Meet Your UPPAA Board
of Directors…Volunteers All
PRESIDENT: 
Tyler R. Tichelaar is a novelist, freelance writer, scholar, editor and book reviewer. Tyler holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Western Michigan University, and Bachelor and Master’s Degrees from Northern Michigan University. He has lectured on writing and literature at Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of London, and at Best-Seller Publishing Institute seminars. Tyler is a regular guest co-host of Authors Access Internet Radio and one of the editors of the book Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers. He is also the owner of Superior Book Promotions, which provides, editing, proofreading, book review and other author services.
Tyler is the author of the regionally bestselling Marquette Trilogy, a family saga covering seven generations between 1849-1999 and centering on the pioneers who settled Upper Michigan. The trilogy consists of the novels Iron Pioneers, The Queen City, and Superior Heritage. He is also the author of the novels Narrow Lives and The Only Thing That Lasts. A seventh-generation resident of Upper Michigan, Tyler lives in his native Marquette where the roar of Lake Superior, mountains of snow, breathtaking scenery, and sandstone architecture inspire his writing.
VICE-PRESIDENT: Rich Hill is the author of Lake Effect: A Deckhand’s Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters. It is a deckhand’s coming-of-age story of sailing the Great Lakes steamboats during the social and political turbulence of the early 1970s. Rich sailed on four different US Steel freighters as a deckhand and deckwatch. In the mid-80s, he enrolled in the Great Lakes Maritime Academy as a deck cadet and sailed on the 1000-foot Columbia Star. This humorous yet poignant memoir follows his voyage of self-discovery.
Rich graduated from Northern Michigan University in 1981 with a BFA in furniture design. He and his wife, Judy, ran a gift store in Traverse City for seven years and a ready-to-finish furniture store in Sault Ste. Marie for a dozen years. Having recently escaped from the retail sector, he can focus more directly on writing and marketing. A new book of nonfiction stories is currently in the works and, with any luck, should be out by late spring in 2010.
RECORDING SECRETARY: Brian Helminen and his wife of 28 years, Margaret, own Designotype Printers, Inc., which is located near the Houghton County Airport and was started as a part time business in 1988. It has grown over the past 21 years into full time work for five people and provides printed marketing materials, books and mailing services to many successful businesses.
Brian graduated from MTU in 1981 with an Electrical Engineering Technology degree. After spending a year as a machinist locally, he then moved to the Chicago area and worked at Underwriters Laboratories as an Engineering Assistant for two and a half years. Retuning to the Copper Country in ’85, he worked as a field service technician repairing copiers, typewriters and fax machines. He is working on a book of stories about the many peculiar incidents and unique household experiences encountered while raising a large family in a world where small families are the norm.
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Cheryl Corey is a Regional Sales Manager for McNaughton &amo; Gunn, Inc., a complete book manufacturer specializing in print runs from 100 copies to 50,000 copies for both soft cover and hard cover books. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Printing Management from Ferris State University and has been in the printing industry for over 30 years. Cheryl has been a member of UPPAA since 2001 and has shared her knowledge as a guest speaker at several UPPAA Spring Conferences. She enjoys guiding individuals and publishers through the process of getting their books into print.
Cheryl lives in Saline, Michigan, with her husband Brian. In her spare time, Cheryl enjoys working in her extensive flower gardens, baking, and dabbling in forgotten arts such as tatting and chair caning.
TREASURER: Paula Buermele is the author of the novel The Dream Catcher Tour and has extensive experience in corporate writing, creating process documentation, and writing training materials. She regularly writes reviews for BookPleasures.com and enjoys reading different genres.
The Dream Catcher Tour is a novel about a group of women who take a bus tour the Upper Peninsula. They share their stories as they travel together and discover the beauty in human nature as well as in the views outside their bus window.
Curiosity motivates Paula to write. People fascinate her; she loves to observe and reflect on what motivates their thoughts, words, actions and reactions. Her next novel, still in the planning phase, is about a woman who becomes motivated to challenge herself to run in a Race for the Cure even though she despises running and any type of exercise. The internal commitment is made, however, and she realizes she needs help in keeping it. Paula lives in Canton, Michigan, with her husband, Byron, and works as a Service Support Representative for Unisys Corporation. She is also passionate about music and studies the flute.
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Deborah Frontiera grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but has lived in Houston, TX in 1985, where she taught in public schools until retiring in 2008. Her fantasy trilogy’s second edition, The Chronicles of Henry Roach-Dairier, with three subtitles, was released in the fall of 2004. Eric and the Enchanted Leaf: The First Adventure, released in the fall of 2004, and was an Honor book for the Texas State Reading Association’s Golden Spur Award in 2005. The second in the series, Eric and the Enchanted Leaf: A Visit with Canis Lupis, came out in 2005, and won the North Texas Book Festival’s award for children’s books in 2007. The third in the series, Eric and the Enchanted Leaf: A Night with Echo, was released by Kam Publications, in Dec. 2007. Her poems and articles have appeared in a variety of publications. She teaches part time for Writers in the Schools in the greater Houston area. Visit her website.
WEBMASTER: Victor R. Volkman is the latest UPPAA webmaster, building on the original hard work of Walt Shiel. Victor is the owner of Loving Healing Press, Inc. in Ann Arbor, MI which specializes in publishing empowering books which redefine what is possible for healing mind and spirit. LHP has published more than 100 books in hardcover and paperback and is currently converting the backlist to eBook formats. Other imprints of LHP include Modern History Press, which tells stories of conflict and the struggle for identity in modern times. He received a BS in Computer Science from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. Victor is the host of Authors Access, a bi-weekly podcast about marketing, publishing, and editing your books in all genres.
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