D.C. AIDS activist joins TPAN/TPAN names new director

D.C. AIDS activist joins TPAN
By Amy Wooten
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
March 25, 2009
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/3298

Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN) last week announced its new executive director, Bruce Weiss.

Weiss worked as a leader of the Washington, D.C., HIV/AIDS community for over a decade. His previous work includes serving as the executive director of the Sexual Minority Youth Action League, and more recently, as the director of community health at D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Clinic. Weiss also received the 2006 Capital Pride Hero Award.

Weiss said that he was “really thrilled” when he saw that TPAN, an agency he was known about for years, was looking for a new executive director, and added that he had been inspired by the organization’s approach to HIV/AIDS services.

“I feel very honored to have been chosen to join the team,” he added.

Bill Farrand, who served as the interim executive director, will serve as the agency’s director of client services once Weiss starts on April 13.




TPAN names new director
Copyright by The Windy City Times
2009-03-25
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=20748


HIV/AIDS agency Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) has announced that Bruce Weiss is the organization's executive director.
“Bruce is that rare combination of experienced leadership and unbridled enthusiasm,” said TPAN board president Condon McGlothlen. “Everyone at TPAN is excited about his arrival.”

A recipient of the 2006 Capital Pride Hero Award honoring LGBT leaders, Weiss has provided leadership to the HIV/AIDS community in Washington, D.C., for more than a decade. He served for several years as the executive director of the Sexual Minority Youth Action League ) , overseeing major growth in their programs, staffing and funding. He later became the director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic of Northern Virginia, a community health clinic focused on HIV and LGBT health care.

“I feel very fortunate to be joining such a vibrant organization,” said Weiss. “Chicago is a great city and the TPAN staff, board of directors and volunteers inspired me with their energy and passion the moment I walked through the front door. It is a remarkable organization providing important HIV prevention and care services.”

Bill Farrand, who has served as TPAN's interim executive director since October 2008, will continue in his role as the agency's director of client services.

More than 100 Chicago Public Schools ( CPS ) alumni have achieved renown as journalists, publishers and media personalities in the history of the school district. CPS issued a press release announcing the top 100 list; Windy City Times co-founder and publisher, Tracy Baim, is on said list.

The list of media personalities, found on the CPS alumni Web site, www.CPSalumni.org , also includes the late Studs Terkel, Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, Ethel Payne, Jerome Holtzman and Mike Royko. There are seven Pulitzer Prize winners, seven Peabody Award winners, two National Book Award winners, two members of the Baseball Hall of Fame Writer's Wing and 18 Emmy Award winners listed.

Several CPS alums now have awards named for them, including the late John Chancellor, Peter Lisagor and Herb Block, a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.

Baim attended Grenneman, Newberry and Walt Disney grammar schools, and is a 1980 graduate of Lane Technical High School.