Board of Directors

The Leather Leadership Conference, Inc. Board of Directors is comprised of nine members. To maintain leadership and continuity, their terms will expire on a rotating basis, with three terms expiring each year - three for a one-year term, three for a two-year term, and three for a three-year term. Current board members will elect future boards. Each year at the Leather Leadership Conference there is a call for nominations.

  Emeritus Board Members

John Weis - Founder of Leather Leadership Conference and served as board member and chairman until 2002

Jack McGeorge - Served as board member 2000- 2002; he was very instrumental in developing LLC into a national organization.

Glenda Rider - Served as a board member 2000-2003

Libby Warren - Has been in the scene since 1992 when she met John in NYC. After getting involved in some TES meetings she wanted to help build a similar BDSM community in Boston. Libby, together with John, founded The Boston Dungeon Society and was instrumental in shepherding BDS from a local bbs into a member run incorporated non-profit BDSM group. Libby is active in the BDSM scene as an educator, leader and an organizer slut and is an inspirational leader of volunteers. She presents on BDSM topics relating to submission, spirituality, relationships, organization planning and leadership development. Libby has served on the board of National Coalition of Sexual Freedom and is an Emeritus Board Member of Leather Leadership conference. In the fall of 2004, Libby & John moved to South Florida where they are active in local BDSM community and members of SPICE and SSF. Libby is also well known for giving great parties.

Lolita Wolf - (bio coming soon)

Cynthia Wright - Served on the Board of LLC, Inc. from 2000-2006. She served as Secretary for the first two years and as Chairman of the Board for the last four years. Cynthia believes that the Leather Leadership Conference is an important institution in our Leather Community and is proud to continue her work with LLC as an Emeritus Member of the Board as of 2006.

Larry Manion - Larry is a founding member of St. Louis Leather & Lace, and was an officer and Board member for each of its first eight years of existence including six terms as Chairperson. He is a five term Co-Chair of Beat Me in St. Louis, and a three term Co-Chair of Spanksgiving in St. Louis. He has served for several years as St. Louis Leather & Lace's representative to the National Coalition of Sexual Freedom, and has been an NCSF Education Outreach Program presenter from 2000 to the present. Larry has attended LLC each year beginning in San Francisco in 1999 and has presented on various event management, group management and legal-related SM issues at LLC's IV, V, VII, VIII, and X. He presents on those and more "how-to" topics at a variety of events. Larry was a Judge at IML 2003 and is a former Pantheon of Leather Regional Service Award winner. Larry knows that he and his local group have benefited tremendously from the information learned and the contacts made at LLC and he is proud of his service to the LLC Board in order to help pass those benefits along to others. He started with the LLC Board in 2002 and was elected Chair of the LLC Board in 2006.

Graylin K. Thornton - Known as sigma to his leather family, he currently resides in San Francisco, CA where he is employed as a video director and associate editor of International Leatherman/Powerplay magazine. Mr. Thornton graduated from San Jose State University in 1985 with a BA in TV/Film production and a minor in Drama with an emphasis in dance. Immediately following graduation he toured the country performing in various shows including Jesus Christ Superstar, Dreamgirls, Once on this Island and Raisin. In 1987 he settled in San Jose, CA and became the subscription manager at San Jose Repertory Theatre and later development assistant in major gift fundraising few years later, Graylin moved to KTEH public television as the Manager of Major Giving and Event Planning. While a member of the San Jose community, Graylin Thornton served as advisor to the local chapter of Delta Lambda Phi and presented workshops in fundraising at their national caucus. His community involvement continued as an active member of High Tech Gays (HTG) and as a key fundraiser for the Congressional race involving Tom Nolan, the first openly gay politician in San Mateo County. During this time he became one of the original members of the South Bay Leather and Uniform Group (SLUG) and produced their first title contest. His involvement with (SLUG) continued and he went on to produce more contests, events and eventually the first South Bay Leatherfest. While a resident of San Jose he and his then partner opened the bar Greg's Ball Room to cater to the areas growing gay/lesbian community. In 1991, Graylin Thornton produced the first Ebony Leather Contest in San Francisco, which was developed to bring the leather lifestyle to more people of color. In 1993 Graylin Thornton won the title of Northern California Mr. Drummer and later went on to win the title of International Mr. Drummer as is still, unfortunately the only person of color to hold that title. Graylin has judged and emceed various local and national contests and presented at various workshops in topics ranging from flogging to people of color issues. In 1999, Graylin Thornton was a member of the Leather Leadership Committee of San Francisco. Recently he was featured in Frontiers Newsmagazine's Black History edition and has written articles on black history and sexual stereotypes for that and other publications. Currently, Thornton is actively involved with Project Open Hand and is a board member of New Leaf Services for the Community in San Francisco. He was also recently voted an associate member of the Chicago Hellfire Club and is the proud slave of John Bertsch (Alpha) of San Diego, CA.

  Nominations to the Board

Every year at the Leather Leadership Conference there is a call for nominations to serve on the Board of Directors. Community members interested in serving on the LLC board should complete the board application. Each year during the annual conference there will be a time set aside for the current board to meet with prospective board members to describe board members duties and responsibilities, and to answer any questions that prospective board members may have.

Interested prospective board members may submit an application (self-nominate) as early as January 1. All prospective board members should have their application postmarked by U.S. mail, or sent by email, by May 15, 2008. New Board members assume office on July 1, 2008 and should if at all possible be able to attend a Board meeting in Atlanta on Friday morning August 15 through 1:00 PM Sunday August 17, 2008 at 1:00 pm.