She is also heavily involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., where she is an all-around participant. Her pursuits include the Bardic Arts, dance, fencing, archery, weaving, costuming, thrown weapons, heraldry, general research, and a variety of other activities. She has also served as public relations officer for her local group for four years, as well as chapter "vice president." She also holds an undergraduate degree in Theatre, a master's degree in Business, and a certificate in Non-Profit Administration. She is an avid local actor, enjoys role-playing games, and has recently begun to learn harp.

Anya is an incurable multi-tasker who works with a lot of windows open on her computer at a time. She is also an adrenaline junkie who often loses track of time whilst working and has to be reminded to eat and sleep. Currently working abroad as an ESL teacher, she also writes two Harry Potter WiP fanfics and is teaching herself to play the guitar because she has no other way of letting out the songs she has already composed in her head. As the Volunteer Coordinator for the Nimbus-2003 symposium, a FictionAlley eMentor moderator and FictionAlley Playground mod, she makes lists of lists to keep track of everyone and often uses her sense of humour to keep sane. Life is too short for regrets. Want to volunteer? Go to The Sorting Hat and you'll give her yet another reason to be happy.

Heidi Tandy, the Sponsorship Committee Chair, is a thirtysomething intellectual property & internet lawyer in Florida, and serves as Organizational Officer for FictionAlley. If she ever emails you, she won't be giving you any legal advice. She's an alum of the University of Pennsylvania, and listens to more Crowded House music than is good for her (or so her husband thinks).

Penny Linsenmayer was a moderator for Harry Potter for Grownups, one of the longest running Harry Potter discussion lists on the Internet. She is one of the Programming Committee co-chairs. Penny lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two-year old daughter. She has a B.A. in History and English from Texas Tech University and earned her law degree at The University of Texas School of Law. She practiced corporate and securities law for nearly nine years and is now, in addition to being a full-time stay-at-home mother, involved in various writing projects relating to the life and works of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She enjoys reading, genealogy and scrapbooking in her spare time.

Ebony Thomas teaches high school English in Michigan. In addition to mentoring dozens of aspiring writers, in May 2003 she will complete her M.A. in English Literature (God, health, and thesis committee willing). Her nascent research interests include postcolonial studies, the romantic movement as imperial discourse, multicultural education, and children's/adolescent literature. In her spare time, she pursues her lifelong dream of becoming a published novelist and enjoys cooking, entertaining, and traveling the globe. She serves as one of the co-chairs for the Programming Committee.

Ms. Duncan is a tax lawyer with over 15 years' experience in private practice with a firm in Washington, D.C. In addition to her law degree from George Washington University, she has a B.A. in government from The College of William and Mary. A lifelong reader of fiction and nonfiction, she is a list elf at HPforGrownups, as well as a member of the Jane Austen Society. She shares her passion for Harry Potter with her husband and two school-age children.

Amy Vezza, aka AjesBlue, aka Beasties-Boys #1, aka... well, you get the idea, is the Informal Programming/Events Coordinator for Nimbus. She has been writing since she learned to read at age four, writing fanfiction since before she knew that was what she was really doing, and sharing her stories with others since early 2001. In real life she is a Web designer, a former bookstore manager, and very active in community theatre - whether it be onstage or off. She owns a small house by a river in Massachusetts, and is currently searching for a friendly, four-legged, canine companion to share her space.

Suzanne Wolfe is a 24 year old research chemist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her involvement in the fandom comes from reading fanfic while trying to avoid Calculus 2. She is the Editorial and Publishing committee chair, and has experience with desktop publishing since her days producing 2 yearbooks on PageMaker and doing the layout for her high school newspaper on MS Publisher. In her free time she enjoys outdoor activities such as water skiing, tubing, and whitewater rafting. She also has a love for everything organized so decorating her new condo is tops on her list - after working on the Symposium, of course!

Chris M. Dickson, the interim Game Room Co-ordinator, is a recent mathematics graduate from Oxford University and lives in north-east England, roughly half-way between Hogwarts and King's Cross station. He is self-employed, working on a number of writing and web projects. He has attended game conventions for eight years and frequently organises games and tournaments around the country. He is interested in games and puzzles of all types, having twice been part of the United Kingdom team in the World Puzzle Championships.

Carole Estes is the Site Logistics Coordinator for Nimbus. She's been involved in the fandom since March 2000, when in a moment of extreme boredom she picked up her son's copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. After reading Prisoner of Azkaban, she became addicted to the character of Sirius Black and the rest is history. She reads and writes fanfic, and is best known for her collaboration with Penny (Programming Co-Chair) on ? A Sirius Affair. In real life, Carole is a 40-something consulting hydrogeologist living in Florida with her husband and three boys. She has a B.S. in Oceanography and an M.S. in Geology and can be found on-line when not working, taking care of the kids, doing laundry, reading, or even occasionally sleeping.

