he Talbot County Democratic Forum has appointed Rick Lynch as the Forum’s President and Susan DeLean Botkin, Larry Pifer and Rick Schiming to its Board of Directors.
Rick Lynch, the incoming Forum President, lives in Royal Oak and has been a Forum member for ten years and a Board member for four years. He was born in Washington, DC and spent his entire Federal Government career with the USDA’s Rural Electrification Administration, where he served as the agency’s Personnel Director and Assistant Administrator for Management. He is a thirty year member of Dignity, the national LGBT Catholic Advocacy organization, and has managed their Capitol Hill office until recently. Rick is a lifelong Democrat, and was active in several campaigns and causes, such as the O’Malley campaigns of 2006 &2010, and the Kratovil for Congress campaigns of 2008 & 2010, and has served the Forum in several volunteer activities.
He succeeds Richard Calkins, who will have served as President for four years, and has served on the Board for 5 ½ years. Calkins moved to Talbot in 2002 and retired in 2007 after serving as Executive Director of three international organizations over 25 years in DC, and as a university administrator for more than a decade in Switzerland. He will continue as a volunteer with the Forum
Susan DeLean-Botkin is the owner of Family Care of Easton, where she is a CRNP, a Nurse Practitioner. She is the Past President of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland, and in that role was a leader in the bipartisan effort in legislation leading to the Decoupling Act which untethered Maryland’s CRNP’s, allowing them to work independently of physicians. Her expertise is well-known in Maryland, and she has received several awards and spoken at several conferences.
Larry Pifer retired from the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University after 34 years in various supervisory positions. As a principal engineer, his areas of expertise included the launch systems for nuclear weapons on missile carrying submarines. He has also served several years with Pratt and Whitney Aircraft and Martin Marrietta. Larry is a stellar member of the Forum’s Environmental Committee, and is deeply committed to the health of the Chesapeake Bay, following state, county, and federal legislation.
Rick Schiming retired to Easton in 2012 after a 38-year career as an Economics Professor in Minnesota. As in Minnesota, he is an active Democrat who, since coming to Easton, has volunteered in the Talbot County Democratic Headquarters, and canvassed over 400 homes in the period leading up to the 2014 election.
All with be introduced and installed at the Forum’s Annual meeting April 19 at the Avalon Theatre, which will feature Congressman Chris Van Hollen.
With the addition of the above, the Forum Board, as of April 19, will be Rick Lynch, President; Carol Voyles, Vice President; Art Cizek, Treasurer; and Board members Steve Bailey, Susan DeLean-Botkin, Francine DeSanctis, Charlene DeShields, Jim Franke, Charles Hines, Jane Johnson, Bonnie Morro, Larry Pifer, Blair Potter, Joyce Scharch and, Rick Schiming.
The Talbot County Democratic Forum is an activist organization that works for the election of Democratic candidates as well as providing political and subject forums of public interest. For further information go to our website at www.demforum.com or Facebook page Talbot County Democratic Forum.
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