Tucson Cactus & Succulent Society
2024 Officer & Board Election Information
2024 Officer & Board Election Information
All TCSS members will receive a ballot in late November (via USPS) along with their 2025 membership renewal form. The election results will be announced in December.
The TCSS Board - 2024 Slate of Officer and Board Member Nominees:
President - Dick Wiedhopf
2024 marks
the 64 th year for the TCSS, and the 22 nd consecutive year Dick has
served as president. Under his leadership, TCSS has grown to be the
largest local cactus and succulent society in the world. He helped
establish Pima Prickly Park and has been an active participant in
making it a center point of our society's conservation and
education efforts. The cactus rescue program he helped start has
rescued over 137,500 plants and has expanded to include urban
rescues. Dick considers his work with TCSS to be a privilege and
said he has enjoyed every minute of it.
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Vice President – Vonn Watkins
For 20
years Vonn has served as Vice President and Program Director for
TCSS. During this time, he has arranged over 300 speaker and
workshop programs for the society including monthly meetings,
Sonoran conferences, and a national convention. Vonn is one of the
authors of our Society's Field Guide and is an expert on cholla
and prickly pear cacti. He is a long time member of our Research
Committee and is a board member of the Cactus and Succulent Society
of America.
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Secretary – Barbara Watts
Barb is
currently the webmaster for TCSS and a member of the Technology
Committee working to redevelop our website into an interactive and
dynamic database platform. This includes integrating software that
will simplify and improve the recording and preparation of Board
minutes. Given her role in the development of these tools, Barb
believes it is a natural progression for her to take on the
Secretary position where she can effectively manage both the
technical and administrative aspects of this responsibility.
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Treasurer – Mark Dworschak
Mark is a
40 year Arizona resident (35 in Tucson) and longtime TCSS member.
His focus has been in the rescue program but is looking forward to
expanding his TCSS participation as Treasurer. He retired from the
Pima County Community College District after 24 years of work in
finance and is a graduate of the University of Arizona with an
Economics and Finance degree. Mark is excited to see TCSS's efforts
to expand its reach through enhanced conservation and education
programs.
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Director – Ray Fisher
Ray has
been a member of TCSS for about five years, and during that time he
has been active in cactus rescues, sales support, and supporting
special events including the annual Christmas party. He was awarded the TCSS President's Award in
2023 for his role in the design, construction, and maintenance of the new Pima Prickly Park labyrinth.
Ray learned about cactus and succulents through TCSS and now wants to assure the further
dissemination of such knowledge to others by participating as a TCSS Board member.
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Director – Randy Hellwig
Randy is
interested in serving on the board of TCSS in order to help the club
continue the goal of cactus rescues and to aid the club expand
it's general educational, conservation, and training programs in
cactus growing, desert landscaping, and water harvesting/smart
irrigation.
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Director – Amy Pearse
Amy grew up
in Ohio, and after being a snow bird for the last few years, she
became a permanent Tucson resident in June. She has volunteered with
TCSS's native and urban cactus rescues for three years. Even
with her beginners knowledge, she can see that the desert is at
risk, and wants the enthusiastic commitment of groups like TCSS to
learn and then educate our community to ensure the desert
doesn't simply survive but thrives.
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Director - Clarke Stephens
Clarke has
been a member of TCSS for the past several years and has served on
native and urban rescue teams during this time and has helped out on
several projects at Pima Prickly Park. He looks to the TCSS mission
statement as his reason to get involved as a Board member and
believes TCSS can do so much more in the future if we use our
collective knowledge to expand our educational and community
programs.
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