Metro Weekly

Brother, Help Thyself Board Takes Office

New executive board kicks off one-year term, names new executive director

The new executive board of Brother, Help Thyself Inc. (BHT), a community organization providing support to nonprofits that serve the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities in the Baltimore-Washington metro area, took office March 14 and named a new executive director for the organization.

Jim Slattery, president of the Beltway Bears social organization and a longtime BHT volunteer, will serve during the next year as BHT’s president. Other board members include Vice President Beth Brockelman of the Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association, treasurer Mark Clark of Chesapeake Bay Bears, and secretary Andrew McCarty of COMMAND (Corps Of Men Making a Noticeable Difference) Motorcycle Club. Slattery, with the support of the board, named Chaz Dean, Centaur MC’s member to BHT, as the new executive director of BHT.

”In my relatively brief time on the BHT Board, I have had the privilege to serve under the leadership of former Presidents Bradley ‘Thumper Bear’ Hill and JoAnn Kokindo,” Slattery said in a statement after taking office. ”Both Thumper and Joansie had differing leadership styles, yet both taught me a great deal about not just BHT but what it means to be a leader as well, and I thank them for their may years of service and for their good advice. I am truly humbled by the board’s trust in me and look forward to working with them on behalf of the greater D.C./Baltimore region’s LGBTQ community.”

Dean, as the incoming executive director, said he ”looked forward to the challenges and responsibilities” of the position and would look for new ways to support the board’s efforts at carrying out BHT’s mission.

”Together with the full board I anticipate that BHT will grow to be of even greater service to our community in the months and years to come,” Dean said.

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