Petition Process Open for Additional Board Candidates

Last week, the American Booksellers Association announced the three candidates nominated by Board of Directors to serve as directors for three-year terms (2011 - 2014) on the Board. Their names will appear on the electronic ballot to be sent to ABA member bookstores by the end of March.

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; there is a time frame of approximately one month to circulate petitions to place names on the ballot. Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee will add the petitioned candidate’s name to the director ballot.

Should bookstore members wish to submit a petition, the following apply:

• A candidate must be an employee or owner of an ABA member bookstore. The member bookstore must be in good standing, and the individual candidate must have at least three years’ experience in a bookstore-member company.
• Each petition can present only one candidate.
• All petitions must be submitted by March 11, 2011, to the Chair, ABA Nominating Committee, c/o ABA, 200 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591.
• The names on the petition in support of the candidate must reflect at least two percent of ABA Bookstore Members as of January 1, 2011; that is a minimum of 28 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 Nominating Committee will add the candidate’s name to the ballot sent to ABA membership.

Booksellers nominated as candidates by the ABA Board are John Evans of DIESEL Bookstores in Malibu, Brentwood, and Oakland, California; Matt Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan; and Ken White of San Francisco State University Bookstore in San Francisco, California. White currently serves on the Board and is eligible for a second three-year term.