About the North Pacific District Board of Directors

Chair

Chair Elect

Secretary

Treasurer

Immediate Past Chair

National Nominating Committee Member

Christina Ragsdale, APR

National Nominating Committee Alternates

Mara Woolshin, APR, Fellow PRSA

Crystal Enkvist, APR

Chandra Morris, APR

Biographical Information for 2007 Nominees

Chair John Mitchell, APR - Greater Oregon Chapter
Currently External Communications Coordinator for the Eugene Water & Electric Board, John has worked in utility communications for 21 years, focusing on public relations, marketing and advertising. Prior to EWEB, John was public relations director at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield and served as public information officer and writer/editor for the U.S. Forest Service in Seattle and Wenatchee, Washington. Previous to his PR career, John worked for several Northwest daily and weekly newspapers. He has been a member of PRSA since 1992, and a board member of the Greater Oregon Chapter of PRSA since 1994, serving as president in 2004. John received his APR in 2000. He has both undergraduate (1976) and graduate (1983) degrees in journalism from the University of Oregon. Since 1986, John has taught PR classes as an adjunct assistant professor at his alma mater and since 1994 has served as professional advisor for the UO chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Chair Elect John Pilmer, APR - Utah Valley Chapter
Currently president of his own agency, PilmerPR, John's career spans more than 20 years of communications experience with Utah companies including AdvancedMD, Seastone, Certiport, FromGlobalToYou.com, INVISUS, NextPage, Smith Administrators and Novell, among others. Over that time, John has served in multiple community service roles providing public relations counsel, event planning, market leadership, publicity services and consultation strategies. In service to PRSA, he has been a multi-year volunteer board member of the Utah Valley Chapter, serving as membership chair, 2005 president, and currently as the immediate past president. He received his APR in 2004. John is currently serving as a board member for the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum and the Community and Economic Development of Orem (CEDO) Business Incubator Board. He's also actively supports the Boy Scouts and other community groups. John holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing from BYU and an MBA from the University of Utah.

Secretary David A. Compton, APR - Idaho Chapter

Currently President, Compton Communications in Eagle, Idaho, an Internet communications agency specializing in supporting high tech companies. David has served as Vice President of Corporate Relations for Comdata Corporation; Senior Technology Strategist, MicroPC.com; and Senior Administrator, US Air Force Web Information Service. He has more than 25 years of experience in public affairs and public relations and is a retired military officer. He is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America and is a member of the Counselors Academy. He is a former Idaho chapter PRSA president.

Treasurer Ellie Javadi, APR - Silicon Valley Chapter
Currently a director at SRI Public Relations, Ellie is a PR strategist with extensive experience developing innovative campaigns that address private and public sector interest. With over ten years of experience, she has represented a wide variety of public, private and nonprofit multi-national organizations. In May 2004, she joined SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, to lead their global public relations efforts. Her work includes collaboration with government officials, clients, business press, investors and non-governmental organizations. Previously, Ellie served as director at A&R Partners, one of the largest independent public relations firms in California. Since 2003, Ellie has served as a board member of the Silicon Valley chapter of PRSA. She has served as treasurer since 2004 and concurrently as the membership chair in 2006. Ellie received her accreditation in Public Relations (APR) credential in 2002. Ellie has a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Applied History/Political Science (1991) and her M.A. in Communications from Carnegie Mellon (1996).

Immediate Past Chair and National Nominating Committee Member Christina Ragsdale, MA, APR

Christina Ragsdale has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of public relations, marketing communications and organizational communications. She has launched or restructured communications programs in a variety of large organizations including hospitals/healthcare, municipal services and utilities, transit and local government. She has won numerous local, regional and national awards for her achievements in organizational communication and cultural change, internet/intranet sites, media relations, crisis and emergency communication, print and online publications, video programs and events.

She holds a Masters Degree in Communications Studies from California State University, Sacramento, where she teaches courses in Public Relations. She has published or presented many case studies at the state and national level and is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Nominating Committee Alternate #1 Mara Woloshin, M.A., APR, Fellow PRSA
Currently Mara is the principal of her own PR and marketing communications firm, Woloshin Communications, based in Portland, Oregon. With her team, Mara works with a diverse list of clients to provide consulting in new business development, business strategy, integrated market planning, research, media relations management, non-profit sponsorship and partnership programs among other services. As an Adjunct professor at Marylhurst University, she designed the university's first communications curriculum (in 1989). As time permits, she continues to teach in the areas of strategic planning, research methodology and graphic design. In service to PRSA, Mara has served as president of the Portland Metro Chapter and is also a founding member of the Oregon Capitol Chapter in Salem She has won many awards, including the PRSA 2003 William Marsh Lifetime Achievement Award. Mara is a member of the National Speakers Association and the PRSA's Counselor's Academy. She offers pro bono services to a variety of interests, including the Mexican Cultural Center, the World Jewish Congress and Russian refugee organizations.

Nominating Committee Alternate #2 Crystal Enkvist APR - Alaska Chapter
Crystal Enkvist, APR, is the Director of Member and Public Relations for Alaska Power Association. Crystal joined APA in November 2000. Previously, she served as the Public Information Officer for Municipal Light & Power in Anchorage, Alaska. Previously, she was Communications Director for the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, a position in which she enjoyed promoting the city where she was born and raised. The Alaska Journal of Commerce named her one of "Alaska's Top 40 Under Forty" business leaders in 1999. Crystal has been active in the PRSA Alaska Chapter for a decade. She has served in a number of committee and Board level leadership roles including Aurora Awards Committee Chair, Program Committee Co-Chair, Secretary (two terms), President (2003-2004), Nominating Committee Chair (2005), and Immediate Past President (2005). She holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism & Public Communications from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). In addition to her involvement in PRSA Alaska, she serves as the alumni representative on the UAA Journalism & Public Communications Advisory Board.

Nominating Committee Alternate #3 Chandra W. Morris, APR - Montana Chapter

Based at Montana State University in Bozeman, TechLink is funded primarily by the Department of Defense to facilitate the transfer to private industry of technology developed in DoD laboratories. Working nationwide, TechLink's expertise extends to the licensing, development and commercialization of technologies in the industry areas of advanced materials, biotechnology, nano technology, photonics, sensors, software, and more. Chandra manages publicity and marketing in support of these efforts. Chandra's career path includes reporting for a daily newspaper, heading up public relations and publications development and production for several university departments, and owner and principal of Chandra & Associates Public Relations firm. She achieved her APR in 2002, achieved the designations of competent communicator and competent leader in Toastmasters in 2006 while serving as president of her local club, and has served as an at-large board member for the Montana PRSA chapter for the past four years.

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