The Nominating Committee, chaired by Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop [3] in Houston, Texas, begins its search today for qualified candidates to serve on the American Booksellers Association’s Board of Directors. Any ABA member may submit nominations for Board directors.

A candidate for the Board of Directors [4] must be an ABA member who is the owner or employee of an independent bookstore with a storefront location that is operated according to sound business principles. In addition, a candidate must have at least three years of recent experience as the owner or employee of a member company. It is desirable that nominees have at least two years of experience as an active volunteer in ABA and/or in a regional association or other constituency organization. Qualifications are outlined in the “ABA Nomination and Election Guidelines [5]” from the ABA Governance Policy Manual [6].

The committee requests that nominations be submitted as soon as possible but no later than October 15, 2013 via the electronic nomination form available here [7]. Nominations should include as much information as possible about a prospective candidate. All information will be kept confidential.

The 2013 – 2014 Nominating Committee, chaired by Koehler, includes ABA Board member Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books [8] in Lake Forest Park, Washington; former ABA Board member Tom Campbell of The Regulator Bookshop [9] in Durham, North Carolina; Calvin Crosby of Book Passage [10] in Corte Madera, California; and Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore [11] in Richmond, Virginia.

The slate for the 2014 Board of Directors elections will be announced approximately 120 days prior to ABA’s next Annual Membership Meeting, to be held in May 2014 in conjunction with BookExpo America.

Submit a nomination for the 2014 Board of Directors elections now [7] using the electronic nomination form, and then notify the committee chair via e-mail [12]when you have done so.