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Please describe the specific qualifications and strengths you possess that make you the most qualified candidate for this office.
I have a long, diverse history of service and collaborative leadership at both state and national levels, including service on ASHA's Committee on Honors, Government Relations & Public Policy (GRPP) Board,10 years on the Legislative Council (LC), vice president for development on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (ASHF) Board, member of ASHA's Committees on Status of Racial Minorities and State-National Relationships, president of the National Council of State [Licensing] Boards (NCSB), president of two state associations (Florida and Alabama), and service on Alabama's licensing board for SLPs & audiologists. These positions have provided me a variety of experiences and opportunities to develop good organizational, prioritizing, and follow-through skills and developed my ability to readily credit and recognize others for their contributions, as well as to achieve collaborative decisions with input from board, committee members and key stakeholders, while focusing on achieving what is best for the group and Association as a whole.
In what ways have you been innovative and effective in your service on committees, boards, councils, and work settings?
As president of the Florida Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (FLASHA), I guided the Executive Board in reaching consensus on the strategy to use to effect passage of a licensure bill to permit licensed audiologists to dispense hearing aids without also obtaining a hearing aid dealer's license. At that time, we also developed and implemented a strategy that successfully defeated a legislative attack by the hearing aid dealers to become a part of the Audiology & Speech Pathology Licensure Board. As president of the Speech & Hearing Association of Alabama (SHAA), my organizational and leadership skills were used to help move SHAA from an executive council run by member volunteers to hiring its first association management firm. Through exhibit tables at SHAA's conventions, and persistent promotion of ASHFoundation activities at LC meetings, I have helped to increase Foundation visibility. Clinically, at the Birmingham VA, I developed our dysphagia team, videoendostroboscopy and other programs.
What do you want ASHA members to know about you?
I absolutely loved working as an Audiology & Speech Pathology Service (ASPS) chief in the VA Hospital system and being on the cutting edge of numerous clinical initiatives, such as practicing and teaching tracheoesophageal puncture in the early 1980's. I am proud of being selected for the coveted and prestigious Leadership VA program and receiving the 2004 Birmingham Federal Professional of the Year award. I was honored to be selected by the National ASP director for the VA National SLP Work Group charged with writing the new SLP qualification standards under Hybrid Title 38. I was born in Hawaii of Japanese descent, was an Air Force brat, attended 6 different elementary and two different high schools, and have 9 siblings. When I first came to the mainland from Hawaii at age 8, kids made fun of my ‘pidgin English.' This was probably a factor in my becoming a career SLP.
E-mail: reeno@charter.net
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