In a beneficial move for all of us, the statewide office will be better equipped to be responsive in addressing the needs of our county-based programs. Over the next program year, we will be promoting Melissa and Lauren, conceptualizing two new Regional Operations Coordinator positions, pursuing funding to increase our Evaluation Coordinator's FTE, and ultimately recruiting to fill FIVE vacancies.
First and foremost, the re-org effort recognizes the contributions of long-time staff of the statewide team, Melissa Womack and Lauren Snowden. Melissa is moving into a new role as the Assistant Director for Impact and Communications. Once her reclassification is complete, Melissa will lead the recruitment of an additional 2.0 FTE who will work with her on marketing, branding, communications, evaluation, and program advocacy support.
Lauren will be moving into a new Online Training Coordinator position that will take advantage of the incredible personal and professional work she has done to earn her certification as an Instructional Designer. While we re-envision Lauren's former Statewide Training Coordinator position, Lauren will continue to lead our current training-related commitments, including the 2023 UC Master Gardener Conference.
Congratulations to both Melissa and Lauren – these promotions are well-deserved!
A new and exciting position we will be adding to the team is a Regional Operations Coordinator for northern CA and a Regional Operations Coordinator for southern CA. During our Community Meeting in Fresno we kicked off dialog about the function of this role and brainstormed what we want the position to be. We will continue this program through 2023 and aim to finalize the position to begin recruitment in early 2024.
You can find a link to a PowerPoint presentation that includes additional details about the Regional Operations Coordinator position here.