In a move that continues to be unexplained for reasons to be rumored to be grounded in personal issues rather than sound reason, American Numismatic Association Executive Director Jeff Shevlin was fired by the Board of Governors. Based on both public and not so public information regarding this firing, I believe that the ANA Board of Governors made a colossal mistake that proves that the Board is not up to the task of properly running the organization.
Rather than change the Board, the ANA elected a Board with the same issues that the previous Board and added Laura Sperber, a solid dissenting voice of reason. While I do not agree with some of Laura’s opinions or ways of doing things, her inclusion on the Board is probably the best second best choice that the ANA membership could have made—reserving the best choice would have been to elect me!In a move to try to avoid controversy at the National Money Show in May, the Board rushed in to appoint longtime employee Kim Kiick as Executive Director. While her past experiences with the ANA questions as to whether the ANA made the best choice, her performance since her appointment shows that my opinion could be proven wrong. Time will tell.
For the commercial side of numismatics, the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA) has made a number of positive changes. Well, not all of them positive as the ICTA wished long time Executive Director Eloise Ullman a happy retirement. Ullman was ICTA’s Executive Director for 23 years and her success in guiding that organization will be a tough act to follow.Moving forward, Kathy McFadden was hired as Executive Director. McFadden has spent 18 years leading two different region associations of mechanical contractors with experience in legislative advocacy, public education, finances, public relations, etc. I had met McFadden for all of two-minutes at the Whitman Expo in November and look forward to working with her in my role with the Gold & Silver Political Action Committee.
Another positive addition for ICTA is the addition of David Crenshaw to fill the role of the newly created Chief Operating Officer to ICTA. For the last nine years, Crenshaw has been general manager of the largest and best privately run coin shows in the country, Whitman Coin & Currency Expo. Crenshaw took over as the general manager after Whitman bought the Baltimore show from its original owners. Since then, the show has expanded and improved to even survive the recent economic downturn.Crenshaw leaves a good property for Lori Kraft who was named the Expo’s new general manager by Whitman.
The ANA’s changes were shrouded with turmoil and the ICTA changes are a celebration for an organization that is thriving. Certainly an interesting juxtaposition.