2021 Election Slate of Candidates
Nominating Committee Chair Rick Coble is pleased to announce the slate of candidates for the 2021 SER Board of Directors election.
SER positions to be elected in 2021 are: President, Treasurer, and and 2 Directors.
Roy Masterson 
Like most model railroaders I caught the bug early. My older cousin had a Lionel Santa Fe layout his family set up at Christmas and at age 6 it was love at first sight when I saw that Santa Fe passenger train! The next year Santa brought me an American Flyer train set and I have followed the hobby since then. I still remember the first Model Railroader magazine my cousin gave me. I have enjoyed many years of real and model trains since and sharing the hobby with fellow modelers.
I currently serve as Director on the Board of the Southeastern Region and as Superintendent of the Cherokee Division. In 2019 I represented the SER on the NMRA’s 2025 Strategic Planning Committee along with members of all national and international Regions of the NMRA. In 2018 I was awarded the President’s Award for the progress the Cherokee Division has achieved in promoting our hobby in the Southeastern Region. In 2020 I received the Dave Muller Award for Individual Achievements and Volunteerism and have earned two NMRA Achievement Awards: Association Official and Association Volunteer. Serving as the Convention Chairman for the 2019 SER Convention held in Chattanooga, Tennessee was probably my biggest challenge so far.
In September of 2016 I was asked if I would take over as Superintendent of the Southern District of the Headquarters Division. Our District had been inactive for many years and with the help of our newly elected Board we have become an active organization again. In 2018 we renamed our division to the Cherokee Division and hosted the 2019 SER Annual Convention. Along the way we also held several Boy Scout Railroad Merit Badge Programs. In late 2020 the Cherokee Division incorporated as a non-profit and have applied for 501(c)(3) status.
My model railroading Interests include being a member of the Operations Special Interest Group (OPSIG), Chattanooga Modular Modular Modelers, Inc., Tennessee Valley Model Railroad, Inc., and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. My own HO scale Southern Railway – Cherokee Division is a double-deck layout designed for operations. My 230’ mainline layout is set in the late 1970’s and trains run from Harriman, TN to Decatur, AL with enough switching opportunities to keep crews busy during an operating session.
I especially enjoy the operations aspect of model railroading and have been fortunate to operate on a lot of outstanding layouts in and around the SER. The best thing about being in the NMRA is all the friendships we make as we all enjoy the best hobby there is and getting to see examples of outstanding modeling our members have created. My wife, Kay, and I live in Chattanooga and have two grown daughters and one grandson (who has been running trains on my layout since he was 5 years old). If elected President of the SER it will be an honor to work with the many outstanding modelers in our Region as we share our love of trains and help promote future leaders in our great hobby.
Mark McAllister 
My name is Mark McAllister. I have had the pleasure of serving the SER for the past two years as your CFO/Treasurer. In this time, we've worked through a pandemic, the loss of a convention and many changes to how we work personally and within the SER. As a BOD member, committed resources to help divisions maintain programs and form new ones to reach out to new members. Most recently, we've purchased Zoom licenses that may be used by divisions to host meetings and training events upon request.
The SER and the NMRA will face many challenges and changes as we move forward and work to establish new normals and service. I believe the SouthEasteRn region should lead the way. I would like part of that leadership as an incumbent.
I am seeking to serve a second term as your CFO/Treasurer to continue to streamline services and grow the SER. Thank you for your vote and support.
Brian Ford 
My appreciation of railroads came from my grandfather, who was a brakeman for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad near Port Huron, MI. My first trainset was a bicentennial one for Christmas that I promptly setup on the ping pong table. Then I started reading model railroading magazines and found John Armstrong’s design book, which opened my eyes to what is possible.
After moving to Kansas City, I joined NMRA in 2001 to find other model railroaders and to learn more. A regular operating group invited me to join and I also began participating in regional and national NMRA conventions. After moving to Chattanooga in 2010, I reached out through NMRA to find other model railroaders. I really enjoy layout design, prototype research, and operations, and am a regular operator for several layouts in Tennessee and Atlanta.
