President: Therese Walsh

Therese Walsh founded RWA-WF in the summer of 2009 in order to raise awareness of romance-friendly women’s fiction, and build a community of like-minded writers who’d support one another and share knowledge. Her debut novel, THE LAST WILL OF MOIRA LEAHY, a work of romantic women’s fiction, was published in October 2009 by Random House. She is the co-founder of Writer Unboxed, a blog for writers about the craft and business of genre fiction. Before turning to fiction, she was a researcher and writer for Prevention magazine, and then a freelance health writer. She has a master’s degree in psychology; and she loves music, art, crab legs, Whose Line is it Anyway?, dark chocolate, photography, unique movies and novels, people watching, strong Irish tea, and spending time with her husband, two kids and their bouncy Jack Russell.

VP -Communications : Michelle Diener

Michelle Diener has worked in both the publishing and IT worlds. She writes mainstream historical fiction with strong female protagonists and an element of romance. Her debut novel, ILLUMINATIONS, a Tudor-set historical, is due for publication in Spring 2011 with Pocket Books. She lives in Australia with her husband and two children, and writes full time.

Since taking on the role of VP-Communications in RWA WF she’s learned a great deal, and has met and worked with some amazing women. She would love to see the website be the default go-to place for members and put out a quality newsletter that members eagerly await. She strongly feels the website should serve members in an interactive way, and be as dynamic and interesting as possible. She would like to take advantage of the astounding calibre of the RWA WF membership in the chapter’s blog and newsletter, to provide the membership with amazing articles.

VP-Programs : Maggie Marr

Maggie began her entertainment career as a Motion Picture Literary Agent at ICM. In 2005 her book HOLLYWOOD GIRLS CLUB sold in a major two book deal to Random House. In 2007 HOLLYWOOD GIRLS CLUB arrived on shelves to rave reviews and was followed in 2008 by SECRETS OF THE HOLLYWOOD GIRLS CLUB.
Maggie also wrote the spec television pilots DAUGHTERS and SEXOLOGY. She just completed her latest manuscript. Maggie has her law degree from Loyola School of Law in Chicago and is licensed in both Illinois and Colorado.

Before moving to Los Angeles she was first a guardian-ad-litem for abused children in Chicago and then a prosecutor in domestic violence. Maggie is married and has two daughters.

Secretary : Susan Crandall

Susan Crandall has been a member of RWA since 1996. She attributes much of her success to the education RWA as an organization has offered and nurturing its members have provided her. Her first novel, BACK ROADS was a double 2004 RITA nominee and winner of Best First Book. She has six women’s fiction titles and three romantic suspense titles, all published by Warner Books and Grand Central Publishing. She lives in Indiana.

Susan understands the unique niche women’s fiction has in the romance genre and is working to strengthen its place in the publishing industry. RWA is known for its supportive nature, and women’s fiction authors will greatly benefit from an organized chapter that focuses on this genre.

Treasurer : Barbara Burnham

Barbara Burnham has tackled two careers: one as a nurse and the other as a writer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and a Master’s degree in journalism. Since 1997, she has been published primarily in non-fiction with articles ranging from a feature article on cardiac ablation studies to a national news story detailing Herb of the 1970’s duo Peaches & Herb and his search for his lost singing partner.
More recently, she served as editor at the American Nurses Association where she was the sole manager for a line of certification review manuals.

She has been actively involved with RWA since she joined in 2007. She volunteers for her local chapter, Washington Romance Writers and this past year served as President of Elements of RWA.
As treasurer, she would help establish the appropriate financial records and documentation for RWA-WF.

Wise Woman: Barbara Samuel O’Neal

Barbara Samuel has published more than 35 novels of commercial fiction, including category romance, historical romance, fantasy novellas, and women’s fiction, as well as many columns, essays, and articles. Her novels have 5 RITA awards, 2 Colorado Center for the Book awards for commercial fiction, many Romantic Times awards, and many others. She currently writes romantic women’s fiction for Bantam as Barbara O’Neal.

Barbara’s vision for the chapter is to help support and nurture the individual voices within this expansive genre, and to help each other find ways to market our books effectively to every reader who might enjoy them, from book club regular to diehard romance reader.

PAN: Kristina McMorris

Two-time Golden Heart finalist Kristina McMorris is a Japanese-Irish, mini-van-driving soccer mom of two little boys. Her debut novel, a WWII love story entitled LETTERS FROM HOME, is scheduled for a 2011 Valentine’s Day release from Kensington Books. Following the chapter’s formation, she served as the appointed RWA-WF PAN-liaison for the remainder of 2009. In contrast to the writing biz, her “sane” jobs have included weekly TV hosting, wedding planning, and PR/marketing

PRO: Gabrielle Luthy

Gabrielle Luthy joined RWA in 1994 because she was looking for craft and career information. She found not only that, but guidance, acceptance and wisdom—and invaluable friendships. Living in Australia and France, she’s only made it to 4 Nationals, so she’s relied heavily on the RWR, PROspects and online resources and chapters to keep her informed and help her develop a strategy for her writing career. The support she’s received on both professional and personal levels has helped keep Gabrielle going and made her a passionate advocate for giving back. To that end, she served as PRO Communications Team Leader; she also served as coordinator (3 years) and newsletter editor (7 years) for a local writing group. With the highest number of entries in last year’s Golden Heart, women’s fiction is a growing segment of the romance market. As well as running special PRO-only programs to keep them updated about our ever-changing industry and help them progress to PAN, Gabrielle would like to implement programs that encourage non-members to achieve their PRO designation.