Jody L. Thornburg has been the publications manager for ELA since 2005 and is the person who handles all the book editing, brochure designing, and ad marketing for the association. She also handles some of the responsibilities of the website. Jody earned her bachelor’s from Cedarville University in Ohio in 2002, with a degree in Technical and Professional Communication. Jody is tremendous at her job and often serves as the soft voice of reason in the office too, when things get hectic!
Jody and her husband Matt have been married for 6½ years, and they have a two-year-old son named Beck. Aren’t they an adorable family?! They recently purchased a new home and are excited to begin the moving process! In Jody’s spare time, she enjoys spending time being a wife and mom, serving in her church community, and gardening in the summer. 
Office Staff
There are several people who work hard behind the scenes to make ELA run smoothly. In these next few blog entries, you will get to know us, perhaps better than you expected or wanted. In the end, you will know exactly who you should ask for when you need something from us!
Once I have introduced your ELA staff, from time to time I will introduce you to active members of ELA, including board members and committee chairs, and others who are working hard to ensure the success of ELA for years to come.
Judy M. Pleiman has been the bookkeeper for the Education Law Association since 1998, and is the person you speak to most often if you call the ELA office. She is an individual with full-charge bookkeeping experience. Judy’s primary responsibilities include a comprehensive understanding of accounting processes and practices, collections experience, inventory control management and member service knowledge. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business financial services from Wright State University in Dayton Ohio.
Judy is the one you talk to regarding the status of book orders, your membership and problems with signing in to the website, and conference registration. She is a true gem and I don’t know what I’d do without her!
She and her husband Vern have been married for 30 years and have 4 children. She is also a great sounding board here in the office, because as the middle child of 4 brothers and 4 sisters, I learned to be the peace keeper. Whenever the weather permits they enjoy riding their bikes, hiking, and camping.
My husband and I look forward to camping with Judy and Vern this summer, and I know my husband looks forward to having a cycling companion!
Office Staff
One of the goals of the ELA Board of Directors (BOD) is to have contact on a more regular basis with our members. Rather than drown you in emails, which will be just a little more frequent as we move forward this spring, did you know there are several other ways to get news from ELA? You can follow me on Twitter (ELAOffice), Facebook, and LinkedIn (Education Law Association). In this way, the communication is much more of a two-way street, the way it should be in a membership organization!
There are some really great things happening with ELA these days, and you can be an integral part of the future of your organization by posting comments on Facebook and LinkedIn, and by contacting us with your suggestions for changes.
Members of the BOD, Past Presidents, and Committee Chairs have been actively emailing and holding regular phone conferences to plan for the future of ELA, and the energy and excitement is contagious! Take part if two events coming in the next weeks: (1) be sure to respond to our survey on surveymonkey (an email is coming to you soon) so that we know what you want as a member and we are moving forward with the most up to date information and (2) April has been designated as our official Membership Drive month, with incentives for both new regular individual members and recruiters. Please take part in both of these events! Details coming soon.
I can’t wait to tell you about all of the great changes coming to ELA! You likely have already noticed the redesigned website – if you haven’t, where have you been? There were a few small changes made to the annual conference in Louisville, and wait until you hear what we have planned for Vancouver! We are striving to plan conferences that will meet everyone’s needs as much as possible. As soon as we have a few of our ideas pounded out, I will post the good news right away, so return to my blog weekly for more information.
Governance, Member News, Office Staff