The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) is in the election process for our 2024 National Board of Directors! Since you're an OAC member, you have the privilege of helping to build our incredible leadership.

Below, you will find our 2024 National Board of Directors slate. Please review this slate and take action if needed. Alternate candidates may be presented but must receive FIVE percent of the vote to be on the slate. If you do not have any alternative candidates or objections, no action is needed at this time. Details about this process may be found below the slate of presented candidates.

Jason Krynicki

Jason Krynicki resides in Brick, New Jersey where he is an integral part of a Bariatric multi-disciplinary team, located at Community Medical Center, while also providing assistance to a sister program at Monmouth Medical Center. As a passionate advocate of obesity-related health and equality issues, and a patient himself, Jason is responsible for having Obesity Care Week enacted in the State Legislature of New Jersey. This is now an annual event, occurring the second week of October. As part of his activism, he is presently working with the State to obtain Medicaid coverage for weight management drugs. As a member of the Obesity Action Coalition, Jason is proud to give his time and energies to the OAC with the goals of perpetuating public education, guaranteeing equality and integrity and caring for often marginalized members of society. He currently serves on OAC’s Access to Care and the Convention Welcome Committees and, in 2017, received the Barbara Thompson Award for Advocacy. Jason is an ardent NY Giants and Yankees fan, and his spare time is filled with traveling, friends, new and old, family and his cat, Layla. 

Michele Tedder, MSN, RN

Michele Tedder has been a proud member of the OAC since 2019 when she discovered the organization through an internet search while looking for support post bariatric surgery in 2017. Michele is a passionate advocate for people just like herself, living with the disease of obesity. Having struggled with her weight since childhood Michele knows what it is like to experience the negative impacts of living with a chronic condition like obesity. Through her lived experience she uses her influence to advocate for comprehensive and equitable obesity care. She is a sought-after speaker, panelist and subject matter expert discussing issues and policies that impact access to obesity care. Michele was recently a recipient of the 2023 HealtheVoices Impact Award sponsored by Johnson and Johnson. This award is given to health advocates to support the advancement of their work. Michele serves as a Senior Program Manager at the Black Women’s Health Imperative. She is also the Founder of Village Empowerment Solutions, a consulting business focused on supporting organizations with strategies that improve health outcomes for people living with obesity and other chronic diseases.

Linda Manning, MD, PhD

Linda Shapiro Manning, MD, PhD, has dedicated her professional career to empowering positive change through passion, knowledge and determination to advance understanding and treatment of people living with obesity and overweight.  She has brought the voice of over 5,000 patients from her ten years of clinical practice into her work over the last dozen years in the pharma/biotech industry and her service on committees of The Obesity Society and the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Linda’s inspirational commitment and advocacy have helped to raise awareness and understanding, reduce stigma and bias, develop new treatments, and foster a supportive community to bring discussions about obesity into the mainstream, acceptance and inclusivity. Linda currently enjoys serving on OAC’s Bias committee while she works as an independent advisor to organizations committed to advancing understanding, advocacy and treatment for people with obesity and weight-related conditions.

Debe Gau - Debe Gau has been an OAC member since 2011 and has attended the Your Weight Matters National Convention annually since 2013. Prior to her retirement in 2019, Debe served as an advocate and patient educator in a bariatric practice, often providing resources from the OAC to patients as well as providers interested in learning about treating patients like herself with obesity.  She is honored to have been selected as the recipient of the Barbara Thompson Award for Advocacy in 2018. 

In her tenure as an OAC member, Debe has served on the Convention Planning Committee, Chairwoman of the Welcoming Committee, and is currently on the Membership, Long-range Planning and Mental Health Committees and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2020.

Ms. Gau, like many OAC members, has been personally affected by obesity and chose bariatric surgery as a treatment in 2001. Debe is passionate about sharing her 22 years of post-weight-loss surgery experience in supporting others in achieving their goals of becoming healthier. Debe is a proud “Minnesnowdan” who loves her accent and considers herself a true snowbird staying north during the winter months, where you may spot her snowmobiling, ice fishing or walking on one of 10,000 frozen lakes.

Please note: The election process also formally votes for the renewal of the above Directors of the OAC National Board.

According to OAC's bylaws, the above slate will officially be elected on December 31, 2023, unless FIVE percent of OAC's membership submits an additional individual to be considered within 30 days of when this slate is presented. 

If you wish to submit a nominee to be considered for the Board of Directors, please email [email protected] with your name, the nominee's name, and the nominee's contact information. Anyone proposed must be a current member of the organization. If additional nominees are submitted, an official election ballot (including the above slate and any additional nominees) will be sent to OAC's membership. If you have no objections and/or suggestions for additional nominees, no action is needed. 

The above members of the slate, if elected, will become Directors for 2023. To view the current list of OAC's National Board of Directors, Click Here. 

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