TRØNDERLAG BOARD

Trønderlag of America board members are all volunteers and contribute their personal time to help fulfill Trønderlag of America's goals. Board members serve for 2 years.
AT THIS TIME WE NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE OVER AS OUR NEWSLETTER EDITOR  WE NEED YOUR HELP (read below).

Trønderlag of America board members work as a team to keep the organization working for the benefit of our members.

WE NEED YOU AS PART OF THE TEAM! - Consider applying for a position on our board. We need people to take over key positions and people to help the board in general.

Robert Fossum, President

Robert's 23andme DNA results indicate 99.9% northern European roots (mostly Scandinavian).  His grandparents were born in the Inderøy Commune, Soknedal, Sør-Trøndelag  and Sokndal, Rogaland. A Ph.D. in mathematics, he lived in Norway as a Fulbright scholar, and in Denmark for about 6 years. He speaks Norwegian with a Danish accent. Robert is a member of Sons of Norway, Nordmanns Forbundet (today "Norwegians Worldwide"), and Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab as well as serving on the Boards of Directors of multiple local organizations

Karen Erickson Mullen, Secretary

After our recent election, we welcome Karen Mullen to the Trønderlag board and will post her picture when available. Karen mainly has roots in Trønderlag, but also Toten, Hedemarken and Aust-Agder. Her 2nd generation parents were raised first in the Norwegian language and confirmed in Norsk. A retired teacher of German, Karen continues learning to speak and read Norwegian. Most Trønderlag members will recognize Karen as a vendor from her Loppemarked Tre-Lag Stevne booth. She continues her genealogy research and she and her sister have visited 8 ancestral farms in Norway. Karen has served multiple organizations in many positions including as an officer including running a children's language camp.

Sam Christenson, Vice President

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Jon Satrum, Treasurer/Membership

100% Trønder (Nord Trøndelag/Skatval & Hegra), Jon has traveled to Norway multiple times visiting each farm associated with his family also bringing one of his sons to each of those farms. He created our 2014 Trønderlag of America Heritage Tour, our donation fund to help pay for the restoration of the Steinmeyer organ in Nidaros and maintains our web site in addition to serving as Treasurer/Membership Chair. Along with Odd Sverre Lovoll, Jon was one of the guest speakers at NAHA-Norge's 2011 international conference.

OTHER KEY POSITIONS


Linda Schwartz, Past President

Linda's Norwegian ancestry was concentrated  in Sør-Trøndelag (from Horg to Støren / Singsaas to Budal and Soknedal). Her great-grandparents emigrated in 1880 and 1883 and came from Skaarvold and Rognes farms. Along with being the driving force that held Trønderlag of America together for many years, serving in multiple key roles at the same time, she also published our newsletter, Trønderlag Nyhetsbrev for many years.

Barry Dahl, Genealogist

Barry joined Tronderlag in 1991, serving as Assistant Genealogist from 1994-1997 taking over as our lag Genealogist from James Pedersen  in 1997. 3/4ths Trønder, with roots in Leksvik, Selbu and Stod in the Steinkjer area Barry lives in Rochester, MN, and maintains the Trønderlag Library  at his home.

Robert Fossum, Newsletter Editor (pro tem)

Robert is currently creating our newsletter, Trønderlag Nyhetsbrev while we seek someone to take on this role.
 We need a volunteer to join the board and become our new Newsletter Editor (we can coach you on what to do).

Jon Satrum, Webmaster

Along with the websites of several organizations, Jon maintains those of three Norwegian_American organizations including Trønderlag of America.


OTHER POSITIONS

At Large Board Members

 Joy Haugan Williams
+ 1 open position.

Volunteers

Genealogy & Social Media: Margit Bakke.

Other Positions

Historian: Robert Fossum (temporary)
Public Relations: TBA

Committees

Audit Committee: Jon Satrum
Nominating Committee: Jon Satrum
Representative to the 2016 Tre Lag Stevne Steering Committee: Sam Christenson
Representatives to the  Bygdelagenes Fellesraad: Elaine Helgeson Hasleton
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WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Most organizations have a few key members who are the glue that hold the entire thing together. Our board members have served you well over the years, but we need to start transitioning new people into these positions.  Some Trønderlag of America key members have other life events pulling at them that can prevent them from continuing on in their current positions.




A THUMBNAIL OF EACH BOARD POSITION

These are the "What do you really do during the year" descriptions, not the "provides dynamic leadership" meaningless descriptions. They are included in this format to help individuals decide if they would be able to take over these positions. You can live anywhere and perform these functions. No two current Board members even live in the same state.

You can learn more about us in greater detail by reading our Constitution and Bylaws

PRESIDENT

*According to the Bylaws, the president is the presiding officer of the Board of Directors.  After the four officers are elected she should appoint six board members (with approval by the Exective Committee).  She appoints special committees (called ad hoc committees).  She meets with the board at least three times a year.  The president is also a representative of Trønderlag of America on the Tre Lag Stevne Steering Committee (TLSSC) and on Bygdelagenes Fellesraad.  She also appoints two other representatives on TLSSC and one on Fellesraad.  The president also trys to insure that the other positions, namely Historian, Genealogist, and Newsletter Editor, are filled. 

VICE PRESIDENT

*As with any organization, the primary role of Vice President is to preside over the organization in the absence of the President. In many clubs and organizations the Vice President is also the Membership Chairperson. Trønderlag of America has combined the role of Membership with the role of the Treasurer (read below).

SECRETARY

*Record and distribute the minutes of each phone call Board meeting held 2-3 times per year.
*Record and distribute the minutes of the Board meeting held at the annual stevne.
*Record and distribute the minutes of the annual member meeting held at the stevne.

TREASURER/MEMBERSHIP

NOTE: Trønderlag of America has combined these two functions as ALMOST ALL financial transactions are the receipt of membership dues and associated donations). Its just easier for one person to receive the funds and then deposit them.

Treasurer functions:

*Receives and deposits membership payments, donations and other incoming financial amounts.

*Records deposits of financial receipts in an on-line Google document
*Records all lag financial transactions in a tracking system of their choosing.
*Produce meaningful financial reports to the Board four times each year (Created from the tracking system the Treasurer selects).
*Writes check to pay Trønderlag of America membership fees in other organizations, annual group insurance, vouchers for Board expenses (typically 12 checks per year).

Membership functions:

*Maintains Trønderlag of America's membership master file recorded in a Google Doc file.
*Promotes recruiting of new members/retaining of existing members.

OTHER KEY POSITIONS

EDITOR:

*Uses publication software of their choice (Eg. Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, Libre Office Writer, etc.) to create machine-readable versions compatible with our printing company.
*Create original content for our newsletter.
*Request and obtain content for our newsletter.
*Create  and publish our newsletter "Nyheter Brev" three times each year (March, June, November).
*Coordinate with printing company which does all printing, applies postage, AND mails the newsletter.

GENEALOGIST

*Maintain the Trønderlag of America genealogy library.
*Research member and non-member research requests.
*Transport the library to the annual stevne.
*Coordinate set up of genealogy laboratory for the annual stevne.
*Provide research assistance during the annual stevne.
*Coordinate additional assistance in the genealogy laboratory for the annual stevne.

HISTORIAN

*Records and stores our historical documents and artifacts.