|
|
|
location Long & Foster Agenda note: Board Meetings are open to Community Members |
|
|
2007 CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES
|
Leon Billings
| 20 Addy Road
Leon G. Billings is President of Leon G. Billings LLC, a consulting firm that designs public policy strategies on issues pending before the Congress and advises clients on political matters and a broad range of environmental, energy, health and safety legislation.
| Mr. Billings served twelve years in the Maryland State Legislature, from 1991 through 2002. Mr. Billings was Chair of the Environment Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures for the 2001-2002 NCSL conference year. In 1995 he co-founded the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, a group of state legislators committed to progressive federal and state environmental policies. From 1999 to the present Mr. Billings has been a consultant to the National Democratic Institute’s China project. In that capacity he has made annual trips to China to assist in seminars on legislative process, American politics and environmental review processes. In 2005 Mr. Billings consulted on a project assessing local government political and management capacity in Sri Lanka, an AID project. Mr. Billings is also President of the Edmund S. Muskie Foundation, a tax-exempt foundation endowed with a $3 million appropriation from the Congress to perpetuate the environmental legacy of Senator Muskie. He also serves as President of the Clean Air Trust, a grass roots advocacy organization which Senator Muskie co-chaired with Senator Robert Stafford of Vermont. From 1981 to 1994, he also served as an adjunct Professor of the University of Southern California, directing the Washington Politics Program of USC's Unruh Institute of Politics. Mr. Billings frequently writes on environmental and other public policy issues and has lectured widely throughout the nation on environmental policy and politics. For the past three years, Mr. Billings has served as an advisor to the National Democratic Institute’s China project. He has lectured on democratic legislative processes in Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming. In 1986 Mr. Billings was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Maryland's Eighth Congressional District. From April, 1982, until March 31, 1983, he served as executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the political arm of the Democratic members of the United States Senate. Prior to January, 1981, Leon Billings was Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie. Before that Mr. Billings served as administrative assistant to Senator Muskie from March, 1978, to May of 1980. In that role he was the Senator's principal policy advisor, as well as chief administrator for staff in Washington and in five Maine regional offices. He also had liaison responsibility with the Senate Budget Committee, which Senator Muskie chaired. From 1966 to 1978, as staff director of the Environmental Pollution Subcommittee, Mr. Billings had primary staff responsibility for the major federal environmental laws now on the books, including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, the Noise Control Act, and the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974. A May 4, 1990 article in the Environment Reporter called Billings "probably the most influential man in America on the drafting of legislation affecting the environment during the late '60s and the early '70s." In April, 1978, Mr. Billings represented Senator Muskie at the Law of the Sea negotiations in Geneva where, over a 12-day period and after extensive meetings with the U.S. and other delegations, treaty modifications were made which would result in protection of U.S. environmental laws. In November, 1978, Mr. Billings staffed the "Muskie Mission" to the People's Republic of China, a 17-day, 9-member Congressional mission which included meetings and briefings in Shanghai, Peking, Hunan Province, and Canton. Mr. Billings drafted the report to the President on the mission. In May of 1979, Mr. Billings accompanied Senator Muskie on a special mission to Lisbon, Madrid, NATO, Warsaw, Krakow and Bonn. He participated in Senator Muskie's meetings with Presidents and Heads of State of the countries visited and also drafted the report to President Carter on that mission. As Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State, Mr. Billings traveled throughout the world with Secretary Muskie. In eight months, Mr. Billings participated in official visits to Brussels, Vienna, Ankara, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City and London, and was a part of the official party with President Carter and Secretary Muskie in the state visit to Rome and the Economic Summit in Venice and the Ohira funeral in Tokyo. Mr. Billings also participated in meetings with 55 foreign ministers and chiefs of state during the Secretary's two-week participation in the United Nations deliberations in October, 1980. A 1959 graduate of the University of Montana at Missoula, he did graduate work in history there. Subsequently, Mr. Billings worked as a reporter and organizer for farm groups in Montana and California and for three years as a lobbyist for American Public Power Association in Washington, D.C. He served on the Democratic Platform Committee staff in 1968, and in 1974 Mr. Billings was co-chairman of a Democratic National Committee task force on Energy and the Environment. In April 2004 Mr. Billings received the California Air Resources Board’s Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award for Environmental Policy. In May 1990, Billings received the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies' Environment Award for outstanding environmental service. On March 25, 1981, Mr. Billings received the Philip A. Hart award from the Urban Environment Conference for his contributions to improvement in the quality of the urban environment. He was a founding member of Montgomery County Green Democrats. Mr. Billings serves on the Board of Directors of EmeraChem of Knoxville, Tennessee. He also serves on the Board of Visitors of the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service in Portland, Maine. Billings is Treasurer of the Committee for a Democratic Future and is the United States Senate’s Democratic Leader’s appointed Member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee of the Department of the Treasury. Mr. Billings is married to Cherry Allen Billings. Mr. Billings has three children: Shannon, Paul, and Erin.