Lynn Chealander, the Public Relations director, has traversed the HP fandom under many guises over the last four years. Presently, she serves as a global editor for CountingDown.com and maintains Chris Rankin's official website. When in need of sleep, a rare occurrence, she attends classes at the University of Washington. In her more lucid moments she moonlights as a web designer and obsesses over Chris Guest movies. Amongst her weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms.

Julie is the Nimbus - 2003 art gallery and auction organizer. She is a fine arts professional,who is a practicing mixed media artist, craft witch, and current program director for a cultural institution in the Midwest, U.S.A. Besides her interest in the Harry Potter series, she is also an offbeat film enthusiast. She's marriedto the director of commercial fine art gallery and is the mother of a four-year-old diva who aspires to be a princess fairy.

Victoria Powers is the Head Exhibitor Chaser for the Department of Magical Commerce and feels she has achieved her true calling in life by basically putting together a mall. She read the first two books in the Harry Potter series when they were packed as light and non-distractive reading for a vacation in Tahiti - little did she know. Upon her return she quickly devoured books 3 and 4 and then began the long wait for book 5. Victoria stumbled upon The HP Fandom and Fiction by way of the Very Secret Diaries by Cassandra Claire, and can now be found panhandling for H/D fic recommendations on her LiveJournal. In real life Victoria is a semi-native Floridian, now living in Denver, and earns her shopping money as a Corporate Recruiter in the Consulting Industry.

Katie (Head of Magical Law Enforcement) will help coordinate security for Nimbus - 2003. She also maintains our site www.hp2003.org and the Nimbus - 2003 LiveJournal. Please report relevant broken links to her at this address: webmistress@hp2003.org. She could never get all the work done without her elves! Josh, Sabs, and Rennie!

This event would not be possible without the support and advice from the HP Education Fanon, Inc. board of directors, who give generously of their time and experience.

The members of the Board are (in alphabetical order):

Rob Ihinger was born in Southern California, but has lived in Minnesota for more than three decades now. Clean air, clean water, clean (but interesting) politics . . . no reason to leave. An attorney by training, librarian by inclination, salesman by necessity, all around nice guy by sheer luck. Stumbling into science fiction fandom by happy coincidence, he has volunteered for more than thirty conventions including Worldcon, World Fantasy Convention, Minicon, Fourth Street Fantasy Convention and others, in such roles as Executive Committee, Head of Operations, Hotel Head, Volunteer Coordinator, Troubleshooter, Communications Officer, Liaison, Moderator and Program Participant, Badger, and Gopher. Served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society for five years, including the year of complete Bylaw rewriting. Believes his writing group holds the record for continuous meeting without producing a single manuscript.

Peg Kerr was born in a Chicago suburb, moved to Minnesota to attend St. Olaf College, and has stayed in Minnesota ever since. With $50.00 from her first paycheck from her first job out of college, she registered for a science fiction and fantasy writing class. There, she met her husband and wrote the first story she ever sold. In hindsight, this is all quite pleasant consolation for the fact that she was fired from her job the day the class started.

She attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1988 and has an M.A. in English Literature, specializing in speculative fiction. Her fiction has appeared in various science fiction and fantasy magazines and anthologies. Emerald House Rising is her first novel. The Wild Swans, a stand-alone fantasy based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, is her second.

She presently lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Robert Ihinger, and two daughters.

Barb Purdom studied classics and anthropology at Temple University years ago and still lives in her native Philadelphia with her husband and kids, working as a freelance singer (chamber music) and also attending school once more (architecture).

Steve Vander Ark is a K-8 library media specialist from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also a freelance writer and columnist, as well as being the resident director for Caledonia Community Players. Steve is probably best known in fandom as the creator and editor of The Harry Potter Lexicon, a reference web site devoted to the book series. Steve has been involved with fandoms for many years, beginning with his first Star Trek convention back in 1975. He's served as president of various fan clubs and other fan organizations over the years. Steve used to be just an inch or two shy of six feet tall, but now he isn't sure if he is shrinking or if his 14-year-old daughter with the long blonde hair is really getting that tall.

John Walton is a 20-something New Yorker with a British accent who will have a MA in International Relations from the University of St Andrews by the time Nimbus - 2003 happens -- if it doesn't kill him in the process. John is an educator, specialising in dyslexia, hyperlexia, ADD, ADHD and autistic spectrum students, and hopes to spend a year from August 2003 teaching English as a second language in China. He's a Moderator of HPforGrownups and is the Ombudsman (independent adjudicator) of FictionAlley.