Board of Directors Elections

The ABA Board of Directors Election Process

The American Booksellers Association is governed by a 13-member Board of Directors made up of ABA bookstore owners or booksellers from member stores. The ABA Board sets policy for the association, monitors the performance of the CEO — who is responsible for formulating and executing the strategy to meet the goals of the organization — and futurecasts for industry trends to inform the membership and ABA’s work.

Each July, the Board of Directors President selects a five-member Nominating Committee of booksellers, as approved by the board, who will review the submitted nominees and make their recommendation to the board. The board traditionally endorses the selection of candidates as put forth by the Nominating Committee, and the nominees’ names are then put forth to the membership for a vote.

At the start of September, the Nominating Committee begins accepting nominations for booksellers to join the Board of Directors. The number of positions open is determined by the number of board members completing their second three-year term (each board member is entitled to serve two three-year terms). The President and Co-Vice Presidents/Secretary serve two-year terms and are selected in odd-numbered years.

Nominations (including self-nominations) for qualified candidates are collected through the middle of October via an online form that takes just minutes to fill out. Those who meet the eligibility criteria receive a link to fill out an extended background information form and provide recommendation letters. Eligible nominees that wish to go through the election process will be asked to provide two letters of recommendation. These letters can come from people they’ve worked with in the industry. Examples include, but are not limited to, employers, sales reps, colleagues at partnering organizations, or anyone else who can speak to the nominee’s strengths.  

The only requirements are:

1. Candidates for the Board of Directors must be the owner or employee of a core ABA member independent bookstore with a physical presence (brick & mortar storefronts, pop-up stores, mobile stores, and events-only) that sells primarily new books. 
2. Board candidates must have at least three years of recent bookselling experience.

The Nominating Committee deliberates through the fall. An announcement of the slate of booksellers up for election to the Board comes at the end of January. In addition to this nomination process, qualified booksellers may petition the ABA bookstore membership to join the ballot by collecting the signatures of at least two percent of ABA bookstore members and mailing them to the Nominating Committee along with a completed nomination form. The petition must contain original signatures of a member store owner, as well as the store name, address, email, and telephone number, 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. Any bookseller member is invited to petition to join the ballot; petitions are due in mid-February.

Ballots are distributed in March and returned in April. The elected booksellers are announced in Bookselling This Week a few days after the ballot deadline to allow for certification and notification. The new Board members take office at the Community Forum and Annual Meeting in May.

See complete details about the election process in the ABA Governance Policy Manual on BookWeb.