When the American Numismatic Association held its last election, the mood of its members could be charitably considered contentious. That year, I attended the candidate forum at the National Money Show in Charlotte. The attendees at that meeting were angry. While some where complimentary to the Board, most were angry with the state of the association.
What a difference an election can make!
The current Board of Governors fired the previous executive director and hired Larry Shepherd. Both Shepherd and the Board have focused on rebuilding the core operations of the ANA and focusing more on the Association’s core mission. Amongst their successes is the recent approval a balanced budget [PDF] for the first time in many years.
I am not saying that the Board has been perfect; they have had a few missteps. But there seems to be more of a comfort level with the current direction than what we experienced in 2007. One evidence of this was the reported low turnout at this year’s candidate forum on Portland, Oregon.
Just because this Board of Governors was successful does not mean that this election is not important!
On Tuesday, the ANA announced [PDF] that 17 members have been nominated for the 2009-2011 Board of Governors. In fact, this year, there are two candidates running for president. Current Vice President Patricia Jagger-Finner and Governor Clifford Mishler are two very strong candidates for president. Tom Hallenbeck is running unopposed for Vice President. There are also 14 candidates for the seven governor seats.
I urge all ANA members to learn more about the ANA elections process and about the candidates. You should also visit CoinTelevision.com to see the videos from the Candidate Forum held on March 14, 2009. Additionally, watch for the candidate statements that will be published in The Numismatist in the coming months.