Program Coordinators are the leaders of the Judge Program. They are responsible for taking strategic direction from Wizards of the Coast and figuring out how to implement it program-wide. This is done by coordinating with other judges who lead the various areas of the Judge Program, and part of their role is to ensure projects have clear direction, success criteria, and project members are being appropriately recognized.
They are excellent communicators and have a strong vision for the success of the Judge Program. They provide leadership by example, are capable of interacting effectively with others, and have demonstrated success at leading past projects.
Contacting the Program Coordinators
Tasks of Program Coordinators
- Making strategic decisions on behalf of the Judge Program.
The Program Coordinators have defined the following guiding statements to help understanding where the Judge Program aims to go:- Inclusive community: The Judge Program is dedicated to creating an environment where everybody is respected, diversity is valued, and discrimination is not tolerated.
- Quality: The Magic community must see Judges as experts. The Judge Program enables and facilitates judges as they improve and become experts.
- Sustainability: The Judge Program has an interest in serving our community of players long into the future. This includes a need to maintain the number of judges, where they exist in the world, and the appropriate levels of certification. The program also needs to sustain the interest of qualified individuals to fulfill necessary leadership roles.
- Project-based community: The Judge Program encourages its members to participate in and lead projects to help developing the community. The judge community is global and complex. The projects provide the infrastructure needed to fulfill the other principles.
Program Coordinators periodically review and update these guiding statements if necessary. Some regions may have slightly different priorities or additional goals based on their specific circumstances. The Magic Judge Program’s Mission and Vision is based on these guiding statements.
- Identify and assess challenges ahead which may affect the judge community.
To do this the Program Coordinators rely on help and support from judges throughout the program, especially leaders like Sphere Leaders, Regional Coordinators, Grand Prix Head Judges, and the Level 3s. Any judge can contact the Program Coordinators by email if they have a challenge or opportunity which they’d like the Program Coordinators to address. - Identify and empower leaders in the judge community to address those challenges.
The Program Coordinators don’t handle all of these challenges by themselves. No human would be able to do all of that. Instead, they empower judges to lead in the areas and projects which match their interests. For example, they appoint the Sphere Leaders and some leaders of other projects. - Support the judges who support the inner workings of the Judge Program.
Once the Program Coordinators empower someone to lead a project, they remain available to advise, support and help those leaders. - Acknowledge when they make mistakes and make the right changes to correct them. Keep track of the challenges they identify and their plans to address them.
To improve the Judge Program over time, the Program Coordinators need to understand how they’ve succeeded and how they’ve failed, too. - Communicate regularly with the broader community of judges.
The articles on the Program Coordinators blog are an example of this effort, but the Program Coordinators use a variety of communication channels in order to reach the broader judge community. - Help the judge community understand when significant or unexpected changes occur.
Sometimes big changes affect the Judge Program. Sometimes the Program Coordinators will know about them in advance, but other times they won’t. No matter what, the Program Coordinators will help the community understand, adapt, and react to those changes.
Current Program Coordinators
Below are the current Program Coordinators, along with their expiration dates.
| Expiring April 1, 2019 Riccardo Tessitori |
Expiring April 1, 2019 CJ Crooks |
| Expiring October 1, 2019 Johanna Virtanen |
Expiring October 1, 2019 Alfonso Bueno |
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Expiring April 1, 2020 Bryan Prillaman |