It's time for IFVP to fill some slots on our Board of Directors. We've been favored with 3 terrific candidates who need your votes. The board turns over every few years and we happen to have room for all 3. Here's a little bit about each willing and able volunteer who will greatly enhance the efforts of our working, volunteer Board. Vote for one or vote for all. Voting ends on November 15, 2022 and is accessible to IFVP members only. Vote here
Tanya Gerber, (Canada) has been an IFVP member for over a decade. As a visual practitioner, Tanya works primarily as a Graphic Recorder, though comes to it through Facilitation. She keeps her hand in Graphic Facilitation work from time to time. In her 15 years as a visual practitioner, her list of clients includes, not-for-profits, corporate, municipalities/government and small businesses. She favors pen to paper recording and during the pandemic has worked on-line primarily in studio with cameras as opposed to digital recording.
When asked why she was interested in serving on the IFVP Board of Directors, she explained:
I'd like to give back and be more involved with the community of visual practitioners. I've had Board of Director experience in my local Not-for-profit work so I understand how the meetings will likely generally go and what board etiquette and communication will be required. Making and reading minutes, agendas, preparing to present, respecting time constraints etc.
The list of unique contributions that she will be bringing to the IFVP Board of Directors includes:
- I think some of my previous experience with co-leading pre-conference workshops (I presented GR 101 2-3 times with Bea Broskova) will be useful.
- I'm a thoughtful and dedicated professional with years of experience in the field.
- I'm good at following through with communication and actions between meetings, including having sat on strategic planning committees in my previous employment, and numerous strategic visioning sessions.
- My values are aligned with the organization's anti-oppression and inclusion commitments. I value contributions from all and agree with proactive work toward raising opportunity for those who have experienced marginalized opportunity for their leadership.
- I'd like to support the enhancement of regional IFVP connections. It's really important that networking happens in a regional way, promoting a mentoring of newbies to the field and a collegiality among us as professionals.
- I have been employed as an Executive Director in my earlier career for 3 organizations and have also participated on numerous Board Committees. This experience gave me lots of opportunity to do volunteer (and staff) management and supervision. I also had to contribute to website design for my own business and organizations with whom I've been employed.
- I'm passionate about doing visual work and contributing to a wide range of amazing change makers and valuable initiatives and businesses.
Tanya is interested in jumping in and offering her time and commitment to contribute where she can. She is really interested in supporting regional groups as this is in line with one of the strategic priorities for 2023. She hopes to accomplish the following by serving as a Board Director to the IFVP:
- I'm hoping to contribute to the field and personally build my network of colleagues. I'd like to see my work have an impact on groups of visual practitioners across numerous regions across the world. I'd like people to be impressed with how we as an association of professionals support each other, mentor the newcomers to our field and build public knowledge of the benefits of including visuals in all sorts of group work/conferences etc.
Chance McGee Kunst, (Germany) although fairly new to the IFVP community, he as made his mark in the as a visual world having over 20 years of experience in live drawing, caricature, illustration, story boarding and whiteboard animations. His work in whiteboard animations bleeds over into the world of live recording and has been told by a few colleagues in the field - Matthew Magain, Ben Crothers and Edward Mattingly that he would be really good as a graphic recorder/visual practitioner. It’s a faster paced form of the storytelling that he loves already.
When asked why he is interested in serving on the IFVP Board of Directors, he explained:
I’m mostly interested in learning from the professionals in the industry. I can think of no better place to learn the ins-and-outs of the industry than the Board of Directors of the IFVP. Literally every person who advised me to pursue live recording said to start with joining the IFVP. No other institution represents this industry better than the IFVP. It would be an incredible honor and opportunity for me. And honestly, even if I’m not on the board I know I will learn a lot.
The list of unique contributions he will be bring to the IFVP Board of Directors includes:
- I would bring a fresh take of what the IFVP is to the table. I still have the eyes and expectations of a “new member” which is invaluable when asking ‘how do we appeal to new members?’ and ‘How do we optimize the experience of newer members?’
