Albin Johnson (TK0210) Legion Commander
Albin founded the 501st Legion in 1997 and helped to form many of the structure and rules and traditions for how the club runs today. Albin also helped to build relations with Lucasfilm, Make-A-Wish, Hasbro, and other large entities with whom we enjoy cordial relationships today. Albin began the Honorary Membership program which has helped to forge even more bonds between the 501st and key members of the Star Wars community. He continues to serve as Legion Adviser on the Legion Council today.
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Ron Garner (ID8431) Legion XO
Ron has been a member in good standing since 2004 and active in Carolina trooping events. Ron has recently finished a tour with the USMC deployed to Afghanistan serving as the liaison officer between high-ranking command staff and visiting VIPs. He's currently serving as the XO for his Marine reserve unit in Raleigh, NC. He and his wife Janine are very active in the costuming community and in charity work, and were very close to Katie Johnson and her family through the entire ordeal with Katie's illness.
Would you like face-time with Legion command? The LXO and his wife travel extensively. If they are in your neighborhood and you would like to meet to discuss your Garrison's issue, they would be happy to meet with you. We feel it is important for the Legion to have access to command. Click here to see the LXO's itinerary.
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Stuart Wilkshire (TS0969) Legion Captain of the Guard (COG)
Stuart bought his first set of Armor in Feb 1998. Internationally he has trooped in Australia for Reunion 2007, Germany for Jedi Con 2008, England for Celebration Europe 2007, Japan for Celebration Japan 2008, The USA for C III, C IV, SWW 2006/07. Stuart has served as liaison officer for the Japanese Garrison on the Legion Council 2005/06, as DXO for the Blizzard Force Detachment 2006/07, and as the Blizzard Force Detachment Leader from 2008 to present . He was also the Snowtrooper costume presenter for the 501st Costume panels at C IV, C Europe, and C Japan.
Stuart believes his experience of trooping with so many Garrisons on so many continents will hold him in good stead to assist the Garrisons in the Asian Region to come to a better understanding of "just how important they are in the 501st", and that he will do his utmost to be an assistant and a conduit for them to take themselves to an even higher level. His aim is also to offer assistance or advice in difficult times, and help them to sort through issues with an open mind and a helping hand within their own Garrisons, between other Garrisons, and on the Legion Council. And in doing thus, he hopes to foster a new level of teamwork, understanding and unity.
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Thomas Spanos (SL1876) Legion Membership OfficerLegion Experience
December of 2002, Thomas received his 501st Legion membership number for his costume of The Clone Emperor. Soon after, he became involved with the membership process as an aide to the Midwest Garrison Web Liaison, advancing to Legion Web Deputy, and eventually Legion Membership Officer 2006--07. Thomas has also been a member of the Legion Trading Card Team since series 4 and developed the Optimized Legion logo, as well those for The Midwest Garrison, and The Flagship Eclipse Detachment, and The R2-KT. Costume Experience Thomas draws inspiration from Star Wars Expanded Universe Characters for his costume projects. He makes his custom-fit costumes from scratch, learning and employing new techniques and materials with each project. His work has appeared both directly and as reference in magazines, comics, trading cards, and even SW action figures. DutyI intend to use the resources provided by membership and by my own experience to return to a "hands on" interpretation of the LMO position. I see review of costumes new to the Legion, and how they may impact other aspects of the Legion (Detachments), as my chief priority. I have spoken with a handful of volunteers with which I hope to establish an independent CRL team. Rather than attempting to tackle the CRL as one giant project, I plan to post entries formatted for easy reading and with photo example as they are completed. Entries will be addressed in order of importance, popularity, and Legion significance. Professional Career Thomas is the Lead Technical Illustrator for Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1994--present.
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Darren Blum (TK8399) Legion Web Master

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Dean Plantamura (TK0899) Legion Public Relations Officer
Since first suiting up in 2002, Dean has worn many hats (or is it helmets?) in service of the 501st. He has held a number of administrative and leadership positions within the Legion including Squad Leader, GML, GWL, GPR, XO, CO and LWM, but his satisfaction comes from helping other members rather than flaunting a title. In fact, you may know Dean as the creator of TK-899's White Armor Chronicles (tk899.com) which continues to guide newbies and prospective members alike. After taking a "year off" to complete a new costume and further develop the biweekly 501st podcast (501st.com/podcast), Dean returns in the role of Legion PR Officer. In real life, Dean is an art director and manager of a marketing creative team. He currently lives on a rural hobby farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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Scott Will (TK0408) Legion Merchandise and Branding Officer
Scott has been a member of the 501st Legion since 2002. By day he works as the Marketing Officer for financial firm, while at night he can be found working furiously away at Legion trading cards, t-shirts, patches and other merchandise. In addition to his service as the Merchandise & Branding Officer, Scott has also taken on the rolls of Squad Leader, Garrison P.R. Officer, Garrison XO and Garrison CO. In the midst of this, Scott has found time to construct nine 501st costumes (not to mention a few for the Rebel Legion), host annual armor parties, organize Garrison dinners and coordinate convention activities. Scott is married and has two young children.
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Duties: The Legion Historian is tasked with collecting photos, anecdotes, reports, memorabilia, and samples of merchandise from all over the Legion and cataloging these findings into a workable history of the Legion. The Legion Historian is to help with the collection and preservation and presentation of the Legion Archives.
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Matt "Redeye" Paisley (TK1741) Legion Celebrity Liaison Matt "Redeye" Paisley joined the 501^st Legion in the late 90's and has since been extremely active in all aspects of the organization. He founded Squad 7 (North East Florida) and has served in the roles as Squad Leader, Garrison XO, and Detachment PR Officer and has participated in hundreds of troops over the years throughout the country. Some of Matt's greatest Legion enjoyments are organizing events and working on special Legion projects, many of which involve working directly with Star Wars celebrities. Matt owns several Legion approved costumes including Darth Vader, a Royal Guard, a Stormtrooper and a Biker Scout and is working to expand that list in 2010. Married to Melissa Paisley (TB-1742), Matt has two beautiful daughters and has worked in Sales and Marketing for the past 14 years. With an ever growing resume of working closely with a large variety of actors, artists, authors, and musical performers, Matt is poised to do great things in the position of Legion Celebrity Liaison in the coming year.

