Hearing Loss Association of America, California State Association Board of Directors Application

Eligible candidates must:

• Be members of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). Joining HLAA is easy and offers many benefits.
• Be willing to serve a full three-year term on the Board of Directors. You may resign earlier, at any time, if you wish, but we think you will love the board and stay the full term.
• Attend board meetings: There are two mandatory virtual meetings a year, one in Spring and another in the Fall.  These meetings are open to all members of HLAA. At the discretion of the board, other meetings may be planned as necessary.  If you are curious about what we do in meetings, please see the board minutes.
• Be willing to communicate with the board between meetings via email and vote when/as required.
• Be willing to volunteer to serve on one or more committees to help people with hearing loss in a field of service of interest to you. If you are curious about what committees might be of interest to you, please see the list of committees.
• Have no conflict of interest, such as representing vendors or distributors who provide services or equipment to HLAA-CA.
• Be willing to abide by the HLAA-CA Bylaws.

Nominees must be passionate about hearing loss and helping others and must be team players.

We have teams working on advocacy, fundraising, hearing loss tech expos, chapter training workshops, exhibiting at various hearing loss and disability conferences and events, board member and volunteer nominations and recruiting, press releases, videos, social media, and more. Ideal nominees have skills and experience in one or more of the following areas: non-profit, hearing loss, marketing, public relations, fundraising, computer/technology, advocacy, social media, volunteering, executive meetings, ability to conduct program and policy evaluations at the state level.

To apply for the Board of Directors, please send via email:

• A simple, brief cover letter (used by the HLAA-CA nomination committee and board only) answering the following questions (one to few words for each answer or much more if you prefer):
  • The number of years you have been a HLAA member
  • The number of years of HLAA chapter membership/leadership
  • Your hearing loss (if applicable)
  • Why you would like to serve on the HLAA-CA Board of Directors
  • Hearing loss issues you are interested in
  • Your email address for contact and questions from voters
• A current resume (used by the HLAA-CA nomination committee and board only) ideally showing applicable or relevant experience
• A brief endorsement by your HLAA chapter if you are a member of an HLAA chapter (if not, don’t worry)
• A brief candidate’s statement/autobiography (not more than 250 words) to be used in ballots, which will be sent to HLAA members and published on the HLAA-CA website.

Please email completed applications to Katie Wright, HLAA-CA president, at kwright@hearinglossca.org

At its discretion, the HLAA-CA nominations committee and/or the HLAA-CA board may accept or reject any applicant’s nomination, based on HLAA-CA’s current needs and requirements and/or based on evaluating the applicant’s qualifications and capabilities.

If your application is approved by the HLAA-CA nominations committee and/or the HLAA-CA board, you will be notified, and your name and your candidate statement will be emailed to California members of HLAA in good standing.  These HLAA members will be given a chance to vote for qualifying candidates using an anonymous voting application.

The HLAA-CA election deadline is January 15, and ballots postmarked up to January 15 will be counted. Election results are announced around February 1.

The new director’s term officially begins at the start of the next annual meeting of the board, which is usually around the middle of February.

If you have any questions, please contact Katie Wright at kwright@hearinglossca.org.

We hope to hear from you soon.