ABA Board Election Now Underway

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On Monday, April 1, all main store members of the American Booksellers Association were sent an e-mail from CEO Oren Teicher that included a link to the ballot for the 2019 Board of Directors elections and biographical information on each of the candidates for four director positions on the Board.

One person per ABA Member ID number may vote, and a BookWeb login and the store ID number are required. All voting is being conducted electronically, and ballots are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT on April 30. Ballots submitted after that will not be counted.

Booksellers nominated by the ABA Board to serve as directors are:

Cohen has not previously served on the ABA Board. Kleindienst and Morrow are coming to the end of their first three-year terms on the Board and are eligible for a second three-year term. Graham was serving the unexpired period of what would have been ABA President Robert Sindelar’s term as a Board member and is now eligible for a full term. All four are standing for election to three-year terms (2019–2022).

In a related action, the Board selected current ABA Vice President Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for a two-year term as ABA president, and Graham of Politics and Prose to serve as ABA vice president/secretary. Their selection by the Board must be ratified by ABA membership.

Leaving the Board will be ABA Board President Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books, with three locations in the Seattle area, and Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop & Café in Westerly, Rhode Island. Sindelar is coming to the end of his two-year term as president, and Philbrick is completing her second three-year term as director.

The deadline for return of the ballots will be Tuesday, April 30, which is 30 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting at BookExpo. Election results will be announced in Bookselling This Week, and the new Board members will be formally introduced at the annual ABA Membership Meeting, to be held on Thursday, May 30, at New York’s Javits Convention Center during BookExpo 2019. The ballot also includes space for write-in candidates.

Questions about the ABA elections should be addressed to ABA President Robert Sindelar or CEO Oren Teicher. For a link to the ballot, ABA main store members should contact ABA Senior Membership Manager Daniel O’Brien.