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Dion Rupa (TK1217) Legion Charity Representative
Dion Rupa joined the 501st Legion in 2000. Around the time he joined, he served for a few years as the PR Officer of the Empire City Garrison. Once the Northeast Remnant was formed, he servied as GML, XO and CO for the garrison. Dion is a big proponent of charity work within the 501st, and has established relationships with organizations such as the Light Up a Life Foundation, the Starlight Foundation, and the Children's Aid Society. Some of the goals he is setting as Legion Charity Representative, is to create a worldwide database of charity contacts that can be easily accessed by any garrison, an overhaul of the charity webpage on 501st.com, and to keep a running total of the amount of charity work the Legion has done, and the amount of money we have raised to help charity organizations. His biggest goal is to reach out to all charity organizations and let them know who we are, and what the 501st Legion does.

Duties: The Legion Charity Representative is to serve as the club's main point of contact for charity organizations and other large organizations interested in working with the 501st in the name of charity. The LCR is to collect and maintain contact information with all organizations and disseminate this information to a network of Charity Representatives working in every Garrison throughout the Legion. The LCR is also responsible for collecting and recording charity monies raised by the Legion and to advertise this total for the benefit of the club and its members
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Colonel Anthony Toledo (ID5702) - Legion Drill Instructor
Duties: This position will serve to set the standards for marching and formation in the Legion. As most parades in the Legion demonstrate, our troopers are hard working and mean well but they look like a bunch of yard apes wobbling back-and-forth and out of line. And if the Rose Bowl Parade proved anything, it's that we CAN be taught to march and line up BETTER. The LDI would also be in charge of compiling a Marching Manual which will detail the basics of how to prepare group formations for events, how to coordinate marching (not as detailed as Pasadena but more structured than most do it now), tips on how to make these procedures easier, tips on how to appear in public, etc. We can assign some writers and artists to it as a project and publish it for use by all Garrisons.
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Percy Ricaud TK/D/R/S-1268 Legion Club Envoy (LCE) Percy has been a member of the Terror Australis Garrison since 2002, helping take the region from Squad to Garrison and then on to multiple Garrisons. He and has served as BlizzardForce Detachment XO, Garrison CO and XO and was part of the TAG group that participated in the Rose Parade 2007.
Duties: This office is tasked with representing the Legion in dealing with other Star Wars clubs specifically and other fan clubs in general, including but not limited to Rebel Legion, FanForce, R2 Builders, and Jedi Assembly. The Legion Club Envoy is tasked with maintaining channels of communication with other clubs in the hopes of collaborating on events, sharing resources, and building a sense of community among Star Wars fans. The LCE can represent the LCO in discussions between the clubs and is tasked with furthering the LCO's mandate for the Legion among those groups.
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Christian Shepherd ID6450 Legion Assistant Club Envoy (LACE)
Christian (Shep) Shepherd has been a Star Wars Fan since 1977 like many others! Episode 4 had a huge impact on him and has influenced his life ever since. Shep has spent 16 years in the field of law enforcement as a Georgia State Trooper and Deputy Sheriff in the State of Florida. He has served in the Boy Scouts of America as a District Executive for two years. Shep has an MS and BS Degree from Valdosta State University. These positions along with his education have given Shep a strong base pertaining to Public Relations and Public Speaking as he has done so many times in these professional roles. Since joining the 501st Legion as an Imperial Officer (Gray) at the 2009 Dragon*Con, he has been very active in trooping across the United States. Christian has been married to Heather for 16 years whom hails from Grand Island, New York. They currently live in San Diego, CA.
Duties: This office is tasked with assisting the Legion Club Envoy in any duties as required.
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Nicky Blum DZ8397 Legion Council Spokesperson
Nicky joined the 501st back in April of 2006. She is a very active member of Garrison Excelsior for Upstate NY and on the main 501st Legion forums as well. She had been Excelsior's PR Officer for 3 years and continues to serve as Event Coordinator for her Garrison. She also devotes a lot of time to the 501st Legion's podcast - the 501stCast. Nicky is married to fellow trooper TK-8399 and has two young children.
Duties: This office works to observe the discussions going on in the forums and report weekly to the Legion membership about what's going on in the proceedings. This office has no vote on the council, they serve only to help with transparency in the decision-making process of the Legion for the sake of the members.
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Imperial Cadet Academy Instructor NOT YET FILLED - INTERESTED APPLICANTS PLEASE INQUIRE WITH THE LXO
Duties: This position would dust off the cadet academy started years ago and formalize it as a functioning website with admission procedures, merchandise related to the group (so the kids can wear something and feel pride while trooping with mom and dad), design logos for the group, and essentially care to the day-to-day operations of the group so we an build an auxiliary arm to the Legion through our next generation. We may even expand this later to have a teenagers-only segment so the teens don't feel like they're in nursery with the little ones.
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Imperial Data Attache - NOT YET FILLED - INTERESTED APPLICANTS PLEASE INQUIRE WITH THE LXO

Duties: The Imperial Attache serves to collect and organize information for the LCO for the purpose of making more informed and timely decisions.
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