Candidate Statements

Brad Barnett
James Madison University

     Full Candidacy Bio (MS Word)

Thank you very much for the honor of running for VASFAA President Elect.  It’s a blessed person who can look in the mirror every day and say, “I’ve found my niche in life.”  Needless to say, I feel very blessed.

For the past three years I have had the honor of serving you on the VASFAA Executive Board as a Representative-at-Large.  Serving VASFAA in this capacity has allowed me to learn a great deal about the needs of the membership, and afforded me the opportunity to assist with developing programs and policies to help meet our association’s goals. 

Additionally, over the past several years I have served on a number of VASFAA committees, presented numerous sessions at VASFAA conferences and workshops, and coordinated the curriculum for the association’s New Aid Officer Workshops.  I have also had the opportunity to represent my school and VASFAA by serving as a session presenter and/or committee member for SASFAA, NASFAA, and AASFAA, as well as being a SASFAA New Aid Officers’ Summer Workshop Faculty Member for five years.  

 I have seen VASFAA undergo many changes over the past several years and I am very excited about where we are headed.  For example, our presence on the legislative front is increasingly becoming stronger; the new conference structure for 2004-05 is going to provide some exciting specialized training opportunities for the membership; new vendor/sponsor guidelines will give our vendors and sponsors back their individualized recognition for what they contribute to our association. 

I could go on and on about the positive things VASFAA is doing, but instead, I will stop here and ask for your support to continue taking VASFAA into our exciting future.

Pat Kelly
College of William & Mary

My gratitude is extended to the VASFAA Board for the opportunity to present myself to you as a candidate for the position of Representative at Large. It is a great honor for me to seek this position and I respectfully ask for your support in this spring’s election.

It is thirty-four years this summer that I have been in the financial aid field, thirty-six if you count the years I spent as a student assistant.  How can one withstand this number of years in financial aid, you may ask?  The answer is very clear.  The financial aid field is fast-paced, complex, ever-changing, and challenging to me.  The profession stands for service to others in all regards, service first to the students who come to the office everyday for help in financing their educational plans.  Service to the institutions who employ us, to the communities where we live, to the staffs we work with, to the various agencies whose funds we award and are responsible for, and service to the professional liaisons of which we are proud to be a part.

Principally, I have worked in the counseling area for a major portion of my career.  It has been like working in a hospital ER, where immediate action is always apparent and where there is always somebody coming in for assistance.  Customer service has been my focus, both personally and at the institutions where I have worked.  Because of this focus on customer service, extending myself beyond the office to professional associations has been an appealing enticement to my work in financial aid.

Prior to moving to Virginia, I was a member of Region 3 NYSFAAA and I enjoyed committee work with guidance training and lender workshops.  I served as a committee member and chair.  I was also a member of the State University of New York Financial Aid Professionals (SUNYFAP) and I was pleased to represent the four year University Centers as a Representative-at-Large for eight years.

Since 1997, I have been an active member of VASFAA and have served as Chair of both the Awareness Committee (one year) and the Support Staff Training Committee (three years) and as Training Committee Co-Chair most recently.

I am proud to be part of this profession and I would like to be part of VASFAA’s leadership.   This is a hard-working association, striving for excellence in all that the financial aid profession represents. In moving from a two conference to a one conference association, I can state that I have experienced working with state associations that cover large geographic areas and I know the importance of communication and contact that can unite membership.  I believe I can do great things for VASFAA in this regard. I will work to initiate new goals and continue to fulfill older goals regarding what the Association’s needs are.

If elected, I promise to serve VASFAA actively, striving to keep its mission ever in focus through dedication to service.  Please support my candidacy for VASFAA Board Representative. Thank you.