Michael E. Aldrich has devoted his entire professional career to philately. Already a collector at age 8, he began dealing at 11, and he found part-time work with Hamernick Stamp Company, St. Paul, at 16. After graduating from St. Thomas College, he took a full-time position with Hamernick, where he helped found Brookman Stamp Auctions.  Aldrich organized his own company, Michael E. Aldrich Auctions, in 1980. He also founded Black Diamond Mail Sales, ABC Collections and Accumulations Auctions, and the internet web site RareStampExchange.com. He has published the Aldrich Revenue Stamp Album, the Aldrich Match and Stamp Album, A Census of U.S. Match and Medicine Stamps, The Rare Stamp Top 500, and RareStampExchange.com. He is a member of ASDA, APS, ARA, CCNY, and APR.    

Retired lawyer and banker Thomas J. Alexander collects nineteenth-century U.S. and British postal history. His research and publications include the 1847 Cover Census, Simpson’s Postal Markings: 1851-1861, the preface to the Quarteman reprint of the Chase book on the 3-cent 1851-1861 issue, and numerous articles appearing in The Chronicle, Congress books, and the American Philatelist. Alexander is ex-officio director and former president of USPCS and served as editor of the 1851-1857 section of The Chronicle for twenty years. He has served on the APS board of trustees and on the ethics and insurance committees. He has also served on the Luff Awards committee. He is a life member of APS, APRL, and USPCS, and is a member of CSA, APC, PHS, PHF, NYCC, and APS Unit 4, the St. Louis Specialist Group. Alexander is a recipient of the Luff Award for distinguished philatelic research and the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award.

Harvey Bennett is CEO and sole proprietor of Matthew Bennett International, a philatelic auction house founded by his father nearly sixty years ago. Under Bennett’s leadership, the company initially operated as a national auction house of United States and worldwide philately, but with the acquisition of Harmers Auctions of Switzerland and Zurich Asia in Hong Kong, it now operates on three continents. His catalogues have won numerous platinum and gold awards in industry competitions, and his is the only stamp auction house to have received the prestigious “Diane B. Boehret Award for Excellence in Philatelic Literature.” Mr. Bennett currently serves on the board of the Philatelic Foundation and as expertizer for the PF and APS. He is also a member of the ASDA, USPCS, CCNY,  and the Philatelic Traders Society (London), among others.

Winner of the prestigious APS Luff Award in 2007, Roger Brody has served as governor of the United States Stamp Society since 1994 and has been board chairman since 1998. He is past chairman of the Series 1902 committee. He collects U.S. postage and revenue stamps, his particular interests being color varieties, the Series 1902, and Prominent American and Great Americans regular issues. Additional U.S. interests include postal history, coils, booklets, and airmail stamps. Foreign interests include British North America and Bermuda. As an exhibitor, Brody has received Gold and Grand awards and was the1996 recipient of the Hopkinson Trophy. He has written articles for The United States Specialist, Collectors Club Philatelist, Linn’s Stamp News, Perfins Bulletin, The Vermont Philatelist, and PF Opinions VII. He has won the USSS’s Hopkinson Memorial Literature Award twice. He also serves as governor and vice president of The Collectors Club, New York, and is a trustee and vice president of the APRL.

Nicholas G. Carter, president of the American Philatelic Society, is a third-generation philatelist. A collector at age 8, his primary interest is British Colonial philately, particularly West Africa, where his grandfather was an administrator and governor. A native of Baltimore, Carter received a BA from Harvard and a PhD in Economics from MIT. He worked for the World Bank for over thirty years in a variety of positions, and he is now retired. He has been active in organized philately for the past decade, including NAPEX and Washington 2006.

Guido Craveri initiated meaningful change to the National Postal Museum’s philatelic vision. In the mid-1990s he encouraged the creation of the Council of Philatelists and served as its first chair. His ideas led to an exhibit space for great philatelic collections and the establishment of the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Awards. His experience, expertise, and passion as a collector, mentor, dealer, auctioneer, and philanthropist have set new standards in philately. In 2006 he was honored with the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award. He is president of Investphila SA, a philatelic auction house based in Lugano, Switzerland.

