This past year was the GLD’s first year under the leadership of me, Karen Leube (Administrator), and Robin Limmeroth (Assistant Administrator) and the Leadership Council we finished putting together in 2023. It has been an eventful and productive year and we have shared many of the highlights right here in the GLD blog. We can boast three in-person GLD events, starting with the GLD Stammtisch in Fairfax, Virginia, continuing with the GLD Members in Europe workshop in Mainz and culminating with our GLD social and Professional Forum at the ATA Annual Conference in Miami.
To bridge the distance between the members throughout the world, GLD Digital Events Coordinators Erin Riddle and Katrin Rippel Galati held nearly monthly virtual events, including webinars, digital socials and co-working sessions. Interaktiv editor-in-chief Marion Rhodes and her staff did their part to connect members in two themed issues.
Web Manager Randal Gernaat worked tirelessly, managing the nearly weekly blog posts and tidying up the website despite months-long technical outages in late spring and summer, while Social Media Coordinator Noah William Alter relayed the latest GLD news to our LinkedIn, Twitter (now “X”) and Facebook communities. Collaboration Pool Heike Holthaus managed the CP LinkedIn page and welcomed new members from the GLD, as well as from our counterpart organizations in the UK and Austria.
New and potential GLD members were given special attention by our New Member Coordinator Kristina Cosumano and Listmaster Rainer Klett kept a quiet eye on our GLD groups.io listserv. European Coordinator Ellen Yutzy Glebe spent the better part of the year preparing for the upcoming GLD Members in Europe workshop in Leipzig and Leadership, consultants Ruth Boggs, Gerhard Preisser and Carlie Sitzman, as well as Megan Falk and Andrew Belisle, provided advice and moral support as needed (with Ruth Boggs additionally organizing the GLD Stammtisch in Fairfax).
I couldn’t be prouder of the LC members and our achievements this past year. At the same time, our work would not have been nearly as effective without the contributions by numerous other GLD members, from those who presented sessions at the Mainz workshop and the conference in Miami to members who contributed blog posts and finally, the 117 members who participated in our GLD business survey with their frank, sober, as well as positive views of the state of our profession.
Come what may, “Gemeinsam sind wir stärker.“
We wish all GLD members a happy holiday season and a Happy New Year – einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr 2024!
Karen Leube Robin Limmeroth
Administrator, German Language Division Assistant Administrator, German Language Division
Karen Leube, a native of Pennsylvania, is a freelance translator and translator trainer based in Aachen, Germany. She served on the faculty of the universities of Heidelberg and Mainz (FTSK), where she offered courses on biomedical technology and general medical translation in cooperation with local hospitals and research institutions. Since establishing her freelance business in 2004, she has taught numerous continuing education courses for translators and interpreters. Twelve of her book translations have been published to date, including Thomas Häusler’s Gesund durch Viren (Viruses vs. Superbugs).
Karen founded and coordinated ATA’s GLD Members in Europe group from 2009 to 2019 and served as the GLD’s Assistant Administrator for two years prior to assuming the position as Administrator in 2022.