AMTA-WA 2016 Officer Candidates Now Posted

All voting is handled on-line between the dates of March 1st and March 13th. On February 29th you will receive an email with the voting link. You will be able to vote until March 13th. The newly-elected officers will be announced and sworn in at the Annual Meeting in Olympia on March 19th.

Below are the AMTA-WA candidates running for office in 2016.

Annie LaCroix – President

Health and wellness have always been of interest to me. Over the years, I have been surrounded by many chronic pain sufferers. The decision to become a massage therapist was based largely on wanting to provide a service that would increase the quality of life for these people.

When I first became a therapist, I owned my own studio where my focus on those who had been injured or suffered from chronic pain.

In 2011, I opened the Columbia River Institute of Massage Therapy (www.columbiariverinstitute.com) in Wenatchee, WA. It is a small, privately-­owned school. Teaching is my true passion and being able to share massage with eager students brings me a sense of constant fulfillment.

Volunteering with AMTA-­WA was something that always interested me. When I started volunteering, I knew I had found home. I love that we work together, raising our voices as one, to strengthen our profession.

Teri Mayo – First VP

A 1995 Graduate of the International Professional School of Bodywork in San Diego, CA, I have been practicing massage full time ever since. I have been an AMTA member for years, always grateful for the opportunities the organization has given me. AMTA Washington has always meant great access to continuing education, collaboration and growth. I am honored to be part of one of the best state massage associations in our country and excited to be part of the executive board moving forward.

My biggest pride and greatest joy is my “day job” as the owner of a medical massage clinic that employs 12 LMPs. As such, I think that I have a good perspective of massage as an industry and the challenges facing us and bring a different voice to the executive board.Ultimately, my goals in this role are to support the organization that has supported me over the years. As a business owner, clinic owner and employer and an ongoing advocate for our industry, I want to be a voice at the table of the massage professions future. I want to continue to advocate for research and push for standards of care. I want to support increasing our legitimacy in the health care industry and fight for fair and reasonable reimbursements. I want to continue to be a strong ally in our effort to be a continuing part of health care as the ACA changes the scenery. And I want to do it all as part of AMTA Washington.

Diana Thompson LM – 2nd VP

Diana, a WA licensed massage therapist for over 30 years, has been volunteering with AMTA for over 20 years, both Nationally and now locally, as the WA­Chapter 2nd Vice President, and Government Relations chair. She is a past president of the Massage Therapy Foundation, and a research consultant with The Research Institute at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle.

You may know her best for her book, Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation and Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists fourth edition, or her bimonthly column in Massage and Bodywork Magazine, titled “Somatic Research” from 2010 ­ 2013. Her new book,Integrative Pain Management: Massage, Movement, and Mindfulness Based Approaches, is due out in 2016, and is yet another tool to advance massage therapy in integrative healthcare. Most recently, Diana has developed an electronic health record to assist all massage therapists in writing progress notes for wellness massage sessions.

Michael LaTour – Third VP

Massage is a second career for Michael. He has spent the past six years splitting his time between a private massage practice and teaching fundamental massage, ethics and business. In particular, Michael has found a passion in helping other massage practitioners meet their professional goals. Currently specializing in Business Fundamentals and Professional Communication, he teaches at Cortiva Institute, leads mentoring workshops for newer practitioners, and brings in­-house continuing education to local massage businesses. He has found that his background in project and business management has been integral in his ability to help practitioners as they are starting out in this field or growing their businesses to the next level. Michael was appointed to the Washington Chapter Board of the AMTA in October of 2015 to fill the existing opening of Third Vice­President. Since that time he has focused his energy on the 2016 Educational Convention, expanding the chapter’s Kickstart program (which focuses on new and student practitioners) and has been updating the state chapter’s information on massage programs at the initial­training level. In the future he hopes to further expand the Chapter’s outreach to massage students, fostering a sense of ownership in this organization early in their career.

Michael Mandell – Secretary

I am the former owner of M3 Bodyworks Massage Clinic in West Seattle employed up to 22 employees (18 LMP’s and 3 administration staff) from 2005 till the end of 2014. We averaged 500 – 600 appointments a month with 4 rooms, working with 2 shifts from 9 AM – Midnight.

I am a licensed massage practitioner in Washington State since 2004. I studied at the Brian Utting School of Massage participating in its intensive 1,000 hour COMTA accredited professional massage license program. My prior employment includes extensive experience in Customer Service Management in multiple industries, receiving many service awards dealing with the public and private sectors. I left the high tech industry after working with three failed “start ups” during the Tech Boom in 2003. I worked with fortune 100 companies like Coke­a­Cola, MetLife, AIG, and Medtronic as a Senior Project Manager / Business Analyst before starting massage school.

I’ve worked with Customer Relation Management Systems/Salesforce Automation as well as Enterprise Portals and Accounting Systems. Most projects were combining and connecting systems together into an Enterprise Portal for centric goals and communication.

My massage practice is focused on injury treatment with a concentration treating chronic pain and structural issues. Treating the whole body and dysfunctions. My background includes elective work in knee and ankle injury and advance treatment massage, Structural Relief Therapy (Certified), Onsen Therapy, muscle energy technique, thoracic outlet and carpal tunnel syndrome advance treatment massage, Thai massage, Visceral Manipulation and CranioSacral. My sports medicine experience includes work with the Seattle Sounders Soccer Team 2005 and Pocock Elite Rowers 2005/2006 season.

Linda Bucher – House of Delegates

Massage is my second career; my first career was working for 36 years where I supported the Air Force as a civilian. Then I decided that I wanted to provide massage on animals but I first needed to learn to provide massage on people. So I attended Alexandar School of Natural Therapies in 2004. While I was attending school I joined the AMTA and then I joined the WSMT. After I graduated I wanted to continue supporting the AMTA as a volunteer so I joined the board as the Secretary. Then I moved on to become the third and second vice president positions. I also joined the MERT team and I really discovered my passion. So over the last couple of years I have taken all the FEMA and CERT classes. I have also joined WASART, Washington State Animal Rescue Team and the Soup Ladies. The reason I have changed my focus to emergency management is so I can be a productive leader of the Community Service Massage Team, CSMT.