NPDL Board of Directors
The Board consists of seven directors who oversee day-to-day operations of the league. The directors are elected by representatives of NPDL member schools during the annual elections held in May.
The 2024-25 Board
Kyle hietala (he/him), President
Serving in his second term as President, Kyle Hietala is the Program Director and Head Coach of Palo Alto High School Speech & Debate, and also teaches at the Tessellations School. Having started his career as a Teach For America teacher, he is passionate about inclusive community-building and visionary organizational leadership. Kyle also serves as Vice President, Operations on the Board of the California Coast Forensic League. Kyle grew up in rural Maine and competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate and Original Oratory at Morse High School, followed by APDA Parliamentary Debate at Yale University. He previously coached for the St. Luke’s School and Sidwell Friends School. He lives in Menlo Park, California.
Pascal Descollonges, SECRETARY
Biography coming soon.
Vy linh nguyen (She/her), Treasurer
Teaching has been my calling since I was 20. I taught MS and HS English for close to three decades and coached volleyball and debate for half that time. Starting in 2023-24 I will be coaching MS and HS debate full-time for the Head-Royce School in Oakland, CA. My wife and I are proud parents of three kids, one here in the US and two in Vietnam. Courage, kindfulness, and truth are values I try to live by.
Evan Streams (He/him), TOC Director
Evan has coached debate for thirteen years. He is currently Head Coach at The Dalton School in New York, and has previously coached for Westfield Academy, The Dartmouth Debate Institute, the National High School Debate League of China, and his alma mater Joel Barlow High School. In that time his students have won hundreds of awards, notably the Tournament of Champions, Connecticut state championship, and New York City championship, as well as taking second place in the Chinese national championship. He has coached and debated American Parli, British Parli, Public Forum, Policy, and Extemporaneous Parli debate. Evan studied philosophy at Columbia University. When not debating, he also enjoys hiking, D&D, and cats.
Julie Herman (she/her), Reporting Director
Julie is the Parliamentary Debate Director at the Nueva School and Head of Speech and Debate for the MVLA High School District. She is delighted to return to the NPDL Board this year and hopes to work with her colleagues to expand national recognition of the organization. She also serves on the Coast Forensic League board as VP of Debate. Outside of Parli, Julie enjoys playing tabletop games and doing fibre crafts.
NATE BERLS (HE/HIM), Curriculum director
Nate is an environmental consultant specializing in CEQA and the coach at Bard Queens Early College High School in New York City. He previously served as the Site Director of the 2024 NPDL Tournament of Champions and as the Director of Parliamentary Debate for the Golden Gate Speech Association. A former high school debater himself, he has coaching experience on both coasts, with five years at Analy High School in California and two years at Bard. This experience gives him a broad perspective on the unique dynamics of debate in different regions. Outside of debate, Nate enjoys playing pickup speed chess.
Hatim Malek, PR Director
Hatim is the Speech & Debate Director at Windward High School in Los Angeles, California. He has been involved in the activity for the last 14 years of his life, both as a competitor and as a coach. He has coached and competed in almost every category offered at the high school and college levels, including Parliamentary Debate, British Parliamentary Debate, Public Forum, Congressional Debate, APDA, and the various speech events offered across Interpretation, Limited Prep, and Public Address. This is his first year as a director, and he is incredibly excited to be able to support the growth of his colleagues and the NPDL. Outside of coaching, Hatim enjoys video games, board games, D&D, reading, and writing.
BoARD Elections
ABOUT
School representatives vote in annual elections to choose the NPDL Board of Directors. Each member school gets two representatives— one adult representative and one student representative. Elections will be conducted based on the procedure outlined in Article VI and Article XXIV.
ELECTING THE 2024-25 BOARD
Candidates can will be running for the various positions: president, secretary, treasurer, TOC director, and outreach directors (reporting, curriculum, public relations). See their candidate statements in the NPDL membership elections’ folder.
Recently, the Board voted to push back elections two weeks; just for this year, they will take place during the Spring voting period on May 15-21, 2024.
To vote in Board elections, your school must have registered for NPDL membership by mid-March.
