A Report on ABA's Winter Board Meeting

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors and senior staff held meetings from Sunday, January 27, to Tuesday, January 29, immediately following the Winter Institute at the Louisville Marriott Downtown.

Among its activities during the three days of meetings, the Board:

• Selected Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, as ABA President and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco, as ABA Vice President/Secretary for one-year terms, beginning June 2008. Their names and those of director candidates will appear on the Board ballot, which will be mailed in late March, 60 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting, for approval by ABA membership.

• Received and approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by ABA Board member Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City. For three-year terms as directors, beginning in June 2008, the committee recommended the nomination of Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, New Hampshire; Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco; and Ken White of SFSU Bookstore in San Francisco. Tucker is currently a member of the ABA Board and is eligible for an additional three-year term.
  
  Booksellers leaving the ABA Board in June 2008 are Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, and Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis.
  
  In addition to Puffer, this year's Nominating Committee included ABA Board member Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas; Paul Hanson of Eagle Harbor Book Company in Bainbridge Island, Washington; Linda Ramsdell of The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont; and Alison Reid of DIESEL, a Bookstore in Oakland, California. (Under ABA's bylaws, in addition to candidates put forth by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board, any bookstore member may submit a petition for a Director candidate. (See related story.)

• Met with ABA Auditor Michael L. McNee of Marks Paneth & Shron LLP to review the 2007 Audited Statement. McNee indicated that the Audit went very well, given that this was only the second time his firm was performing this function for ABA. The report included an unqualified ("clean") opinion of the association's finances. The report was unanimously accepted by the Board. The consolidated financial statements are posted on BookWeb.org.

• Heard a report by ABA President Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, about his activities on behalf of the association.

• Received a report from ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz regarding work on the association's first-quarter financial report and his participation in myriad industry meetings on behalf of ABA.

• Approved appointments to the Booksellers Advisory Council: Sue Boucher of Lake Forest Book Store in Lake Forest, Illinois; Clark Kepler of Kepler's Books & Magazines in Menlo Park, California; and Nancy Olson of Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina.

• Reviewed the just-concluded Winter Institute and the association's plans for educational programming and special events at this year's BookExpo America in Los Angeles and Hotel ABA in Hollywood.

• Heard a report by ABA President Russ Lawrence on the Booksellers Advisory Council meeting held before and after the Winter Institute.

• Reviewed departmental reports provided by ABA staff in advance of the Board meeting.

• Met with William King of Merrill Lynch, the association's financial consultant, who provided the Board with updated information on the association's investments.

• Heard reports on the upcoming Publisher Focus Group meetings, beginning at the end of February and organized by ABA on behalf of the participating publishers, as well as plans for the 2008 Winter/Spring ABA Booksellers Forums.

• Met with representatives of the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA), Dominique Raccah from Sourcebooks, and Florrie Binford Kichler from Patria Press, to discuss the ways in which independent bookstores and independent presses can work together.

• Reviewed and approved draft ends policies that had been drafted at previous Board meeting in October 2007. In a letter to ABA members, ABA President Russ Lawrence explained how the association's Five-Year Strategic Plan morphed into Ends Statements, "a much nimbler, more realistic approach to planning." The ends policies will be published in next week's Bookselling This Week.