- Additionally, I bring a lot of skills to the table that could be used to achieve those goals. 20+ years in caricatures and illustration as well as proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. 15 years in animation and graphic design - Adobe After effects and Premiere. 10 years in giving live presentations and workshops on drawing, perspective, caricature, art history, and German classical literature.
- For the past 3 months I’ve started an online drawing group composed mostly of young people who want to learn from me. Creating opportunities for these young people is perhaps my biggest challenge because they need a solid entry point into the industry of art. I’ve looked to the world of visual practitioners as a better entry than illustration or live caricature. I would leverage that growing group and pull them into the IFVP, I mean I’m pretty much doing that already.
- Bonuses - I’m savvy with computers, I know basic WordPress web editing, I speak casual German and I live in Germany (which means I can buy Neuland markers and paper and bring it to America whenever I visit - wink wink** **this is not a bribe but it’s also not a joke so….
Chance is eager to dive into Membership & Communication. He feels he can be of immense use with a membership drive. He interacts with many online young artists and almost none of them have heard of graphic recording/graphic facilitation. In the course of learning more about the seemingly endless opportunities that this industry presents as well as it’s unique challenges and requirements. Chance feels he could represent a clear path to invite an eager group of young talent.
He is interested in providing clear opportunities as well as a clearer path (something more than artistic growth, but competence in the business world) is specifically what he would like to offer younger artists. The IFVP already exists, it already offers that! but no one knows about it. Making clear what the advantages are to becoming a member isn’t too much work - the challenge he feels, is to better understand this world. It’s as much an opportunity as a challenge and he accepts it with vigor! Chance loves teaching and considered becoming a teacher but was offered a job as an animator. He has always looked for opportunities to teach and considers himself fortunate enough to have given presentations and workshops all over American and Germany to international and diverse groups.
Chance hopes to accomplish the following as a Board Director to the IFVP:
- I hope to learn from the best in the industry! I hope to contribute at least as much as I get from this prestigious institution. I want to leave knowing that the team I was a part of was responsible for leaving the IFVP in a better shape than it was in when we started. And I want to make lifelong friends, have fun and joke about stuff too!
Chance has 2 daughters. The first is 2 years old, the other 2 months old. They are his teachers; they remind him to be playful and not take life too seriously. His wife is Polish German, and they support each other. They are both self-employed business owners and take pride in knowing they are shaping their own destiny. But they really miss sleep…so much!
Alexandra Oporto d’Ugard, (Perú) has been a visual practitioner for 5 years, and is a Visual Agile Facilitator, Graphic Recorder and Visual Storyteller. As a Visual Agile Facilitator, she helps teams reach their goal with a better common understanding by the use of visuals and she offers them training to enhance their visual skills. And, as a Graphic Recorder and Visual Storyteller she creates products (videos, infographics, business presentation, etc.).
When asked why she was interested in serving on the IFVP Board of Directors, she explained:
I have a great admiration for the IFVP community. I had the chance to meet such nice visual practitioners in 2019 when I attend the annual conference in New Jersey. So, I would like to contribute by promoting the IFVP role in Latam and reinforce the Latam visual community.
Alexandra would like to help grow the professional visual field in Latam. The role of a Visual Practitioner is very new in Latam and she believes we need to start to develop the field so that more organizations, (companies, schools and NGOs, etc... could learn more about the benefits Visual thinking has to offer. She feels it would be an honor to be a part of the IFVP Board of Directors and a great opportunity to develop the Spanish visual community. She is eager to get to work!
The list of unique contributions that she will be bringing to the IFVP Board of Directors includes:
- I know and I have been applying innovation frameworks with some of my clients such as Design Thinking, Design Sprint, etc.
- Also, I love to design online products (webpages, apps, etc.)
- I have developed a visual community from the bikablo trainings I have been offering since 2017 in Latam.
Again, Voting ends on November 15, 2022 and is accessible to IFVP members only. Vote here