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.    

MaryAnn Bowman, a retired Wisconsin school teacher, received the first annual Ernest A Kehr Future of Philately Award in 1991 for her work with youth in stamp collecting.  Among her achievements for philately was the creation of the first formal youth area at a national level stamp show in 1982, which has served as a model from the local to the international level. In addition to school stamp clubs and community outreach programs, she served on the American Philatelic Society (APS) Youth Activities Committee and contributes to its booklet “Tips for a Youth Area” and the APS Chapter Activities Committee newsletter. She is Youth Director for the American Topical Association. She has served other philatelic organizations, including international exhibitions and the Junior Philatelists of America as its director of educational projects. Bowman received the first Collectors Club of Chicago encouragement grant in recognition for her work with young people.  She was also named as the 2005 ATA Distinguished Topical Philatelist.

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 president of The Collectors Club, New York, and is president of the APRL.

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 Biosciences, Inc., where he is Vice President of Operations and Corporate Compliance Officer. 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, C&LS, CCNY, ESPHS, PHS, USPCSNY, 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.

Gordon E. Eubanks, Jr., has been active in the philatelic community over the last 15 years, currently serving on the board of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society. He also served on the board of the Philatelic Foundation and is a member of the Collectors Club of New York and the Royal Philatelic Society. From April 1999 to March 2005 Eubanks served as president and CEO of Oblix, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise identity management solutions. Since 2005 he has been doing private investing and working with startup companies. From 1984 to 1999, Eubanks was president and chief executive officer of Symantec Corporation, one of the world’s most prominent software companies. Eubanks received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and his Master's degree in Computer Science from the Naval Postgraduate School. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, serving in the nuclear submarine force from 1970 to 1979. Eubanks serves on the boards of private technology companies Concur Technologies, Inc., Solera Networks, and People Admin and Perimeter eSecurity.

Cheryl R. Ganz, Chief Curator of Philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Lead Curator of the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery (opening 2013), 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 served as an editor of The Zeppelin Collector for thirty-six years, 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 Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize, Royal Philatelic Society London’s Lee Medal, Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame, the Federation Internationale des Societes Aerophilateliques Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to aerophilately, the Newberry Award for contributions to Chicagoland philately, the Classics Society’s Distinguished Philatelist Award, and the Elizabeth C. Pope Lifetime Achievement Award. 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, co-editor of and contributor to Pots of Promise: Mexicans and Pottery at Hull-House, and co-author of Delivering Hope: FDR & Stamps of the Great Depression and Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic.

Ian C. Gibson-Smith  is president of Allied Defense Industries, Inc., a defense consulting company specializing in the provision of spare parts, purchasing, and logistic services to branches of the U.S. Armed Services, NATO governments, and prime contractors. Born in England, his family moved here in his youth and he attended the College of William and Mary. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Gibson-Smith is dedicated to the arts, human rights, and community support. He is the founder and chair of the IanThom Foundation, a public charity established in memory of Thomas G. Martin. The Foundation furthers his commitment to public service and tradition of charitable giving. As a philatelist, Gibson-Smith specializes in the issues of Great Britain.

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).

Trish Kaufmann began collecting Confederate postal history in her teens and quickly became engrossed in exhibiting, writing and research on the subject. Currently, she is serving as the President of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, the first woman to ever hold that position, and as Editor-in-Chief of the new Confederate States Catalog and Handbook to be published in 2011, in an attempt to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. She was also the first woman and the youngest person ever bestowed the permanent honorary title of "General" in the Confederate Stamp Alliance (1985) and has won the CSA Haydn Myer Award twice for service to the Alliance. She has been a member of the CSA Authentication Service since 1996 and served as the Recording Secretary from July 1996 through November 2007. She served as editor of The Confederate Philatelist, official publication of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, from 1973-1987, as co-editor from 1970-73, as Associate Editor 2006-09. She has won numerous exhibitor awards including Grand Awards and Reserve Grand Awards in national philatelic competition with both her Confederate and Classic Valentine collections. From 1973-1989, she was an officer and auctioneer (one of the first female auctioneers in the country) for the Washington, D.C. philatelic auction house of John W. Kaufmann, Inc.