Dr. Charles J. DiComo holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Genetics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is a founder of Aureon Laboratories, Inc., where he is Director of Laboratories. His primary philatelic interest and area of expertise is nineteenth-century U.S., particularly the 1- and 3-cent 1851-1861 issues and U.S. revenues. He is especially active in the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, having served on the Board of Directors (2003-present), as secretary (2004-present), on the membership committee (2002-2004), and as webmaster and co-designer of the society’s website (2000-present). He holds membership in the APS, BNAPS, USPCSNY, the C&LS, the CCNY, the Empire State Postal History Society, the USSS, and the USPCS. SCRAP—The Stamp & Cover Repository & Analysis Program—holds a special interest for Charles. A unique USPCS effort, SCRAP identifies philatelic fakes, frauds, and forgeries and takes them off the market while retaining them for study and reference.

Cheryl R. Ganz, Chief Curator of Philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, enjoys a life-long interest in zeppelins and airmail. Her interest led her to focus her philatelic collections on zeppelin mail worldwide with specialization in U.S. airships, the 1933 Graf Zeppelin Chicago flight, and the Hindenburg. She also collects U.S., France, Germany, and Switzerland philately. In addition to research and writing, she has exhibited worldwide, including in the Court of Honor at Washington 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition. Ganz serves as co-editor of The Zeppelin Collector, is a past-president of the American Air Mail Society, and serves on the Ethics Committee of the American Philatelic Society. Her many awards include the Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame, the Federation Internationale des Societes Aerophilateliques Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to aerophilately, and the Newberry Award for contributions to Chicagoland philately. She is a life member of APS, APRL, AAMS, GPS, and AAPE. Ganz earned a PhD in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is author of A New Deal for Progress: The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair and co-editor of and contributor to Pots of Promise: Mexicans and Pottery at Hull-House.

Sonny Hagendorf is a dealer and specialist in rare U.S. postage stamps through his firm Columbian Stamp Company, Inc. He has been a professional philatelist for over thirty years, and during that time he has purchased or brokered many of the great United States rarities. Along with countless other philatelic treasures, he has sold five of the six blocks of the Jenny Inverts. He is an expert consultant to the Philatelic Foundation and serves on the board of several local charities in his community.

Hubert N. (Jay) Hoffman III is the Chief Executive Officer of the Hoffman Company, a firm that oversees the acquisition, management, development, construction, and leasing of office, retail, hotel, and multi-family properties. He is responsible for the development of the Hoffman Town Center, a premier town center located in Alexandria’s Eisenhower Valley. He is also a registered general contractor and the builder of more than fifty buildings throughout northern Virginia. 

Mr. Hoffman has served on the Board of Governors at St. Stephen’s School for boys, the Board of Directors of the Alexandria Hospital, and as the president of the Alexandria Contractors’ Association.  An avid stamp collector, Mr. Hoffman currently serves on the Philatelic Council for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum.

Born in Mississippi, Mr. Hoffman was raised in Arlington, Virginia, where he attended St. Stephen’s School for boys. He is a graduate of Yorktown High School. Upon graduation, Mr. Hoffman enlisted in the United States Army and served three years assigned to the 11th Armored Calvary (a combat unit) in Europe. He attended the University of Maryland, and he currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Arline.

John M. Hotchner has collected postage stamps for nearly sixty years. He particularly enjoys US, EFOs, Christmas seals, Counterfeits, worldwide covers showing delays in the mail, and about twenty other country collections. He is a philatelic society and club activist, including having served sixteen years on the APS board, including a term as president. In addition, he is a philatelic writer and editor, exhibitor, judge, researcher, expertiser, and member since 1998 of the postmaster general’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. He earned a BA degree in International Relations from the University of Virginia, is a forty-two-year veteran of the US Department of State, and he is currently assigned a State Department detailee to the interagency Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center as Senior Policy Advisor (Terrorist Mobility).

Allen D. Jones retired from Federal Service with the U.S. Navy in 1996 after thirty-five years service as Senior Weapons System Engineer for the Fleet Technical Support Center, Norfolk, Virginia. His philatelic interests include pioneer airmail, early government airmail, and United States, Latvia and Memel stamp issues. Jones served as president of the American Air Mail Society as well as a member of that organization’s Board of Directors. He also served as president of the Virginia Philatelic Federation and vice president of the APS. Key memberships include the American Air Mail Society, the APS, the British North American Philatelic Society, and the Royal Philatelic Society London. 

