The 2022 summer ACH Executive Council meeting is always a time of transition, but the current of change was more visible this year than usual, with multiple members of the Exec changing jobs and institutional roles, and the shift from a single president to two.
A year ago, ACH members agreed to a change in bylaws that would allow us (Quinn and Roopsi) to take on the position of ACH president, together. In addition to being the first co-presidents, this is the first time ACH has been led by someone who isn’t white (Roopsi) and someone who is non-binary (Quinn). After a long-run of presidents who were faculty, we now have a staff/faculty duo. In many ways, our leadership is a reflection of the diverse constituency of ACH. We promised to write up our experience as co-VPs when we were elected, and now seems like the moment to reflect on our last two years.
From running an acclaimed conference, to reimagining the mentorship program, to building a new membership management system, to rethinking how we organize our activism work, to representing the organization at ADHO, there is too much going on in ACH for a single person to keep track of everything. While we may be the first formal ACH co-presidents, at the summer Exec meeting our predecessor, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, acknowledged outgoing secretary Vika Zafrin as having served a role similar to co-President during her time in office.
During our two years as co-VP, we have each focused on different areas of work within ACH: Roopsi has led two successful online conferences, while Quinn has helped organize mentoring events and supported activism around DMCA exemptions for data mining. Last year, we ran the nominations committee together. Knowing another VP is paying attention to other areas of the organization has made it easier for us each to focus on the work we’ve identified as our priorities. The organization has been better served with both of us than it would have been with just one of us. In fact, we have trouble imagining how one person could actually do the job.
We share a single ACH Exec vote as co-VPs but, to be honest, Exec votes beyond procedural matters like approving meeting minutes are rare. We don’t always agree —in fact, the two of us have sometimes been among the most outspoken voices on opposite sides of an issue! Because we are both engaged in myriad projects and collaborations, we also encounter ACH decisions that raise conflicts of interest for one of us. In these cases, it’s helpful that the other has a vote on behalf of our office. And we haven’t had trouble reaching consensus in cases where one or the other of us hasn’t needed to recuse ourselves from voting due to a conflict of interest.
Having collaborated together on The Data-Sitters Club before serving together as co-VPs has made this easier. We came into the shared role with a good sense of our compatibility in working styles, communication, and capacity to pick our battles. And we knew where we were different — but complementary — in job experience, digital humanities interests, risk tolerance, and relationship to ADHO. ACH’s new co-VPs, Lauren Tilton and Andrew Janco, don’t have the benefit of having worked closely together before, but we’re grateful for their willingness to serve together nonetheless.
Beyond this momentous shift in expanding the presidency, ACH also has an all-new group of officers. After 10 years of dedicated service to the organization as secretary, Vika Zafrin has moved into the role of secretary emerita, with Amanda Visconti stepping into the role of secretary. Sarah Potvin will be serving as treasurer, responsible for strategic financial decision-making, while Tanya Clement moves into a role of primarily supporting financial logistics. Jewon Woo, who has been deeply involved with ACH communications for the last year, will be succeeding Paige Morgan in the role of Communications Officer.
In addition to the new officers team, we have five new members of the Exec joining us: Eduard Arriaga, Elizabeth Grumbach, Pamella Lach, Jim McGrath, and Katina Rogers.
We’re excited about working with the whole ACH team, as we spend the next year defining a set of cornerstone ACH events and activities that members can come to rely on for our organization. We also plan to put into place some changes to our membership fee structure to better support independent and contingent scholars, in response to input from this summer’s ACH members meeting at DH Unbound. We welcome thoughts and feedback from the entire community; all are welcome to reach out to us both at president@ach.org.
We look forward to seeing you virtually or in person around the DH community, be it at a future ACH-run conference or the hybrid DH 2024 event hosted in Washington, DC by George Mason University.