The roster of representatives who will be eligible to vote in the election must be finalized by May 6. To change a representative, please have your school supervisor or school representative email npdl.board+secretary@gmail.com. The email notice must CC the school supervisor, the old representative being removed (if applicable), the new representative being designated (if applicable), and the other representative of the school (if there is one).
All deadlines are 11:59PM (Pacific time).
Any adult high school graduate may run for a Board position.
Information about how to vote will be emailed out to all school representatives.
Inspectors of this year’s election are Xavier Liu and Charles Schletzbaum.
DEADLINES FOR CANDIDATES
April 19: Statements of Interest due to npdl.elections@gmail.com. The Statement of Interest must list at least one, but no more than three Board positions the person is interested in. A Statement of Interest does not constitute a definite commitment to run in the election, but is a required step for anyone who does want to run (see XXIV.2).
April 28: Candidacy declarations due to npdl.elections@gmail.com. No person may run for more than one Board position (see VI.3.C). Each candidacy must consist of a single person (see V.2.C).
May 3: Candidate statements due to npdl.elections@gmail.com (see XXIV.4.B).
All deadlines are 11:59PM (Pacific time).
BOARD MEMBER DUTIES
Duties of all Board members
President (see XXVII.6)
↖one Board seat, elected through Instant Runoff Voting
chair monthly Board meetings
communicate with tournament directors
maintain the tournament calendar
Secretary (see XVII.7)
↖one Board seat, elected through Instant Runoff Voting
take minutes at member and Board meetings
maintain the member roster
keep the bylaws up to date
send updates to the league membership
Treasurer (see XXVII.8)
↖one Board seat, elected through Instant Runoff Voting
manage league finances
report on the finances to the membership
TOC Director (see XXVII.9)
↖one Board seat, elected through Instant Runoff Voting
organize the NPDL Tournament of Champions
Outreach Directors (see XVII.10-13)
↖three Board seats, elected through Single Transferable Vote
maintain NPDL rankings, resolutions database, and round recordings database
develop Parli debate curriculum
oversee public relations
Past Boards
Board members listed as of the end of each term.
2017-18
President: Trevor Greenan
Secretary: Rishabh Meswani
Treasurer: Artem Raskin
TOC Director: Julie Herman
Web Director: Sierra Maciorowski-Hribar
Outreach Director: Sarah Sherwood
2018-19
President: Eliza Haas
Treasurer: Artem Raskin
TOC Director: Joel Jacobs
Web Director: Sierra Maciorowski-Hribar
Outreach Director: Rodda John
2019-20
President: Eliza Haas
Secretary: John McBlair
Treasurer: Artem Raskin
TOC Director: Joel Jacobs
Web Director: Sierra Maciorowski-Hribar & Shannon Bonet
Outreach Director: Rodda John
2020-21
President: Brier Buchalter
Secretary: Artem Raskin
Treasurer: Everett Rutan
TOC Director: Joel Jacobs
Web Director: Rodda John
Outreach Director: Mikendra McCoy
2022-23
President: Brier Buchalter
Secretary: Artem Raskin
Treasurer: Rodda John
TOC Director: Joel Jacobs
Reporting Director: Nick Hansen
Curriculum Director: Esha Shah
PR Director: Mikendra McCoy
2021-22
President: Brier Buchalter
Secretary: Artem Raskin
Treasurer: Karen Chen
TOC Director: Joel Jacobs
Reporting Director: Kate Clarke-Anderson
Curriculum Director: Izah Baird
PR Director: Mikendra McCoy
2024-25 (CURRENT)
President: Kyle Hietala
Secretary: Pascal Descollonges
Treasurer: Vy Linh Nguyen
TOC Director: Evan Streams
Reporting Director: Julie Herman
Curriculum Director: Nate Berls
PR Director: Hatim Malek
2023-24
President: Kyle Hietala
Secretary: Vy Linh Nguyen
Treasurer: Rodda John
TOC Director: Joel Jacobs
Reporting Director: Pascal Descollonges
Curriculum Director: Julie Herman
PR Director: Mikendra McCoy