With the announcement that Julia R. Nack, NMG, had been selected to receive this year’s President’s Award from the National Guardianship Association (NGA), this Ohio professional is now distinguished as the recipient of two of the highest awards in the field of guardianship.  She also was awarded the National Master Guardian Star Achievement Award from the Center for Guardianship Certification in 2007.

Ms. Nack, who is Director of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging/Volunteer Guardian Program in Columbus, Ohio, was presented the President’s Award at the 2009 National Conference on Guardianship on October 4.  This NGA recognition is significant in that it is the only award presented at the sole discretion of the organization’s President and it is awarded to the person who has provided the greatest assistance, value and service during the President’s term of office.

In making the award announcement NGA President Vicki V. Alkire, NGM, outlined many of the ways Ms. Nack supported her and the organization over the past year saying, “sometimes I would feel it was too much for just one person.”  She spoke of the award as being but a small thank you for Ms. Nack’s “leadership and all that she has contributed, not just this year, but throughout her time with NGA. “

Of Ms. Nack’s contributions during the past year, the President especially cited Ms. Nack for chairing NGA’s highly successful National Colloquium on “The Ethics of Our Decisions” held last spring in Charlotte, NC.

Ms. Alkire also acknowledged Ms. Nack’s service to the guardianship association as Treasurer during 2009 saying she “had helped the Board to better understand the various financial reports, had emphasized to the Board its fiscal responsibilities, and had been pro-active in projecting year end statistics.”

In addition, Ms. Nack was recognized for her leadership of NGA’s Long Range Planning Task Force initiated during Ms. Alkire’s term.  The President said the Task Force would help NGA prosper because of Ms. Nack’s careful research, the detailed plan she created for the process, and her enthusiasm in ensuring full involvement from the Board and the membership.

Ms. Nack has nearly thirty years of guardianship experience and as a National Master Guardian (NMG) has earned the highest certification available in the profession.  Before assuming her current post, she spent 11 years as the Director of Program Services for Advocacy and Protective Services Inc (APSI), a statewide non-profit agency, which provides guardianship and payee services to individuals with developmental disabilities; and for several years she was the Court Investigator for the Franklin County Probate Court.  She has served as the Program Director for the Volunteer Guardian Program at the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA) for nearly fifteen years.

In service to her profession Ms. Nack has been instrumental in establishing the Ohio Guardianship Association (OGA), has chaired the committee for the annual OGA Educational Conference and has served on the OGA Executive Committee. She also is a participant in the Supreme Court Subcommittee on Adult Guardianship.  On a national level she is a member of the Executive Committee for the NGA Board of Directors, has chaired the NGA Ethics Committee, and is on the Board of Trustees for the Center for Guardianship Certification.

The mission of the National Guardianship Association is to provide education, training, and networking opportunities for guardians and about guardianship; to promote the highest levels of values, standards and ethics; and to ensure a nationally recognized standard of excellence. The membership is composed of more nearly 1000 individuals and organizations throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. They are: guardians, attorneys, conservators, social workers, fiduciaries, bankers, representative payees, advocates, physicians and hospitals and others interested in guardianship and surrogacy. To learn more about the NGA go to www.guardianship.org.