Executive Team Bios 

Becky Citrak
Chair

Becky Citrak began reading science fiction books in elementary school because she had read all of the horse books in the library. Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury, and Norton piqued her interest in both the physical and social sciences. She read all of the science fiction section in the library at her high school, and most of it at her college.

She began participating in convention fandom in 1981 when a co-worker introduced her to Norwescon by inviting her to run the office. Since then she has attended or worked on many conventions in the Northwest but Norwescon has always been her home convention.

She enjoys reading many different types of books from many genres, although she doesn't seem to have as much time for reading as she used to. She also likes many types of music, enjoys crafting and sewing, and loves, loves, LOVES to travel - especially on cruise ships!

Jeanine Gray Swanson
Vice Chairman

Jeanine Gray Swanson has always been passionate about reading, but didn’t become a fan of science fiction until she accidentally became involved with producing Norwescon 4 (everyone else in the household was doing it). She became a voracious reader of science fiction and is occasionally known to read some fantasy as well. She has attended Norwescon every year since Norwescon 4 and has supported the convention by serving in a number of positions over the years.

The walls of the home she shares with an enormous German Shepherd Dog (GSD), an angry cat, and a terrifically supportive husband are insulated with books. Jeanine collects earth globes and has more than 150 in her home. The exact count is unknown. She stops counting at 150; because more than 150 items is no longer a collection, it’s some kind of manic obsession.

She is passionate about the sci-fi community because of the kindness of fen. She says that she is always touched that fen consistently offer support to each other in times of trouble and enthusiastically share the joy when it’s time to celebrate.

Christy Berelman
Secretary

Christy Berelman’s first introduction to the world of science fiction occurred at the tender age of seven. The whole family had curled up in the living room to watch the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and all it took was one of Picard's famous "Make it so" gestures and she was hooked. Although an ardent sci-fi fan from a young age, Christy didn't see her first convention until the spring of her junior year at a conservative Christian college. She desperately needed a vacation, and one of her friends suggested Norwescon. After her first day she knew she had returned to the mothership and was completely in love with the con. She spent the next few years blocking off each Easter weekend to indulge in her love of sci-fi, fantasy, and everything else Norwescon has to offer. After a few years she was itching to be a part of the crazy group of kooky kids who put on the annual geekdom extravaganza. She was terrified with the thought that she was getting in over her head, but she nevertheless emailed Volunteers (who were more than happy to exploit her free labor) and was told to come to her first meeting. There she was picked up by J’wyl Dragon as a Registration minion and four short years later she ended up where she is today: on the Executive Team. So remember kids, you too can work for free as a con monkey for a few years and get a short bio on the website!

Eric Weber
Treasurer

Eric Weber started reading science fiction in elementary school, and developed a passion for it that has lasted his whole life. However, he didn't discover fandom until he was in college, when a friend introduced him to a Doctor Who fan group. This became a "gateway hobby", and soon he was dragged into attending conventions, then volunteering at conventions, and finally to being on the convention committee of a local media convention. At that point, Eric decided he'd better find out what other conventions were like, and he went to several for the express purpose of putting in as many volunteer hours as possible, which eventually led to being on the convention committee of Norwescon. He decided that wasn't enough work, so he started devoting a large portion of his spare time to building mobile command posts for local emergency management organizations.

Mike Orosz
Business Director

Mike Orosz’s first recollections of anything remotely associated with science fiction and fantasy was a little book about faeries he found as a young child living somewhere in Europe. He didn’t read The Hobbit in preschool like others (probably because it hadn’t been written yet) but he did eventually get around to it, and the others in that series (he found it to be much easier reading than Atlas Shrugged, but found the endings to be similar). Mike has always managed to have a paperback in his back pocket to fill in those little empty spaces in his day. He recalls being influenced by a movies such as Metropolis and Forbidden Planet. His travels brought him to Dr. Who on late night TV, and it seemed that just about everywhere he went he eventually came across a showing of the program, with subtitles at times. Dr. Who became a little link to home for Mike. Many years ago, he saw a sign in a pizza joint about a Dr. Who Fan Club meeting, which was attended by a few local Norwescon members. One of the members had a pretty complete library of Dr. Who Videos, and we spent a couple years rewinding them between pizzas...

