Plain English USA SM
About Us
Plain English USA SM
Plain English USA SM is comprised of Annette Glass (owner) and a group of individuals who serve as the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board Members:
• bring unique knowledge and skills to our business;
• provide advice and comments on the direction of our business;
• assist with the development of solutions to the challenges our clients bring to us;
• provide feedback concerning the services offered by Plain English USA; and
• assist our clients by identifying and suggesting networking opportunities.
Meet the Members
Annette Glass, Owner and Manager
Mrs. Glass (she prefers “Annette”) has been writing and speaking to groups for more than 20 years. Her specialty is translating complicated language into plain English, a talent born from writing analyses of legislation. She has a background in training and staff development and continues to enjoy teaching classes and workshops on a variety of topics including Legal Research for Non-Attorneys, How Technical People Can Communicate with Non-technical People, and How the State Legislature Really Works. Annette designs and writes the workshops and seminars she presents.
Annette worked for fifteen years in the Texas House of Representatives, first as the Clerk for the Committee on Environmental Regulation and then as a Legislative Aide for an elected official. During that time she analyzed legislation and wrote easy-to-understand explanations of how and why the law was being changed. Her success at this endeavor resulted in invitations to teach nuclear engineering students how to convey their messages clearly to the average citizen and why it was important for them to be able to do so.
Annette has a passion for conflict resolution and clear communication. She started Plain English USA with the goal of enabling people with complicated or technical messages to clearly convey them to an average reader or listener.
Known for her sense of humor, Annette liberally shares it in her workshops and, when appropriate, in her writing.
G. Scott Dennis, Advisory Board Member
Mr. Dennis is what is known as “working clergy.” This means that he is an ordained clergyman, but earns his living as part of the traditional workforce.
Mr. Dennis has been teaching high school and serving as a student advisor for seventeen years, the last eight at a school in Austin, Texas. During his career his classes have included Journalism, Yearbook, Newspaper, Broadcast Journalism, English, and Creative Writing. Mr. Dennis has also taken on extra-curricular responsibilities each year including the yearbook and newspaper, UIL Journalism, and the literary magazine. He produces publications for the school, serves as photographer, and troubleshoots computers.
Mr. Dennis is proficient with both Macintosh and MS-DOS personal computers. His skill set includes desktop publishing, Internet programs and networking, and web page design. In addition, he has several years of experience in radio and television as Director, Disc Jockey, Talent Coordinator, Floor Manager, Announcer, and Log Writer.
Mr. Dennis's current personal project is a collaboration to write a comic book with his brother Patrick, a talented graphic artist.
Marilyn Dierschke, Advisory Board Member
For 40 years, Ms. Dierschke has worked and served on boards in education, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and the juvenile and criminal justice systems.Since her retirement she has volunteered extensively in service of a wide variety of organizations and interests.
Ms. Dierschke has been the co-owner and co-operator of a beef cattle ranch for 35 years with her husband, Dan Dierschke, who is also involved extensively in volunteer efforts at local, state, and national levels.Ms. Dierschke serves as a board member and officer on the Texas Environmental Education Partnership, and a board member and officer on the Texas Agriculture Land Trust. She is a board member and the Immediate Past President of the Travis County Farm Bureau.
Ms. Dierschke has drafted bills, written bill analyses, testified at public hearings, and met with legislators and staff at both state and national levels on issues critical to education, substance abuse, agriculture and the corrections fields. She has also been involved extensively in agriculture, developing policy recommendations for Texas Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau Federation.
During her extensive career, Ms. Dierschke managed to raise three sons who have given her and her husband eleven grandchildren and hundreds of momma cows and even more hundreds of baby calves.
Laura Sanders, Advisory Board Member
Laura Sanders is a bibliophile, an author, and an editor with a lifetime of experience in the publishing industry. She began at the age of five sitting on the grocery store floor reading children's books from the bottom shelf of the literature rack while her mother shopped, an experience from which she "learned a lot of marketing lessons." Among her other experiences are book retailing for a major Lutheran publisher; magazine, newsletter, and scholarly journal editing; circulation management; copyright and permissions management; and article, report, and manual writing. She is a member of the Writers League of Texas.
In addition to her publishing experience, Ms. Sanders has extensive experience in the medical world, having been a nurse aide, a hospital volunteer, an intern in a medical lab, and the family case manager for relatives with debilitating illnesses. Her experience working with the mentally challenged in a hospital setting came in handy during her work with a Texas state representative whose district included a state school.
She has considerable experience with health-related non-profit organizations and is currently the volunteer start-up project manager for the Austin Validation Worker Certification Course, designed to teach the Naomi Feil Validation Method for communicating with the disoriented "old-old" (80 years or older) and those with Alzheimer's Disease.
Ms. Sanders is currently employed part-time by the Holy Cross Institute at St. Edward's University, a Roman Catholic non-profit organization charged with enabling schools founded by the Brothers of Holy Cross (CSC) to pass on the unique educational vision of their founder, Blessed Fr. Basil Moreau.
She enjoys spending time with her husband, reading for pleasure, enjoying her boxer dog and one-eyed cat, spending time with friends, and watching movies made from classic books.
Edward Selig, Advisory Board Member
Edward Selig is the founding Director of the Center for Responsible Environmental Strategies (CRES), an environmental policy think tank located in Austin , Texas .
For more than 25 years, as a policy analyst, Mr. Selig has cultivated a deep understanding of state and federal energy and environmental policy issues.
In addition to other concerns, Mr. Selig has worked closely with the radioactive material licensees in the State of Texas as they have attempted to identify a solution to the radioactive waste disposal issue.
Mr. Selig earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in English Education at The University of Texas at Austin .
He has served as an adjunct faculty member at Austin Community College, where he taught classes in technical and expository writing, as well as American literature. His interest in education has led him to being elected to serve as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Texas Environmental Education Partnership (TEEP).
Since 1994, he has participated as a volunteer, delivering for Meals on Wheels and More in Austin, where he also served on its Board of Directors.