James Kloetzel has been catalogue editor for Scott Publishing Co. since 1994. He began his philatelic career with Richard Wolffers Philatelic Auctions, San Francisco, in 1974, starting as an auction lot describer, then moving to manager of the auction department, and finally becoming the company’s vice president and general manager. He moved to Dallas, Texas, serving as vice president of philatelics for Steve Ivy Philatelic Auctions before assuming his present position at Scott Publishing Co. He has written numerous articles on United States and foreign philately, covering topics from classic stamps through the most modern stamp issues.

Janet Klug is a lifelong collector who specializes in British Pacific and military postal history. She also enjoys a long, deep-seated interest in history. She writes, “Collecting stamps and letters from bygone days is a way for me to connect on a very personal level with people and events from those times. History is not just about famous people and events. It also encompasses ordinary people doing ordinary things, overcoming the challenges that happen in their lives, surviving and thriving.” Klug is immediate past-president of the American Philatelic Society and a member of the National Postal Museum's Council of Philatelists. She has served on the Board of Directors of several philatelic organizations and has chaired the Committee on the Accreditation of National Exhibitions. She judges for the American Philatelic Society. She previously managed computer departments for several corporations.

Van Koppersmith is a business owner who specializes in the postal history of Alabama and Mississippi and early postal markings, primarily maritime-related. As a researcher and author, he has published articles in various philatelic journals, including the Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Postal Issues, Collectors Club Philatelist and PF Opinions VII. As an exhibitor, Koppersmith’s collections have all been recognized with national gold medals. He is an ex-officio director and former president of the USPCS and vice-president elect of the CSA. He is a life member of APS, APRL, USPCS and AAPE, and he is a member of APC, CCNY, CSA and PHS.

Al Kugel, a Chicago-based investment counselor, earned a BS degree from Washington University and an MBA from Harvard. He is an active philatelic exhibitor and a member of the Collectors Club of Chicago and the Collectors Club of New York, a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, and a nationally qualified philatelic judge. Kugel serves as director of the Chicago Philatelic Society, general chairman of the annual CHICAGOPEX show, and president of the Military Postal History Society. He is a council member of the American Philatelic Congress. He has published more than eighty articles in philatelic journals, the articles primarily related to his chosen specialty, twentieth-century military mail. He was awarded the Luff Award for Distinguished Philatelic Research in 2005 by the APS.

Curt Livingston, the former Chairman and CEO of Western Asset Management, is a specialist in U.S. essays, proofs, and stamps.

Thomas Mazza is an attorney who specializes in U.S. classic postal history. He is past-president of the CCNY.

Dr. Peter P. McCann’s philatelic interests and exhibits focus on the British Caribbean and South Atlantic areas, particularly the postal history of Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Tristan da Cunha. He is author and co-author of two books on the postal history of the Cayman Islands and the British South Atlantic Islands. Dr. McCann was president of the APS from 1999-2003 and served on its board for twelve years. He is currently vice president of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP). Dr. McCann was given the high honor of signing the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2007. He has also served as president of the American Philatelic Congress, the AAPE, served on the board of Washington 2006 and was chair of the Exhibits Selection Committee. He is currently a trustee of the PF and chair of its Nominating Committee. He is an international philatelic judge and a Fellow of the RPSL. Dr. McCann is professor of cell biology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, former president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, and served as CEO and president of several biotech companies.

Harvey Mirsky, a New York-based marketing consultant, is knowledgeable on a wide range of U.S. philatelic topics, but he specializes in the stamps and postal history of the 1847 issue. He has written extensively on those subjects, and his collection has won both gold and grand awards nationally and large gold medals internationally. Mirsky is a member of the board of governors of the CCNY and is a member of APS, USPCS, PHS, AAPE, RPSL, PPHS, and USSS.

Robert Odenweller has received the APS Champion of Champions (1973) and the FIP Grand Prix d’Honneur (1980) for his New Zealand exhibit and international gold medals for his Samoa and Tasmania exhibits, and he has received the Luff Award for exceptional contributions to philately and Lichtenstein award for lifetime achievement in the hobby. In addition, he has received the FIP Medals for Research and for Service. Odenweller has been accredited as an international judge since 1974 and serves as an expert for the Philatelic Foundation, where he has been chairman of the Expert Committee and is a director of the A.I.E.P. (International Association of Philatelic Experts). He is editor of the Collectors Club Philatelist and received top honors for both that and his book on twentieth-century Samoa. He has served as president of the Collectors Club, as a governor since 1969, and for eighteen years as president of the FIP Commission for Traditional Philately. His honors include signing the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (1991).  He was selected as Fellow of the RPSL in 1969 and Honorary Fellow of the RPSL in 2007, the first and only individual from the U.S. to have received the distinction.    

