Our Administrative Council

Chapter President

Micheal Opsteegh

Michael Opsteegh has been a technical writer in the software and financial services industries since 2004. He’s a lecturer in the professional writing program at California State University, Long Beach, and a PhD student at Texas Tech University. He holds a master’s degree in English and a certificate in technical and professional communication. He is an STC Associate Fellow and a Certified Technical Professional Communicator (CPTC).

Michael has served OCSTC in vatious capcities for nearly 20 years, and he has served as president three times. Michael credits STC and OCSTC with his success in the industry and maintaining gainful employment. He wants to see STC continue to thrive in Orange County so the same opportunities to learn, present, and publish that benefited him so greatly are available to future generations of technical communicators.

1st Vice President, Programs

Elizabeth Malone 

Elizabeth is a technical communication professional responsible for ensuring business success through delivering customer experience satisfaction, driving accurate and timely delivery of documentation for software production milestones, and ensuring passage of extensive audit processes while ensuring documentation adheres to ISO, SOX, PCI, and other industry compliance standards as required.

Elizabeth has participated and held several offices including OCSTC president over the past several years. After taking a hiatus, she is ready to get back to volunteering and offering her time to strategize and implement chapter networking, programs, and membership enrollment. She’d like to see OCSTC revived with new members of all ages, skills (tech writing, online help, Wikis, API, web design, graphic artists, instructional designers, and so on), and backgrounds come together and collaborate to help make OCSTC an even more valuable resource and successful chapter.

Treasurer 

Sasha Faynor 

Sasha Faynor volunteers for NAMI, WriteGirl, and Shark Stewards. She has been a part-time mental health journalist for ten years and authored Intact: Untangle the Web of Bipolar Depression, Addiction, and Trauma. Professionally, Sasha is a high school teacher, copywriter, and technical writer. Her tech writing gigs have included Wells Fargo Auto from 2010-2018 and AppleOne 2007–2008. Sasha blogs about storytelling.

Sasha has been a professional writer in several capacities, including 14 years as a technical writer documenting software, hardware, policies and procedures, and writing proposals. The last four years, she has been a high school teacher but plans to return to technical writing. She would like to see STC offer relevant professional development and opportunities to socialize.