NASRA - National Association for State Relay Administration

15 Years of Networking Opportunities

The concept for an organization of state relay administrators to share their ideas was developed during the 1993 Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI) Convention held in Anchorage, Alaska. A group of state administrators attending the convention set out plans for an organizational meeting in California later that year. Their goals were to involve as many states as possible and determine if there was a legitimate need to establish and formalize such an organization.

This pioneering group of state administrators was composed of Bill Lamson (Minnesota), Tom Sanew (Wisconsin), Bill Hamilton (Nevada), Dan Pouliot (Montana), and Clarke Christianson (South Dakota). They would soon be joined by Shelley Bergum of California and Gil Becker of Maryland to plan the first National Association for State Relay Administration (NASRA) conference in San Diego, January 2004.

The response was incredible with representatives from 24 of the nation’s relay programs in attendance. The conference provided opportunities for relay administrators to establish regular and organized contacts with their peers from other states. Existing relay providers were invited to be sponsors to provide financial support for the new organization. Since that time, the role of our sponsors has been critical in ensuring the continued success of our NASRA conferences.

Since that first conference, the ability to network with other state relay administrators and to establish a rapport with the FCC and other national relay-related entities has enabled NASRA members to effectively administer their state programs. Our subsequent conferences include:

1994 San Diego Spring & Baltimore Fall

1995 Seattle

1996 Kansas City

1997 Phoenix

1998 Denver

1999 Hurricane, no conference

2000 Alexandria Spring & Portland Fall

2001 9/11, no conference

2002 Baltimore

2003 Albuquerque

2004 Charleston

2005 Tucson