OBA Board of Directors Election – 2021

President-elect

Mike Williams
Mike Williams, an emeritus professor of the University of Kansas, recently retired as the founding director of the Media Innovation Lab, a project-level research lab at the University. He also owns Gray Whale Media, a media communications consultancy emphasizing improving client communications of environmentally conscious non-profit organizations.

An avid bird photographer, Williams spends much of his time behind the camera focused on the birds found in and around the National Wildlife Refuges near his home in Salem. When not taking pictures, he does frequent editing and design work for the Salem Audubon Society, where he serves on the board of directors. He most recently completed the development and launch of the website and communications plan for the Ankeny Hill Nature Center south of Salem.

Mike brings an understanding of the audience and commitment to creating an inclusive climate for expanding participation in the organizations he serves.

Secretary

Tom Myers
Tom Myers was born and raised in Massachusetts and received a BA in Philosophy from Colby College in Maine. After serving in the Peace Corps, he joined AmeriCorps and moved to Portland in 2009. He holds a Masters in Teaching from Lewis and Clark College and currently teaches 3rd Grade in Portland. He lives with his husband in Warren.

Tom began birding in 2017 when he bought a kayak and started to explore Smith and Bybee Wetlands and Sauvie Island. Since then, he finds and photographs birds whenever possible and completed a county Big Year in Columbia County in 2019. When he’s not teaching or birding, Tom stays busy hiking, kayaking, keeping honeybees and making pizza.

Treasurer

Nicholas Martens
Nick first became interested in birding while pursuing his doctorate in experimental psychology at Florida Atlantic University. Along with his wife and birding partner Maureen, he began relating their many adventures on their website and social media as Hipster Birders. After moving to Oregon in 2014 they were quickly made to feel at home by the wonderful and active birding community they found.

While Nick is out birding he also keeps an eye out for anything else new or interesting. He’s recently taken up macro photography and has enjoyed learning about and documenting the many strange arthropods he finds near his home.

He has served as OBA Treasurer for the past year after being appointed by the board.

Director

Robert Lockett
Robert Lockett has been a birder since the age of 12. After retiring from a career in commercial printing, he has increased his foreign travel, which is always focused on birding. The Covid pandemic has curtailed that travel, so he’s doing more Oregon birding–and bird photography–while slowly building his Oregon country list numbers. Robert has been a long-time Portland Audubon volunteer and is active in the Portland Peace Corps Association.