I am also a member of Chattanooga Modular Modelers, Tennessee Valley Model Railroaders Inc (new layout under construction at the TVRM), and NMRA-OpSIG (of course!). For the last several years I have served as director for the Cherokee (former HQ) Division of SER and have presented part of the Boy Scout RR merit badge. I also served on the 2019 SER Convention Committee and planned/executed several activities for that very successful convention.
I have enjoyed helping model railroad friends design extensions of their railroads. In my spare time I am building an HO representation of mid-1990’s BN in the Springfield MO area on the old Frisco, called the BN Monett Sub. My railroad is funded by full-time employment at TVA, where I oversee fire protection upgrades and testing for our fleet of coal/gas/hydro powerplants. Even now I still go out of my way for a little railfanning, which has been further enabled by access to TVA’s coal unit trains, switcher locomotives, and other rail deliveries (such as ammonia, pebble lime, and transformers). Family includes my musical wife of 32 years (Ronda) and our American Eskimo pup (Lily).
In this hobby I have enjoyed the comradery of the model railroad community, the creative variety of layout builders, and the challenge of moving model railroad traffic as the layout owner intended. As an engineer, I am always drawn to figuring out how something works and how can it be improved, whether it’s a widget or a process. I want to serve the SER and ask for your vote as Director.
Kenneth Majchrzak 
Hello to the SER membership. My name is Kenneth Majchrzak. I am running for a 2021 Director’s position on the SER Board of Directors. I must be the "newbie" in this election as I have only been an NMRA member since 2010. However I immediately volunteered to be the Assistant Superintendent of the Palmetto Division. Six years ago I became the Superintendent. It has been a steep learning curve for me but I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have been a model railroader since I was in high school and was a member of several model railroad clubs when I lived in the State of New York. When we moved to South Carolina in 1999 the house we bought did not have a basement and no room large enough to rebuild my HO layout. So I packed it away and started into G scale railroading. I am currently building an outdoor operations based battery powered layout - another whole set of new skills required.
I hope help bring all the Divisions in the SER closer together in communications and shared activities. Any Division that has a small victory for its membership when is shared and integrated throughout the SER is a giant victory for the SER membership as a whole. Getting to know and serve as many SER members as possible is one of my main goals here.
I humbly request your support in voting for me in the upcoming election to become one of the SER BOD's. Thank you.
John Stevens 
My name is John Stevens and I am running for the position of Director of the SER.
- I joined the NMRA after visiting the NMRA/SER/Piedmont Division table at a Train Show being held in northeast Atlanta in 1997.
- In the early 2000’s, I became the Piedmont Division/Region Good & Welfare Chairman replacing John Blanchard. John had mentioned that the majority of his letters were for bad or sad things that had happened to members. I came up with the idea of Milestone Birthday Letters starting when the members reached age 65, which seemed very far away when I started them.
- In 2004, I was awarded the Dave Muller Award as the SER’s top volunteer in a single division who has done outstanding "beyond-the-call-of-duty" work to make his or her local Division effective.
- Between 2004 and 2008 I served two terms as Southeastern Region Secretary under President Bob Beaty.
- In 2008, the National Board of Directors held their Semi-Annual Board of Directors Meeting in Atlanta. At the time, I was the National Scout Coordinator and since I had never met my boss (I was part of the Education Department) I decided to attend the meeting. By dinnertime, I had been appointed Assistant Secretary.
- In 2012, I became the National Secretary which is a position that I held until 2018.
- In 2018, I became the National Vice President of Administration.
- In February 2020, I decided that I was not going to run for another term at the National level as I desired to become a POM (Plain Old Member) again.
- Well, that didn’t last long. The SER Nominating Committee approached me about running for the position of Director, which I have agreed to do.
I think that my knowledge of the operation of the NMRA along with the personal contacts that I have developed over the years will be beneficial to the members of the SER. I look forward to the opportunity of serving you again.
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