Daniel A. Piazza, Assistant Curator of Philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, collects and writes about the stamps and postal history of the U.S. during the Bureau period (1894-1978) as well as the Italian peninsula. He sits on the board of governors of the Vatican Philatelic Society and edits its journal, Vatican Notes; he has also received the society’s Veritas and President’s awards (for scholarship and service, respectively). His other national memberships include the American Philatelic Society, American Philatelic Research Library, American First Day Cover Society, and Writers Unit #30. Locally, he serves as literature chairman for the NAPEX exhibition and belongs to both the Washington Stamp Collectors Club and the Baltimore Philatelic Society.

In addition to his philatelic activities, Piazza is an academic historian specializing in U.S. History to 1760. He holds degrees in the subject from Wagner College (B.A., 1998) and Syracuse University (M.A., 2004) and has completed the coursework for his Ph.D.

Steven J. Rod began collecting United States stamps in 1955, the year his father took him to Gimbel’s and bought him his first Minkus All-American Stamp Album. His collection and study of the White Plains Souvenir garnered national recognition in 1980s. He has written extensively on the topic "Introduction to Stamp Collecting," including over four hundred consecutive columns in Linn's Stamp News. He has also written three related books, the most recent being An Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting. He serves as vice president and general exhibition chairman of NY2016, the United States' decennial International Stamp Show, and as a vice president of the APS.

A specialist in New Jersey postal history, Robert G. Rose serves as president of the New Jersey Postal History Society and editor of its journal. He is a member of the board of trustees and the vice-chairman of the Philatelic Foundation, a regional vice president of USPCS, chairman and board member of NOJEX, and a member of APS, CCNY, USPCS, NJPHS, and USSS. Mr. Rose has published a number of articles, most recently an article titled “The American Colonial Postal System’s Year of Transition, 1775,” which appeared in The Collectors Club Philatelist. He has lectured on various aspects of New Jersey postal history at The Collectors Club, the New York chapter of the U. S. Philatelic Classics Society, Stamp Show 2002, and NOJEX. He graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Seton Hall Law Review. Rose practices law in Morristown, New Jersey.

Wade E. Saadi, a businessman living in New York City, has been collecting since childhood and specializes in the U.S. Classic Period. He is also a writer, researcher, and exhibitor of these issues and has won numerous awards for exhibits and research. His gold medal 1847 exhibit is considered one of the finest studies in the shades and cancellations of that issue ever formed. His is currently exhibiting “Struck on Stamps–1851 to 1868,” a study of the evolution of early cancellations. Besides philately, he enjoys photography, cooking, baseball, and collecting toy trains.

Mr. Saadi currently serves as president of the CCNY and the USPCS. In addition, he is a vice president of the APS and chairs its membership committee. He has served as editor of the 1847 section of The Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Postal Issues since 1997, and Mr. Saadi is the chair of the NPM’s Arago committee and is a member of the museum’s Operations committee. He is the chair of the NY2016 Organizing committee and is president of the NY2016 International Exhibition.

Charles Shreve has been involved professionally in the rare stamp auction business for over thirty-five years. He began collecting stamps at age twelve. Soon after, he started his first job in the industry for Roger Koerber Auctions in Michigan as an apprentice auction lot describer but continued his higher education at Wayne State University in Detroit. He took a position in 1977 with Sotheby's in the rare stamp auction department. In 1980 Mr. Shreve joined Steve Ivy of Heritage Coin Galleries, Inc., Dallas, to establish a rare stamp auction company, Steve Ivy Philatelic Auctions, Inc. In 1994 Mr. Shreve established Shreve Philatelic Galleries, Inc.

