This year, the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) celebrates two decades of education, awareness, advocacy and support! As part of our 20th Anniversary, we’re planning on doing a lot of reflecting and looking forward in 2025—and we felt like one of the best places to start would be sitting down with OAC Board of Directors Chairs through the years. You can learn a lot about the OAC’s journey through their eyes and the legacies they left.
A Glimpse into Leadership: Conversations with OAC Chairs
In our Winter 2025 edition of Weight Matters Magazine, we sat down with a few of these inspiring leaders to hear their thoughts on the OAC’s evolution, their proudest achievements and their hopes for the future.
Here’s a sneak peek at the questions we asked:
- What were your priorities during your term?
- How has the OAC changed since your time as Chair?
- What is your hope for the future of the OAC?
While we’re going to save most of their answers for the magazine, these are a few of our favorites:
“We went from a few thousand members to more than 80,000. We started the annual conferences and achieved many successes in access to care. In the beginning, we had a big focus on surgical interventions, but we’ve evolved to also see success in medical and pharmacological treatments. We’ve also grown from a staff of three to today’s much larger team.” – Jaime Fivecoat, MBA (2007-2010)
“With the growth in new treatment options, we’ve seen growth in membership, sponsors and real conversations about obesity as a disease. Our PSA dreams came true! We now have OAC TV, regional education programs, an expanded magazine, and have taken countless people to Washington, D.C., to meet members of Congress. The OAC has even met Michelle Obama, Brendan Fraser and Queen Latifah!” – Pam Davis (2012-2014)
“It’s incredible to reflect on how much the world’s perspective on obesity has evolved since I became Chair of the OAC over a decade ago. Despite these changes, our mission has remained steadfast. My top priority, both then and now, has always been to amplify and support the voices of people living with obesity by working tirelessly to end weight bias and stigma. Addressing stigma is essential because it directly impacts another critical priority—ensuring people have access to comprehensive obesity care in all its forms.” – Ted Kyle, RPh, BMA (2014-2016)
“I hope the OAC moves the country and world toward a future with comprehensive coverage and access to obesity care, where bias and stigma stories from people living with obesity feel like lore.” – Amber Huett Garcia (2016-2018)
“During my term, my mission was to significantly increase member engagement and empower individuals to take meaningful action. A major priority was launching the OAC Action Center, which offers immediate ways to get involved and answers the common question, ‘How can I help?’ By encouraging member involvement, we created a platform for individuals to directly contribute to advocacy and awareness.” – Michelle Vicari (2018 – 2020)
“Shortly before my term as Chair began, the world was struck by the first pandemic in our lifetimes. It was a challenging time for OAC, and many of our programs had to be adjusted. “Pivot” became our new watchword: How could we pivot our programs and advocacy efforts to continue supporting people affected by obesity in a pandemic environment? To meet these needs, we turned to technology and launched our first multi-day Virtual Convention, offering excellent education and fun activities—all online. Approximately 2,000 people registered, including people from several foreign countries. We also continued our fight against weight bias, stigma and discrimination through webinars and interviews, including addressing arguments that people with obesity should not be given priority access to COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, we relaunched our in-person National Convention with a small gathering in Las Vegas.” – Patty Nece, JD (2020 – 2022)
“As the current Chair, I’ve been floored by the sheer increase in advocacy efforts from our small but mighty team. We’re now operating at a level we only dreamed of 20 years ago, making a huge difference in advocating for access to care! Additionally, I am so proud that OAC has become THE expert in representing the patient voice and experience for individuals living with obesity. We are the resource the world reaches out to. Finally, the amount of education and programming offered across all platforms has reached a level I couldn’t have imagined! We’ve truly achieved and embraced our goal of providing top-notch education to our Community.” – Kristal Hartman (2023-2025)
Want to read more? The full article will be featured in the Winter 2025 edition of Weight Matters Magazine, coming this February! Stay tuned to hear these stories of leadership and reflection as we celebrate the OAC’s past, present and future.