The former American Numismatic Association Executive Director Larry Shepherd issue a statement regarding his dismissal from the ANA. In that statement, Shepherd emphasized,

Including this in the statement was curious. It is implying that Shepherd was alleged to have said something inappropriate, as I speculated in a previous post. But this allegation may be something that was used as part of someone’s agenda. This is reinforced when Shepherd followed up the above paragraph with:

This is the first act of newly inaugurated ANA President Tom Hallenbeck. Hallenbeck, who was previously ANA Vice President, may have not had a good relationship with Shepherd and wanted to find cause to terminate his contract. When reading between the lines, it is clear that Hallenbeck and allies on the Board was looking for a reason to fire Shepherd rather than try to work with him.

Welcome to the old ANA where it appears that the Board wants to micromanage the operations in Colorado Springs rather than being a body that sets the agenda and allowing the Executive Director to manage the day-to-day operations. It is a big strike against the Board whose two year term has just begun.

Finally, the Coin Collector’s Blog wishes Larry Shepherd well with his new job at Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. Berk’s gain is the ANA’s loss.