INTRODUCING YOUR NEW GOVERNOR!

Greetings, fellow SMDPA members!

I greatly enjoyed my three-year term as your Governor, with many accomplishments to everybody’s credit.  Wonderful relationships abounded.  Now, I am exceptionally pleased to step down and hand over the reins to Michael A. “Mike” Saunders to serve as your new Governor!  

Effectively, Mike and I are switching roles:  I will be taking his places as Deputy Governor for SMDPA as well as Governor of our Susquehanna Colony.  However, Mike and his lovely wife Sharon, also an SMDPA member, will be retaining their respective titles as Deputy Governor General and Assistant Governor General – representing SMDPA’s interests at the annual meetings of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Mike brings an extraordinary professional and volunteer background to our 130-year-old Society.  For 25 years before retiring the first time, he served as an Officer in the U.S. Navy.  His responsibilities included the Operations Division of the Medical Data Center, supervising 150 employees worldwide.  Next, Mike spent five more years in the public sector as Chief Engineer of the Computer Center for the White House.  Mike then took a management position with Planning Research Corporation (which was acquired by Northrup Grumman), where he became Vice President and General Manager of Communications for the Network Solutions Division, successfully building a $50 million operation up to $100 million in just over four years.  After retiring from Northrup Grumman, Mike was recruited once more as Senior Vice President of Corporate Administration for DreamHammer, Inc., a private-sector software developer and military supplier.  

Since retiring for the third and final time in 2013, after a nearly 50-year career, Mike has been enjoying life in Gettysburg with his family.  His volunteer activities include:

• Maryland Society, Sons of the American Revolution (Chapter President & Registrar)
• Order of the Founders and Patriots of America
• Boy Scouts of America:  National Capital Area Council (Scoutmaster, Eagle Scout Board of Review Chairman, District Commissioner); New Birth of Freedom Council (Scoutmaster of Troop 73 in Gettysburg)  

Mike has also been providing SMDPA with sage counsel as a member of my Executive Committee.

Please join me in congratulating Mike at [email protected] and wishing him success in this important leadership role!

Best regards! – James Campbell, SMDPA Deputy Governor, [email protected]