Once again I am pleased to announce my candidacy for an at-large position on the APS Board of Directors. I continue to run on the growth and accountability platforms, two areas I feel are consistently important for the board to address.

As I have previously stated, it is every collector's wish that the hobby continue to grow. But also it is important to recognize that to grow we also must evolve. The entire face of stamp collecting is changing, from the types of people who collect to the material that is collected. Even the means of buying and selling stamps continue to change. We cannot expect new people to stay with a hobby unwilling to adapt. We must be open to new ways of finding, attracting and serving a new generation of collectors. To that end, opening doors to children is not the main or only answer. There are large numbers of people of all ages interested if we can find ways to reach them.

It also continues to be highly important that every elected official of the APS be totally accountable to the APS membership for his or her opinions and actions. We are, after all, serving as the members' voice.

While there are some matters of business that must be conducted in closed session, most business can and should be openly conducted. We've made major strides in that direction during the past term, but there is more to be done. If there's nothing to hide, why keep a secret? It is my desire to continue the work of opening the workings of APS to its membership.

We have other tough issues to face during the coming term, including determining how we will continue to relate to the USPS, evaluate and decide upon proposed APS expansion plans and continue to monitor the entire tamp show scene, from locals to internationals.

I feel my longstanding involvement with the hobby, from both sides of the table and as a journalist, give me insight and understanding to all sides of a conflict.

I am a lifelong collector who began collecting stamps at age 8 and never stopped. My current interests include stamp printing and technology, minor varieties, fakes and forgeries, revenues, the US 2-cent Columbian and many other areas.

I have been professionally involved with the hobby since 1987, serving first as a staff writer with Linn's, then as editor of the Scott Stamp Monthly and later as Associate Publisher of Stamp Collector and Stamp Wholesaler newspapers. I now am Editor/Publisher of the philatelic division of Krause Publications, which includes Stamp Collector, Stamp Wholesaler, and the Minkus line of albums and catalogs.

I authored Stamps that Glow, a book dealing with luminescent tagging and have written thousands of articles on stamps and stamp collecting. I also have been lead instructor of the Stamp Technology course for the APS Summer Seminar for the past eight years, and have been a stamp collecting merit counselor for the Boy Scouts for a number of years as well.

I continue to be an active speaker at shows and stamp clubs across the country, am a member of numerous organizations and have worked extensively with children. I have been an APS member since 1975.