Election for the 2024-2025 PLATO Board of Directors

Online voting will take place from April 24 through May 8 for the four officers who will serve in 2024-2025 and the two new at-large board members who will serve from 2024-2027. 

Members will receive an email with a link to the online ballot on Wednesday, April 24. To access the ballot, members must login with their email address and PLATO password (there is a "Forgot Password" link if needed). 

Offline members will receive their ballot in the mail. 

Election results will be announced at PLATO's Member Appreciation Lunch and Annual Meeting on Tuesday, May 14, as well as in the Weekly Update email and on the PLATO website that same day.

Nominees

Jatinder Cheema – President 

Dr. Jatinder Cheema has been a PLATO member since 2015 and served as an At-Large Board member from 2020 until 2022. Currently she serves as PLATO Treasurer. She is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and has served in multiple countries managing and overseeing USAID programs. Prior to joining USAID, Cheema worked as a technical consultant with the World Bank, UNICEF and the University Research Corporation. After retirement Cheema made Madison Wisconsin her home and served as a board member on local organizations such as the Madison Development Corporation, the Marquette Neighborhood Association, and the Greater Williamson Area Business Association. She also established a community space called A Place to Be on Williamson Street in Madison for learning and discussions on local issues. She has a PhD in Social Sciences and an MPH from the University of Michigan and a master’s in social work from the Delhi School of Social Work. 

Jack Mitchell – Vice-President 

At the suggestion of a long-time PLATO member, Jack Mitchell became active in the organization by organizing a course called “How Fake is the News?” during the Trump administration. He felt qualified to discuss the topic after eleven years as a UW-Madison journalism professor. Before that he had spent more than 30 years in public radio, most tombstone-worthy as the first producer of public radio’s seminal program, All Things Considered. He came to Madison 45 years ago to create and lead Wisconsin Public Radio. He has led several courses since “fake news,” serves as an at-large member of the PLATO board and on its membership committee. 

Rod McKenzie – Treasurer 

Rod McKenzie is currently PLATO's President. He has been a member of PLATO since 2016. He has served as Chair of the Fund Development Committee and then served as Vice President. Rod retired from a career in materials research, engineering and operations management at Rayovac, later known as Spectrum Brands, and most recently Energizer Holdings. Coming to Madison from Southern California for graduate studies in Materials Science, he decided it was a good idea to stay. Not bored in retirement, he previously volunteered with American Red Cross, takes PLATO courses, and works on committees. There has been plenty of retirement travel too. Rod, and his wife Paula, keep busy with adult children and grandchildren in Madison and in the Pacific Northwest. 

Edie Urness-Pondillo – Secretary 

Edie Urness-Pondillo is currently PLATO's Secretary. Edie moved back to Madison in 2018 after 20 years in Tennessee and became PLATO's office administrator and joined the membership. Within the first year of membership, she joined the creativity art group and continues in that course, as well as writers’ workshop. She serves the Managing Editor of The Agora and, as such, is a member of the Membership and Communication Committee. Edie graduated from the UW-Madison with a BS in Secondary Education and earned her master’s in English literature from Middle Tennessee State University. Before her 30 plus years teaching high school English, she worked for CUNA Mutual Insurance and was a reporter for a local weekly newspaper. She is a Wisconsin native who grew up on a farm in rural Black Earth. 

Barbara Drake – At-Large Director

Barbara has been an avid member of PLATO since she started taking courses in the spring of 2023. She started with the Biography course, which she loves, and is also a regular participant in other PLATO courses, walks, and Friday breakfasts. She belongs to two book discussion groups, one of which she organized and currently coordinates. Barbara loves music and sings in the Sun Prairie Community Chorus. She is a retired public school administrator and was a high school principal for twenty-five years in Minnesota and Illinois high schools, as well as an associate dean at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and master’s and doctorate degrees in Educational Policy & Administration from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She has two sons, one living in Madison and the other in Portland, OR, and one granddaughter who is an avid gymnast! Barbara is a devoted anglophile, has traveled to England four times, and is already planning her next trip to that amazing country! 

Baxter Richardson – At-Large Director 

Baxter joined PLATO in 2020 and is currently a member of the Diversity Awareness Committee. He has taken several in-person and virtual classes and this fall taught an in-person book study of Matthew Desmond’s “Poverty, By America.” Growing up in New York City and Methuen, Massachusetts, Baxter has degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Wesleyan University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After a stint in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service, he went on to a career as schoolteacher, school administrator, and consultant with the UW School of Education. Living in Madison since 1970, he has been active in the work of alternative schooling, food coops and Briarpatch. Currently, the social justice work of his church is an important part of his retired life. Baxter lives on the west side of Madison with spouse and since three of his four daughters live nearby, he is fortunate to have ample contact with family. Needless to say, he is an avid supporter of the PLATO concept of learning from one another while strengthening the broader Madison Community.