People on the Move

July 23, 2008

Susan Thornton Hobby and Padraic Kennedy have been elected to the board of the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo).

Hobby, an editor and journalist, is returning to the board after a brief absence.

Kennedy, a former president of the Columbia Association whose wife, Ellen Conroy Kennedy, is the founder of HoCoPoLitSo, will lead the organization's efforts to increase its endowment from $165,000 to $200,000.

Virginia Pausch, Patty Rouse and David Barrett were re-elected to another three-year term. Also re-elected were David Barrett, chairman; Catherine McLoughlin-Hayes, vice chairwoman; Kathleen Larson, treasurer; and Timothy Singleton, recording secretary.

Rene Buckmon, director of the Columbia Teen Center, has been elected president of the Association of Community Services.

Jay Blackman, senior vice president of operations at Howard County General Hospital, has been elected vice president. Sherrie Jordan, associate executive director of the Athelas Institute, is secretary, and Harry Schwarz, associate vice president for business services for the Tai Sophia Institute, is treasurer.

Patricia Ritchie, a volunteer mediator at the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center at Howard Community College, has been named Community Mediation Volunteer of the Year by Community Mediation Maryland, a nonprofit organization.

She is co-founder, with Lindsay Kreisher, and chief executive officer of Peace by Peace LLC, an organization that offers mediation services and works to create and strengthen relationships in the community.