Vincen M. Wales
President
Vincent M. Wales has been a member of AOF since moving to California in 2000. His first action as an AOF member was the Promise Keepers protest at Arco Arena a mere two weeks after arriving. He served on the AOF Board in 2005, but had to step down due to personal issues, and has been a Director at Large throughout 2011.

He was the founder of the Freethought Society of Northern Utah, a past member of Margaret Downey’s Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, has been a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation for nearly two decades, and was the writer behind the website, The Atheist Attic, which contains over one hundred freethought essays.

He was also responsible for convincing About.com to feature an Agnosticism/Atheism page, and was its first “guide.” He served on the board of Northern California Publishers & Authors for three years, has done volunteer work as a suicide prevention counselor, is currently a volunteer Big Brother, and an affiliate agent of Secret Agent L.

His second novel, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, deals with an American theocracy in the near future. The book was published in 2004 and has won multiple awards while maintaining a five-star rating on Amazon.com, and is currently being considered for a film adaptation. His third novel is expected in early 2013. 

Mynga Futrell
Vice-President, Librarian
"I have greatly enjoyed serving AOF in many capacities (as president, vice-president, newsletter layout, newsletter editor, on committees and projects, and as liaison to national and international organizations). I continue to be a workhorse for this organization, yet I see reasons for substantial change. The AOF organizational structure remains immensely worthwhile, but carrying on many of AOF’s “long-established” activities has become especially wasteful of dedicated volunteer energies.

'Members need to tune in more to AOF’s purpose (see purpose statement on page three) and reconsider strategy. When our “traditions” (e.g., monthly meetings) grow to be mismatched to the mission, we are being insufficiently prudent with member resources. This is true especially now that younger freethinking folks are gathering via Internet tools like MeetUp’s. Mostly casual get-togethers, like AOF meetings years ago, tend to focus primarily on self-identity reinforcement and social camaraderie, but they seldom build infrastructure or pursue sufficiently substantial activities to address the specific “civic legitimacy” aims that AOF has set out to attain.

'I consider AOF to be an indispensable resource for freethinkers in the Sacramento area, but my platform in running for the board this year is in support of a change in direction for the organization. (Please see my “Shifting Gears” article on page three.) I will work with others who, as board members and members, favor changes in strategy."

Jerry Sloan
Director at Large, AOF Postmaster (newsletter distribution)
Jerry Sloan, a charter member of AOF, has served on the board and various committees. He is a nationally recognized for his research on Religious extremists in California and the nation. He is also well known for his famous lawsuit against his former Baptist Bible College schoolmate, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. With some of the proceeds from the lawsuit he co-founded the Gay & Lesbian Community Center.

Dave Flanders
Director at Large
I and others at AOF have been on that ongoing search to answer life's persistent questions.

Mario Sandri
Director at Large
"Though born into a family that was nominally Catholic (peer pressure maybe) I never bought into any of it, like almost everybody else I knew from my generation. As a result there was never a need to be outspoken about my non-belief. If you went to church, that meant you didn't have any friends and there was something wrong with YOU, or you were just really, really old—like pre-WW II old. When I moved here to the U.S., things were a little different, but it is exciting to see so many active local groups, and that one of the last actions of the "old" AOF board was to redirect our focus towards getting a building, that is to become a home and meeting place for all of us. We are living in an exciting time, there is a revolution going on and I'm excited to be on the winning side."

Kristi Craven
Director at Large
"I grew up being taught that truth, integrity and character are the cornerstones of a good life. Never have I felt closer to that goal than in the past 6 years when I have become an agnostic freethinker. Now I know the difference between belief and facts, truth versus tradition, and comfort as opposed to reality. My road to that discovery has been a difficult one, flocked with various churches, cults and disorganized thinking. As Dan Barker of FFRF has often told people that if he was not a believer than no one is can also be applied to me. I searched for meaning and symbolism in everything, looking for that magic formula that would make everything make sense. I reached out to God in every way imaginable finally becoming a born again Christian in 1997. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was far too intelligent and independent to accept this ideology and decided that either all religions were true or none of them were. I went through a period of accepting all religions until I finally just woke up one day and told myself that the God of no confusion certainly was confusing. It was then that I realized what I really was, an atheist. It was a painful acceptance at first and was not without significant personal loss, but pretending anymore to be something that I wasn’t just was no longer an option. Since becoming a non-believer I have discovered that so many of the truths I was holding onto were not truths at all and that doing my own research instead of just accepting someone else’s word for what was right gave me the answers I had been searching for so long and I truly felt “born again”. I still find myself missing the fellowship and friendships that came from my church relationships and hope that I can bring this to the AOF table. I am also an accomplished singer, musician and actress and hope I can lend my talents, as I did as a Christian, to inspire and give courage to those who are, perhaps, once like me, lost and searching for the truth wherever it may lead them.." 

Ken Nahigian
Treasurer, Registrar, Web Lackey, Director at Large, Empties Wastebasket
Ken Nahigian has served AOF for many years as director, treasurer, membership registrar, web designer & floor sweep. Almost but not quite a founding member, Ken joined AOF in December 1993, before the group even had a name. He became Treasurer in 1995, Registrar in 2004. These were ideal jobs for him, as his blinkered mind finds a kind of small, brittle joy in balanced columns and minutia. He is a doer, not a planner.

Prior to joining AOF, his life was a ping pong game between religious belief and doubt. In his mid-20's he became a freethinker. For him it was a breakthrough, a first breath of sweet fresh air. He still looks back with relief, as the occasional bouts of stigmata were messy. Ken now styles himself, not as an atheist, not as an agnostic, but an apatheist— in other words, it all seems to be much ado about nothing.

Ken's continued vision for AOF is to pinch pennies, sell merchandise, hack away at this website, and keep AOF solvent as best he can. As registrar he works to expand AOF's membership. He would like to build bridges to the many other freethought and skeptical groups within the Sacramento area, creating a true Community of Reason. Finally and most, as a freethinker and humanist, he now sees opportunity for cooperative action between AOF and the more open-minded believers. Freethought has broken free of the intellectual ghetto that held it for almost a century; the horizon is open if our hearts are open, and if we do not fear change.

Jillian Stanley
Secretary
"I more usually serve on the sidelines of any organization to which I belong (make cookies or put away chairs), but I will gladly do what I can to keep AOF viable and continuously improving. We've had discussion both in the monthly meetings and in the coffeehouse afterward about reaching out, gaining more members, etc, and that challenge particularly interests me. My own attitudes and beliefs may be idiosyncratic—I have been an avowed atheist since about the age of fifteen, yet I do not necessarily deny and denounce every concept that seems mystical or every nuance of spirituality—but I would prefer a world with much less religion in it, and being more active in AOF, I would take a small step toward that goal."

Kevin L. Schultz
Newsletter Editor
[Statement not yet posted.]

Don Knutson
Service Project Coordinator
Don is a long time member of AOF who believes strongly that logic and reason provide a deeper and more visceral connection to morality than ancient writ absorbed by a believer. And naturally, compassion for animals, disadvantaged peoples and the planet become a lifelong dedication.

Pat Kelley
Webmistress
[Statement not yet posted.]