Jennifer Kazemzadeh
| 6 Dune Road
I have served as Secretary of the Board for the past 2 years. I grew up in Maryland. My family usually went to the North Carolina and South Carolina beaches. I didn't discover the Delaware beaches until I was a teenager. My husband and I were lucky enough to find Middlesex Beach after owning a home in North Bethany, and have been here since 2003. We have always loved being anywhere near a beach and have really come to appreciate the amenities that Middlesex Beach has given our family. I'm often reminded of the neighborhood that I grew up in with my five sisters. There are very few neighborhoods left that enjoy the safety, friendliness and the cleanliness that Middlesex has.
| My three sons keep my very busy. I'm very involved in school and sport activities. I am also Vice President of our corporation of gas/convenience stations in the DC area. I volunteer at Brooke Grove Nursing Home and our local Church. I am hoping that I can contribute the skills I've acquired to make a positive impact on our community, and wish to spend time working on plans to improve the physical appearance of the entire community. I look forward to meeting more neighbors and remain open to any feedback to preserve and maintain Middlesex Beach.
Dan Lyons
| 2 Errett Road
I have lived at 2 Errett Road since 1982. In 1998 Peggy and I sold our Maryland home, added to our 2 Errett home, and became year around residents of Delaware.
| I have a long history of assisting fellow Middlesex Beach neighbors with service on the Middlesex Beach Association Board of Directors for several terms, added to this is my work as Chair of Community Facilities for numerous years. Being active in our community affairs provides me with historical knowledge of our community governance and growth for use to benefit Middlesex Beach if elected. In addition to Middlesex Beach activity I am an active member of the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Department continuing an avocation which began over 50 years ago in Silver Spring Maryland. Fire Department duty keeps me informed of Bethany Beach activity that could affect surrounding communities. If elected to represent my neighbors my interest will be to protect our community real estate values by focusing on at least: These and other challenges will always consider our growing full year residents as well as summer families. I ask for your vote with the assurance I will always have a goal of service our entire community with integrity and consideration for opinions and needs of my Middlesex neighbors.
Dave Wiecking
| 15 Dune Road
I was born, raised and still live in Bethesda, MD, and have been a Middlesex Beach homeowner since my family purchased 15 Dune Road in 1991. We have vacationed in Middlesex Beach since the early 1980's, and the Bethany area since the early 1960's. A Civil Engineering Graduate of the University of Maryland, I worked as Patent Examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office for over 15 years. I left the USPTO in 1997 to start my own computer/telecommunications consulting business.
| Since being elected to the Board in 2001, I have served as Secretary, Vice President and President. I have spent extensive time working on dune maintenance; beach access, renourishment and privacy; pineside drainage; revisions to our various governing documents and rules to make them understandable; and various methods of communicating with the membership, including our website and newsletters. I have enjoyed working with the other members of the Board, and would not be running again if I didn't feel that the community has benefited from my efforts. After this fall’s upcoming Beach Renourishment Project, I’m anxious for a chance to spend my MBA time focusing on something other than “what happened to that dune fence we just put up 3 months ago, and how do we get to what’s left of our beach”.
Dorothy Youniss
| 25 Bayberry Road
My brother-in-law is an original owner in Middlesex Beach, and I have been coming here since the 1960's. My husband and I bought our house in 2000.
We have just completed a small addition to our house.
As a resident of a corner property along Beach Plum Road, I am concerned about the impact of the commercial properties on our primarily residential community. | |