[NvHam] Change in ARRL Pacific Division Leadership

[Dick Flanagan]

 From The ARRL Letter, Vol. 22, No. 08, February 21, 2003

==>N6AJO APPOINTED PACIFIC DIVISION VICE DIRECTOR

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, has appointed East Bay Section
Manager Andy Oppel, N6AJO, to become Pacific Division Vice Director.
The appointment February 20 fills the vacancy in the Pacific Division
leadership created when former Vice Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG,
acceded to Pacific Division Director upon the death of Director Jim
Maxwell, W6CF, on February 6. Oppel's appointment is for the balance
of Vallio's term, which expires January 1, 2005.

"I've been working with Bob Vallio for more than 20 years,"
said Oppel, who lives in Alameda and took over the East Bay Section
Manager's position from Vallio in January 2000. Prior to that, he was
an Assistant SM in East Bay for eight years under Vallio's section
leadership. Oppel said their long-term working relationship would
definitely be an asset as he and Vallio take on their new leadership
roles in the Pacific Division.

A ham since 1977 and a General-class licensee, Oppel, 50,
said his interest in emergency communications work is what helped to
get him into ham radio. He serves as a mentor for the Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Level I course.

ARRL Field and Educational Services Manager Rosalie White,
K1STO, has appointed Dennis Franklin, K6DF, of Fremont to take over
the reins from Oppel as East Bay SM.

As the new Pacific Division Director, Vallio greeted Oppel's
appointment enthusiastically and said he planned to continue the
agenda he and Jim Maxwell had begun together three years ago. "Jim
wasn't done with the things that he wanted to do, and I wasn't done
trying to help him do them," Vallio said. Before becoming a Vice
Director, he had served for more than two decades as East Bay Section
Communications Manager and Section Manager. As a Vice Director, he
served on the ARRL Board of Directors' Membership Services Committee.

First licensed as a Novice in 1952, Vallio says he's been
active on HF, VHF and UHF for almost his entire 51-year tenure as an
amateur licensee. He also serves as a director and secretary of the
Yasme Foundation and is a member of the Northern California DX and
Northern California Contest clubs as well as of the Alameda County
Sheriff's Communications Team (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service--RACES). He is retired from Pacific Bell.

Franklin, a retired federal employee, was first licensed in
1965. An ARRL Life Member, he's is an Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications course mentor and a volunteer examiner.

An ARRL Life Member, Franklin is an Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications course mentor and a volunteer examiner.
--
Dick Flanagan W6OLD NV SM
E-mail: w6old@arrl.org