Rob Stewart
Convention Services Director

Rob Stewart is a fan of both science fiction and fantasy, although he leans toward fantasy. He started reading early with a copy of The Hobbit his brother gave him while he was in first grade. It took him a long time to read that book and the rest of the trilogy, but he was forever changed by those darn hobbits! From there it was on like Donkey Kong as he explored other genre related fields such as gaming (hobby and video), comics, and historical reenactment. He has been involved with the running of conventions for 27 years here in Seattle and in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. He is husband to a wonderful wife and two great boys to whom he is passing along the joys of fandom.

Charlie Knoedler
Member Services Director

Charlie Knoedler was introduced to science fiction through comic books and all those great black and white science fiction movies. His favorites were Them and Invasion of the Saucer-Men. He discovered science fiction books while in school when he had to read ten books off the Newberry Awards Book List. He read A Wrinkle in Time which then opened the door to Andre Norton and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who are still his favorites.

He first heard about Norwescon around convention number 9 and began participating as a vendor in the Dealers Room the next year. By Norwescon 18, he was volunteering for the convention and has been ever since. He and his wife Tracy own Everett Comics.

Jim Sullivan
Personnel Director

Jim Sullivan was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. All signs pointed to him finding fandom; from being the first kid on the block with a Commodore VIC-20 to creating a D&D type adventure for the 5th grade book fair. As a teenager misspending his youth, he discovered some true blue friends - Rocky Horror, and SF/F conventions. He had arrived in fandom! Over the years he went from regular attendee to convention committee member to Executive Team member; it was clear that working conventions was his vice of choice. Even moving to Seattle, WA did not stop him from volunteering at Bay Area conventions! In Seattle, he left behind the technical industry and began studying psychology, a field he finds more rewarding. Three years ago he was invited to work Norwescon. The following year he found himself running the volunteers division. When he is not working conventions, he keeps busy with LARPing, writing, and cracking wise. This is Jim's fourth Norwescon.

Jaimie (Sunny Jim) Morgan
Programming Director

Sunny Jim Morgan comes from a family of readers; so it's no surprise that she picked up The Hobbit at age 8, and read The Lord of the Rings for the first time at age 9. She loved it so much that she read the whole series more than 50 times, along with most of the local library's fantasy and science-fiction section, a large chunk of their mysteries, a few biographies, and every newspaper, magazine, cereal box back and billboard she comes across. Jim was dragged into the world of cons while working as an event planner at Western Washington University in Bellingham, when the co-worker who had the VikingCon contract needed an evening off. Although she's occasionally been involved in other conventions, Norwescon is the only one she attends every year. This year is Jim's 10th Norwescon.

Don Glover
Publications Director

Don Glover has been involved in Seattle fandom for over 32 years. As a young lad, at the tender age of 11, he was forced to read science fiction and found that he liked it. Half a decade later he joined the Olympia chapter of the Puget Sound Star Trekkers and that winter ventured north to PSST con II. He spent the entire convention volunteering in one place or another. After moving to Seattle to attend college, he joined the Norwest Science Fiction Society and attended Norwescon 1. Don has attended every Norwescon since and volunteered in some capacity or another at the last 30 conventions. Over the years he has had the opportunity to work on a number of conventions in the Northwest, including Dreamcon, Westercon, and OryCon. He is a fan of authors such as David Brin, Harry Turtledove, J.R.R. Tolkein, Roger Zelazny, and Keith Laumer. When he is not working on conventions he is putting in time at Microsoft and studying karate.

Peggy Stewart
Special Events Director

Peggy Stewart entered fandom from a different angle than most here - she began attending conventions because of the costuming. She has been a costumer for as long as she can remember. Her first convention was a Star Trek con in 1978 followed by a Dr. Who convention. She eventually found her way to Marcon and its masquerade which she ran for many years until she moved here in 1996, and joined Norwescon's convention committee in 1997 as, what else, the Masquerade director. She has held other positions since then; but her first and deepest love has always been anything to do with costuming and furthering its cause. As the Special Events Director, she hopes to bring this passion to all the special events that Norwescon has this year.

When she is not working on costuming or Norwescon, she is being a mom to two great boys who she likes to dress up and four cats who she doesn’t dress up as she wants all of her fingers in one piece. She has a great husband who always has his nose in a book and who has the best timing in the world as he always calls when she sits down to read. They both love to read and they have instilled that love of reading in their sons.