ABA Announces 2009 Board Election Results

The results of balloting by the bookstore members of the American Booksellers Association to elect three Board directors and a new president and vice president are now official. Elected to serve three-year terms as directors beginning June 2009 are Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois; Betsy Burton of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City. For Anderson and Puffer, who currently serve on the ABA Board, this will be the start of a second three-year term

ABA membership also ratified the Board's choice of Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco to serve a one-year term as ABA president and Becky Anderson to serve a one-year term as vice president/secretary. The election results were certified by the association's auditors, Marks Paneth & Shron LLP.

Ending her term on the Board at the end of this month is ABA President Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona.

Continuing on the nine-member Board are Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas; Tom Campbell of The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina; Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, New Hampshire; Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado; and Ken White of SFSU Bookstore in San Francisco.

This was the first Board election in which ABA members were able to vote electronically, and a significant number of stores opted in to cast their ballots via electronic means. The result was positive, with more votes cast in 2009 than in other recent elections.

The ABA Board transition will take place at meetings to be held in conjunction with this month's BookExpo America in New York City.