Judges

Melua is a writer/editor with 13 years’ experience with New Zealand government agencies and businesses, from start-ups to multinationals. She managed one of New Zealand’s first digital content companies for a decade and now freelances from the East Coast. Plain language is central to all Melua’s work, which is motivated by a strong interest in the way design and content work together to make life easier for people. Before starting her own business, Melua studied design, political science, journalism and public relations, and worked in public sector communications in Wellington and Melbourne. This is her third year judging the ClearMark Awards.

Jimmy Wendt is currently a User Experience Researcher at Intel Security in Santa Clara, CA. In his role, he is responsible for a variety of research efforts centered on Intel's consumer security products and websites. Prior to joining Intel, Jimmy was a UX Researcher at UserTesting.com in Mountain View, CA. While there, he worked with clients whose domains included e-commerce, streaming video services, cloud software, and financial planning. Jimmy is originally from Brooklyn, NY, holds a B.A. in Psychology from Kenyon College and an M.S. in Human Factors Engineering from San Jose State University.  His favorite movie is My Cousin Vinny.

Russell Willerton is an associate professor of English at Boise State University, where he teaches courses in technical editing and document design. His PhD in technical communication and rhetoric is from Texas Tech University. Russell worked previously as a feature reporter in public radio and as a technical writer. His recent articles have appeared in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly and the User Experience Professionals Association's User Experience magazine. Russell's book, Plain Language and Ethical Action: A Dialogic Approach to Technical Content in the Twenty-First Century, is available internationally from Routledge.

Erin has 12 years’ experience with Aetna. In 2013, she joined Aetna’s Brand Enterprise Marketing team. In her Content and Community Management role, she manages the content published across Aetna’s social media marketing channels (Tumblr, @Aetna twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and serves as an Aetna community manager.  Prior to this role, she worked in provider and Medicare member communications as a writer for 8 years. She was also part of the group that created Aetna’s Writers’ Center for Excellence – an internal website that offers resources, tools and helpful information (including certification courses) to writers across the company. Erin also previously served as an instructor of Aetna’s internal plain language course, which teaches six principles of writing in plain language (avoid jargon, use short sentences, familiar words, active voice, bullets/lists) as well as how to use the Flesch-Kincaid tool in Microsoft Word to score writing.