1

BUSINESS REPORTS

Minutes of the Atla Business 
Meeting
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Christina Torbert, Atla Board Secretary, University of Mississippi

The Annual Business Meeting of the Association was convened by 
Board President Stephen Sweeney at 2:27 p.m. U.S. central time via 
Zoom. A quorum was declared.

President Sweeney explained the process for voting during the 
meeting.

Christina Torbert presented the Secretary’s report. Members of 
the 2021 Teller’s Committee were Steve Jung, who served as Chair, 
from Azusa Pacific University; Lisa Grover from Denver, CO; and Eliz-
abeth Young Miller from Moravian Theological Seminary. The Tell-
er’s Committee received the election results via email from Survey 
& Ballot Systems and verified that 263 (or 45.19%) of the 582 eligible 
members cast valid ballots. The membership elected – as given here 
in alphabetical order – Yasmine Abou-El-Kheir, Armin Siedlecki, 
Matthew Thiesen, and Kris Veldheer to the board class of 2021-2024.

Michelle Spomer moved to accept the Secretary’s report, and 
Jennifer Bartholomew seconded. The motion was approved.

President Sweeney welcomed the incoming board members and 
thanked the two outgoing board members: Ellen Frost and Shaneé 
Murrain. President Sweeney thanked the 2020-2021 board officers 
and announced the incoming 2021-2022 officers. Christina Torbert 
will be President; Armin Siedlecki will be Vice President; Jérémie 
LeBlanc will be Treasurer; and Leslie Engelson will be Secretary.



2  AT L A 202 1 PROCEEDINGS

Incoming President Christina Torbert thanked Stephen Sweeney 
for his service as President for two years and spoke briefly about 
the Board of Directors’ work for the coming year. President Torbert 
called for any new business and answered a question submitted 
through the Q&A. The meeting was adjourned at 2:39 p.m. U.S. central 
time.