It is time to cast your vote in the 2025 ASI Board of Directors election.
ASI is pleased to announce this year’s slate of candidates for positions on the Board of Directors. The Nominating Committee had several goals when working to put together the slate of candidates, all of which focus on securing a strong future for ASI. These goals include the development of a strong Board of Directors that will function well as a whole while also representing the diversity of ASI members and their views; broadening the number of people who are included in ASI leadership at all levels; and ensuring that ASI will continue to have active members with board experience who are willing to take on future leadership roles at the highest levels. We believe the candidates presented here will help achieve all of these goals, and that they will work diligently to further the mission of ASI.
The following candidates have agreed to serve and, if elected, will take office at the ASI Annual Meeting on May 17, 2025.
Biographies and vision statements appear below. Click on the individual names for more information.
President Elect
Treasurer
Director at Large (Two positions are open in 2025)
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DEADLINE FOR VOTING IS 5 PM PACIFIC TIME, April 10, 2025.
Candidate Biographies and Vision Statements
Shannon Li (Candidate for President Elect)
Biography
Shannon M. T. Li began her indexing business (Li Indexing) in 2018 after completing the UC Berkeley course. Prior to indexing, she finished her PhD in history at Ohio State University, specializing in medieval monasticism, theology, and manuscript studies. Shannon has served in a number of volunteer positions with ASI since joining in 2018: History/Archaeology SIG membership coordinator and webmaster (2018–current), ASI Webinar and Online Learning chair (2019–2020), ASI Board member (director, 2019–2022), ASI Membership Committee volunteer (2020–current), and Chapter Relations Committee chair (2022–current).
Shannon lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband Jimmy and young children Grace (age 4) and Max (age 2).
Vision Statement
Having been a member of ASI for as long as I’ve been an indexer, it would be hard for me to imagine this career without the support of a professional organization. The continuing education programs have been indispensable to enhancing my craft, and the volunteer positions have enabled me to network and collaborate with fellow indexers. I hope to continue to foster ASI’s commitment to support the indexing profession. I look forward to serving the ASI community for another term on the Board.
Cheryl Lenser (Candidate for Treasurer)
Biography
Cheryl Lenser has a bachelor of arts in political science and a master of library and information science from Indiana University. She started her indexing career in 1995 at Macmillan Computer Publishing in Indianapolis, where she was hired as an indexer even though she applied for a proofreading position. She worked as a full-time in-house indexer for nearly 21 years, surviving several corporate buyouts and name changes, the last of which was Pearson Education. After leaving Pearson, she ventured into full-time freelance indexing and editing, focusing on computers and technology, business, political science, religious studies, travel, and various other topics. Cheryl is the current ASI treasurer and is excited for the opportunity to continue to serve in that capacity. She is a member of the Heartland Chapter and served as secretary of the chapter many years ago. She recently authored the Fall 2024 Key Words article “Indexing Travel Guides.”
Cheryl lives in central Indiana with her husband and numerous pets (dog, birds, turtles, fish), some of which she is “babysitting” for her twin daughters who are away at college. When not indexing or editing, she enjoys reading, gardening, visiting state parks, and watching college basketball.
Vision Statement
I have been a member of ASI for many years and have served as your treasurer for the past three years. As treasurer, my desire is to continue ASI’s fiscal responsibility to its members and to maintain transparency in all financial matters. I believe it is important to have a professional organization that offers many different types of opportunities for education, recruitment, networking, and community outreach, both as individual indexers and as a group. I am glad to help ASI fulfill this mission to the indexing community.
Elizabeth Bartmess (Candidate for Director—three-year term)
Biography
Elizabeth Bartmess discovered indexing in 2021 while researching freelance editing as a potential career, and began indexing in 2022. Since then, she has indexed books ranging from military history to self-help to programming, with a focus on embedded indexes and technology and design books. She has master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in social psychology and information science, the latter focused on usability testing and user interface design. Her past experience includes data management, statistical programming, writing fiction and nonfiction, and creating technical documentation and trainings.
Elizabeth volunteers with the Open Cindex project, develops indexing software utilities, and serves as chair and co-webmaster for ASI’s Pacific Northwest Chapter as well as co-webmaster for ASI’s Digital Publications Indexing SIG. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, their housemates, and a terrarium full of snails.
Vision Statement
My goal is to support ASI’s ongoing efforts, particularly in the areas of education, communication, and community. I will bring an enhanced focus on indexers’ technology and technological education, including the need for information and guidance on the potential impact of AI.
Marta Steele (Candidate for Director—three-year term)
Biography
Marta Steele began her indexing career in 2016 after many years in publishing as a manuscript editor specializing in classics. She has worked in-house, as a contractor, and, most lately, as a full-time freelancer in academic publishing. She holds an MA in classics and historical linguistics from UCLA and has done coursework in many other subjects ranging from journalism to Provencal poetry. She has also taken a plethora of webinars in indexing through ASI and greatly appreciates the skills she has learned. In past lives Marta taught Greek, Latin, and English composition and rhetoric at the college level, and she worked full-time and freelance as a journalist. Copyediting, proofreading, and freelance journalism are ongoing pursuits as well. Marta serves on ASI’s Membership Committee and helps moderate the Jobs Hotline.
Marta lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, within walking distance of northeast Philadelphia. She loves visiting her daughter and family in Manhattan, where her daughter works as a professor of sociology. She has two beloved granddaughters, ages 4 and 8. In her spare time she enjoys reading and writing as well as communing with her calico cat, Zoë.
Vision Statement
On ASI’s board I would have the opportunity to acquire a wider perspective on ASI’s activities, programs, and visions for the future, and hence contribute more. I have benefited from the broad sweep of programs and opportunities ASI provides. My own professional life has been so enhanced by interacting with such knowledgeable and brilliant colleagues. I’m always amazed when I tell people that I’m an indexer and they ask, “What’s that?” Raising consciousness is important, be it through the first National Indexing Day last November or other forms of outreach that can spawn “increasing awareness of the value of high-quality indexes and indexing” (to quote from ASI’s mission statement). The challenge is to continue in these directions and to be sure every member of ASI benefits from all available resources.