ABA Announces 2025 Board Candidates

The petition process is now open, which means members may write in candidates to stand for election. Find more information below.

The ABA Board of Directors met last week and approved the ABA Nominating Committee’s recommendation of a candidate to stand for election to a three-year term as director on the ABA Board as well as the slate for ABA Board Officers. The election will fill one vacancy: Board Director Jenny Cohen’s (Waucoma Bookstore) second term on the Board is coming to an end.

(There is also a Board appointment pending to replace previous Board Director Danny Caine, formerly of Raven Book Store, who resigned when he took a full-time position at Institute for Local Self-Reliance.)

Recommended to stand for election to three-year term (2025–2028) is:

• Paul Hanson, Village Books, Bellingham and Lynden, WA, Owner

Other Directors on the current Board are up for re-election:

• Brein Lopez, Children’s Book World, was appointed last year and is running for his first term.
• Cynthia Compton, 4 Kids Books & Toys and MacArthur Books, is running for a second term.
• Raquel Roque, Books & Books, is running for a second term.

A ballot for the 2025 Board elections will be sent to ABA members via email in March, at least 60 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting; the deadline for return of the ballots will be 11:59 pm ET on April 23. THERE WILL NOT BE AN EXTENSION.

The ballot will include space for write-in candidates. The new Board of Directors will be announced in BTW on April 30. The virtual ABA Membership Meeting will be held on May 22, 2025, at 2:00 pm ET.

In accordance with the ABA Governance Policy Manual, any bookstore member may submit petitions to have the names of additional candidates for Board Officers and/or Directors added to the ballot. Should bookstore members wish to submit a petition, the following apply:

• A candidate must be an employee or owner of an ABA regular, used, or online member bookstore. The member bookstore must be in good standing, and the individual candidate must have at least three years of recent experience as a bookstore owner or employee.
• Each petition can present only one candidate and, to be valid, must name a candidate who meets the qualifications for office established in the ABA Governance Policy Manual.
• Booksellers who wish to petition to be put on the ballot should ask their supporters to email [email protected] with their endorsement of the petitioner; the supporters will then be asked to send their original signature to ABA by mail. Petitioners are also asked to email the Nominating Committee Chair to let them know that their petition is on the way. Emails should be sent to both no later than February 21, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET. (Note: a response confirming receipt will be sent.)
• The names on the petition in support of the candidate must reflect at least two percent of ABA Bookstore Members as of January 1, 2025; that is a minimum of 49 signatures. The petition must contain original signatures and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of bookstore members in at least five states, with representatives of no one state constituting more than 50 percent of the total number of petition signatures.
• Upon receipt of a valid petition, the candidate’s name will be added to the ballot sent to ABA membership.
   

The ABA Board would like to thank this year’s Nominating Committee:

• Diane Capriola, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA (Chair)
• Lisa Swayze, Buffalo Street Books, Ithaca, NY
• Melissa DeMotte, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d'Alene, ID
• Dara Landry, CLASS Bookstore, Houston, TX
• Tina Ferguson, Face in a Book, El Dorado Hills, CA