Kaufmann has written innumerable philatelic research articles, primarily on Confederates and U.S. antique valentines and postal history for The American Philatelist, The American Stamp Dealer and Collector, The Congress Book, Smithsonian Magazine, Way Markings, The Confederate Philatelist and the many other publications. Her definitive research on the 3-cent 1861 Postmaster Provisionals, published jointly in both the 1984 and 2000 American Philatelist and The Confederate Philatelist, resulted in an entirely new section in the 2000 Scott Specialized Catalogue. Society affiliations include life membership in the American Philatelic Society, Confederate Stamp Alliance, U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, and the American Philatelic Research Library; she is also a member of the American Stamp Dealers Association and numerous other collector and dealer organizations such as the Collectors Club of New York and Florida Stamp Dealers Association. She has served on the board of directors of the American Philatelic Research Library, the Society of Philatelic Americans, the Virginia Postal History Society, NAPEX, and the World Stamp Expo Advisory Board to the U.S. Postal Service. She has worked as a researcher and adviser to the publishers of the Scott Catalogue and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, “Arago” online database.

Vince King, serves as President of the Texas Postal History Society, and is the 2nd Vice President of the Texas Philatelic Association.  As a member of the Collectors Club of Dallas, he served as the Awards Chairman and Bourse Chairman of TEXPEX, an APS World Series of Philately Exhibition.  He has won gold and special awards for his exhibits “Before the Flood—The Postal History of Galveston, Texas, 1838-1900” and “Texas During the Confederate Period—How Mail Was Handled, 1861-1865.”  He was awarded the Texas Philatelic Association’s most prestigious award, becoming the “2011 Distinguished Philatelic Texan” for service and achievements in the field.  A prolific researcher and author of articles on Texas postal history, King is also a member of the American Philatelic Society, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society and the Confederate Stamp Alliance.  He is the President and CEO of Entech Design, Inc., and has two daughters with Becky, his wife of 36 years.  He is a genealogist, researcher, and author of several nationally recognized family histories.  He is also a past-President of the Jay Family Association.

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.

In 2007, Thomas Lera was appointed the Winton M. Blount Research Chair at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. He has written over 100 philatelic articles and papers which have been featured in leading journals such as The London Philatelist, The Collectors Club Philatelist, The American Philatelist, The Confederate Philatelist, and the 2003, 2009 and 2011 Congress Books. In 1995, he published his first book, Bats in Philately and, his Cave Post Offices was published in 2011. He recently edited The Winton M. Blount Symposia: Select Papers 2006-2009, which was released September 2010 by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press and is working on the next Winton M. Blount Symposia: Select Papers 2010-2011 to be published in late 2012 again by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.

Lera has served as co-chair of the Winton M. Blount Symposium since 2007. He is a national philatelic judge, has been a member of the Committee of Accreditation on National Judges and Exhibitions for the American Philatelic Society, was a past president of NAPEX, and is a member of several philatelic societies including the Royal Philatelic Society of London. His single and multi-frame philatelic exhibits have won gold and grand awards.

When not working at the museum, he is active in the preservation and conservation of caves and bats. He has written management plans for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the latest one being the Conservation of Lanquin Caves National Park in Guatemala. In 2006, he was appointed by Governor Mark Warner as Chairman of the Virginia Cave Board and has been the Administrative Vice-President of the National Speleological Society (NSS) receiving their prestigious individual Conservation Award. He is a fellow of the NSS and The Explorers Club of New York. He holds degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania.

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

Marvin (Marv) R. Murray, Jr. collected worldwide for several years, but now collects United States and Germany with special interests in the 1890’s Privat Post and 1946-1949 post WWII period. Marv is a native of Washington (the state not the city), he served 22 years as an officer in the United States Army followed by 17 years as a project engineer with TRW Inc. He volunteered in the National Postal Museum Library for five years and in the Philatelic Department for one. Marv joined the Philatelic Department staff in 2009. He has an MA from the University of South Florida and a BA from the University of Washington.

