad Spain. 

Sean developed a marketing survey to understand the needs of members that was instrumental in increasing membership of the organization and developing activities and programs tailored to members needs. He worked closely with Democrats Abroad volunteers to develop the recently launched Facebook page whose number of "friends" has grown exponentially.  He was also responsible for helping to organize two Fourth of July events in Madrid and the very successful Super Tuesday party.

Sean has brought top notch speakers like Richard Feinberg to speak to chapter members and also delivered a Tertulia on sustainability issues.

Sean represented Democrats Abroad Spain at the Democratic National Convention delegate selection meetings in Brussels and also at the Annual meeting held in Washington DC earlier this year.

Sean was an early Obama supporter, hosted a fundraising event and participated in a number of Obama fundraising events and other activities.

Tom Pauly, Treasurer DA Madrid Chapter

Tom Pauly is originally from Chicago and has lived in Europe since 1992 and in Madrid since 2006.   Tom went to Northwestern and Stanford and is currently an in-house lawyer for Tupperware Brands Corporation based in Spain. Tom is single but has a partner currently living in Barcelona.

Tom has been interested in politics since he worked on the 1978 campaign of Congressman Abner Mikva (D-IL) during college.  Tom later met and worked with Adlai Stevenson III, Paul Simon and Jerry Brown, among others.  Tom's first experience with Democrats Abroad was as a member of the Amsterdam Chapter in 2004.  He joined the Madrid Chapter in the autumn of 2006 and was elected Secretary in May 2007.   As a member of the Executive Committee, Tom learned about Chapter finance management from Treasurer Dean Jannone and plans to continue his policy of creating a better organization of Chapter finances, including budgeting, fund raising, and reporting, in consultation with other members of the Executive Committee and with Dean as National Treasurer.

Tom enjoys his activity at Democrats Abroad and wants to the Chapter to continue to focus on the 2010 elections, but in the meantime to sponsor lively and interesting events covering political and social topics, as well as providing a friendly social network for like-minded Democratic expatriates and newcomers to Madrid.

Maureen Meehan, Secretary DA Madrid Chapter

Maureen Meehan, originally from Ohio, has been living and working in Madrid since September, 2004. Prior to that Maureen spent many years working as a print journalist and radio and TV film producer in Latin America and the Middle East. Her knowledge of politics, on an international as well as domestic level, is deepened by her journalistic work and experience of having lived abroad for most of her adult life.

Maureen continues to do freelance journalism and has recently completed a novel about Cuba at the turn of the century. She also works as a translator for the Organization of American States and an English teacher. She is co-writing a book about Palestine/Israel with an Israeli colleague.

A graduate of Cleveland State University, Maureen lives in Madrid with her 17-year-old son and occasionally with her husband, a Palestinian diplomat based in the West Bank.  Maureen in fluent in Spanish and also speaks Arabic.