NEOC on Facebook
NEOC on TwitterNEOC's Annual General Meeting will be held on June 13, 2021, at 1:00 PM, at Houghton's Pond, Milton, MA, picnic area #4.
The main business will be the election to fill six seats on the Board of Directors. Five of those seats will be for a full two-year term; the sixth seat is for a one-year term (to complete the term of Cristina Luis, who moved to Arizona).
If you cannot attend the election, you can designate another NEOC member to cast your vote as your proxy. Download, print, and complete the Voting Proxy form. (If you have questions about voting by proxy, contact
If you would like to run for a seat on the Board, contact
Jonathan (Jon) Campbell (incumbent)
I've been an avid orienteer since 1992, when at a Delaware Valley Orienteering Scout-O, I learned that West Point has an orienteering team, and as luck would have it, I was "reporting" there the next month. My wife, Victoria (Tori), and I settled in Acton, MA after an Army career, the many moves of which allowed us to be members of lots of orienteering clubs over the years: USMAOC, GAOC, COC, CSU, and QOC. The downside of so many moves is we were never in one place long enough to get actively involved in the administration of an orienteering club, other than volunteering at events. Having finally put down roots and with two children growing beyond having to be shadowed in the woods, I'm keen to "pay forward" at the local level a sport that has taken us all over the country and world to places we would never have seen otherwise, that has sparked many friendships, and is still as enjoyable and as challenging as the first day when I was "hooked." I've always been impressed with NEOC's great terrain, deep bench of maps, active regional/local orienteering scene, and enthusiastic volunteers. As a board member, I feel the most important things we can do are: increase the number of high-quality maps, ensure a full event schedule, increase participation (both starts and volunteers), maintain good land-owner relations, and increase outreach—through clinics (e.g. REI), schools, youth groups (e.g. Scouts), permanent courses, and many more publicly available small, local park maps. I am also an experienced orienteering mapper, and if you have in mind a great orienteering venue that "needs" a map, or if you've always wanted to try your hand at mapping the local school or park, please get in contact with me.
Jim Crawford (incumbent)
I've been orienteering with NEOC for over 45 years, participating in many different facets of the sport, most recently by making new maps, directing meets, handling club membership, serving as Treasurer for eight years, and serving on the Board of Directors for ten years. I think the BYOM and training meets were a good response to Covid and have kept the club active and the club finances are still strong. I am always in favor of more A-meets on new maps, and upgrading our old maps.
Wendy Johnecheck (incumbent)
My husband (Ian Finlayson) and I have been involved with NEOC since 2000. We now have two children (Mori and Isla) and you can see us at many of the NEOC events. Since 2018 we have also become more involved in club leadership and event organizing. We have always appreciated the work of everyone that has made NEOC successful over the years and we are thankful for all the efforts that have gone into keeping the club functioning. We would like to continue to support the organization through actively engaging in club leadership and organizing events for our club members. We see a lot of potential in many areas of the club: new approaches to holding events (i.e. BYOM and QR codes), momentum on the mapping front, engagement with partners (public and private landowners and managers, national and local orienteering organizations, and scout organizations), strong institutional knowledge in our current board, active website communications, and a mix of both long-time and new members. If given the opportunity, I look forward to working with other board members to figure out how to best use these strengths so that NEOC can continue to offer orienteering opportunities for the folks of New England and beyond.
Jim Paschetto (incumbent)
I joined the Board of Directors in 2005, and have maintained NEOC's website since 2010. The past year called for a lot of behind-the-scenes tech work to deliver orienteering in novel ways: QRienteering (courtesy of Mark O'Connell); Bring-Your-Own-Map events, with their paywall; members-only notices of training courses; and a couple of in-person events that used both e-punch and QR-codes. Going forward, I'd like to work on streamlining the set-up and results generation for BYOM events, and as we return to "normal" meets, to find ways to reduce the chaos at registration.
Joanne Sankus (incumbent)
I started orienteering in 1976 at Nobscot in Sudbury. After finding that first control I was hooked. Over the years I have been meet director, course setter and have volunteered for all the various jobs at events. After being invited to join the board (and being elected in the ‘80’s) I have served in most all the positions. Presently I am the VP of Administration, Clerk (for purposes of our MA corp. status), and still enjoy finding those controls.
Each year, every new board has the chance to reinvent itself, maybe as the board that really “grew the sport”, or the board that got the fullest schedule of events going, or maybe the board that brought back the old glory of two A-Meets every year. (Yes, NEOC used to do that!) Quite often a single board member will have the vision and drive to push forward on one of these themes. As a member of the board I will support wholeheartedly the efforts of the “visionaries”, and expect to receive the same support in turn. I look to involve more women, young, old, and in-between :-), in enjoying orienteering and having a greater voice and impact on the sport.
The board as a whole has embraced new ways to present orienteering to the public during the past year. I fully support these ways, even up to orienteering without any marker or flag! The COVID restrictions have shown us just how popular some of the new, extended time formats are. I expect to help keep the good parts from a very difficult year for orienteering and use them to make the next year a better one.