Mr. Shreve is a member of numerous philatelic organizations, including being a life member of the APS, the American Stamp Dealers Association, and USCS. He is a member of the Royal Philatelic Society London. He is also a member of the board of governors and fund raising chairman of CCNY. He is an expert consultant and member of the board of trustees of the Philatelic Foundation in New York City, the largest philatelic expertizing service in the United States. Other memberships include the American Revenue Association, Carriers & Locals Society, and the Philatelic Traders Society (London).

David M. Sundman’s philatelic collections focus particularly upon the postal history of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, and his philatelic interests range across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, both U.S. and international. He is a partner in Mystic Stamp Company in Camden, New York, and president of Littleton Coin Company in New Hampshire. Sundman co-sponsors the NPM Maynard Sundman Philatelic Lecture Series.

Donald Sundman is president of Mystic Stamp Company and serves on the Philatelic Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He is actively involved with the APS and has sponsored over 5,000 collectors for membership, a record number in the history of the APS. Sundman co-sponsors the NPM Maynard Sundman Philatelic Lecture series. His Freedom of Information Request unraveled the mystery of the legendary “CIA Invert” stamps, and he donated one to the NPM National Stamp Collection. To protect collectors from a controversial U.S. Postal Service decision, Mystic filed suit to prevent the destruction of the recalled 1994 Legends of the West error sheets. In 1998 Mystic purchased America’s rarest stamp, the 1868 1-cent Z Grill, for a record price of $935,000. In 2005, the 1-cent Z Grill was traded in an even exchange for the unique 1918 Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block, valued at $2.97 million. The historic exchange of America’s most famous and valuable rarities was covered by the worldwide media, captivating the imaginations of collectors around the globe.

Herbert A. Trenchard, a retired theoretical physicist, is the acknowledged “dean of U.S. philatelic history.” He serves the American Philatelic Society as its historian and chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee. He is a trustee of the American Philatelic Research Library. He volunteers at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and is a member of its Council of Philatelists. Trenchard is a member of the Collectors Club of New York and a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London. His awards include the American Philatelic Society’s John N. Luff Award in 1992 for distinguished service to the society and the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award in 2006. He signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists of the United States Philatelic Classics Society in 2005 and is a member of the APS Writers Unit 30 Hall of Fame.

Ann Triggle earned a degree in organic chemistry and has worked as a research associate and faculty member in Great Britain and the United States. She founded the Pharmacy Museum at the State University of New York in 1985 and has taught courses in History of Medicine and Science. Her service to the APS has included board and committee assignments, judging positions, and awards coordinator for both PACIFIC 97 and Washington 2006. She has been honored as a Fellow of both the Royal Philatelic Society London and the Royal Philatelic Society Canada. She has been elected to the FIP Thematic Bureau and to the Society of Postal Historians in the UK. She was the ATA's Distinguished Thematicist of 2006, and she received the APS Luff Award in 2005 for service to the APS.

Historian Charles Verge, immediate past-president of the Royal Philatelic Society Canada and curator of the Canadian National Stamp Collection, is a prolific writer, exhibitor, and judge. He has published over 150 articles related to philately in newspapers, specialized magazines, and general publications. He is a member of many local, national, and international philatelic organizations. He has been honored as a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 for his philatelic achievements. Verge lives in Ottawa, Ontario.   

Beginning with his presidency of the campus stamp club in college, Alan Warren has been involved with organized philately for over fifty years at the local, national, and international levels. His current collecting areas include pre-stamp postal history of Sweden, stamps and postal history of Tibet, and U.S. and Scandinavian first day covers. He currently serves as recording secretary of the American First Day Cover Society, president of the Scandinavian Philatelic Foundation, and secretary of the Philadelphia National Stamp Exhibition. Warren is also a director of the Military Postal History Society, the Scandinavian Collectors Club, and the Nepal and Tibet Study Circle. He is past-president of the American Philatelic Society Writers Unit 30, and his articles have appeared in over fifty journals in the U.S. and abroad. Warren is a recipient of the Luff Award for exceptional contributions to philately.

Like many philatelists, Alan Whitman began collecting as a child but let the hobby drift to the back burner during his young adulthood. A subscription to Linn’s Stamp News—purchased to help his daughter’s school magazine drive—rekindled his interest in 1993. Now a serious collector of United States pre-1930 issues, Whitman is a member of the APS, the CCNY, the USSS, and the USPCS. A graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, he is employed by Morgan Stanley, where he is senior vice president, financial advisor, and portfolio manager.