Robert Odenweller is a researcher, writer, and mentor. His research has produced the seminal works The Postage Stamps of New Zealand: 1855-1873 The Chalon Head Issues,and The Stamps and Postal History of Nineteenth Century Samoa. In addition, he has written many exceptional articles and his exhibits have won the APS Champion of Champions and the FIP Grand Prix d’Honneur. He edits Collectors Club Philatelist for the Collectors Club (New York). Odenweller’s service to philately is extensive. He served as president of FIP Commission for Traditional Philately for eighteen years, as director on the APS Board for nine years, as governor on the Board of the Collectors Club New York for forty years, on the Board of Trustees of Philatelic Foundation for twenty years. In addition he serves as an expert for the Philatelic Foundation and the American Philatelic Society. He served as director of the International Association of Philatelic Experts for thirty years and is currently its vice president, as overseas representative for Royal Philatelic Society London for twenty years, and has been a member of the National Postal Museum Council of Philatelists for four years. Odenweller has signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists and was awarded the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award, the Alfred F. Lichtenstein Memorial Award, the APS Luff Award, and the FIP Medal for Service. He holds honorary fellowship in the Royal Philatelic Society London and the Royal Philatelic Society New Zealand. He has earned the FIP Medal for Research, the Royal Philatelic Society London Crawford Medal, the Royal Philatelic Society New Zealand Collins Award. He is a Distinguished Philatelist of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society.    

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.

Omar Rodriguez of New York, New York, is a professional actor who has appeared on television, including roles on the Sopranos, and in films such as Frida and  Che. In addition, he is a consultant and currently manager of Firm-wide Practice Olympics. His philatelic collecting specialty is classic stamps and mail of his homeland Mexico. One of his exhibits won the highest international award available, the International Grand Prix Washington 2006. In addition to exhibiting his collection, he has published his original research.

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 APS and USPCS. In addition, he is past president of CCNY. 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 L. Straight, a retired librarian of Washington University in St. Louis, has served as a Vice President and Director at Large of the American Philatelic Society and a trustee of the American Philatelic Research Library. Currently, he is the Vice President of the Postal History Society. He is a gold medal exhibitor. At the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, Straight was co-Founder of the annual Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposium, and has served as its co-chair since 2006. He was also on the Museum Advisory Council from 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the exhibit development team for the Postal Museum’s "Systems at Work" exhibit, which opened in 2011, and is a guest curator for the Hawaii section of the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery’s National Stamp Salon. He has an extensive record of research and publication, including more than 250 articles in over two dozen philatelic, library, and historical journals. His philatelic specialties include pneumatic tube mail and U. S. postal forms.

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.

May Day Taylor is a native of Washington, D.C., a stamp collector since age 10 and a Sustaining Fellow of The Smithsonian Institution.  She has served as the DC DAR State Regent, Vice President General NSDAR; published the only biography of the only signer of the US Constitution buried in DC; and educated and escorted a class of DC public school students of trips to Plymouth MA, Mount Vernon and Montpelier. An historian by education, a business consultant by profession (establishing United Buying Service in 1967 and Consulting, Advertising and Research Services in 1984) she has moved from a world wide stamp collector to a topical collector with interests that include new U.S. issues. An award winning cachetmaker, she collects ceremony programs and philatelic pages. Locally she is President of the Mr. Beasley Stamp Club, active in three other clubs, and has served on the Board of NAPEX as well as the APS Finance Committee.  At Washington 2006 she exhibited in the Court of Honor her philatelic interpretation of “Welcome to Washington.” For the international exhibition, she also arranged the Alexandria Blue Boy exhibit, which resulted from her research and subsequent writings on that famous local stamp.  She has two sons and four philatelic grandchildren.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nicholas G. Carter died in 2008 while serving as president of the American Philatelic Society and a member of the Council of Philatelists. He was a third-generation philatelist. A collector at age 8, his primary interest was 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. He was active in organized philately in the Washington DC area and nationally, including NAPEX and Washington 2006.

Sharing a great interest for philately has enriched Marjorie and Alvin Robert Kantor’s marriage immeasurably. Additionally, their support of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum not only enhanced the museum’s foundation in 1993 but also deepened the U.S. collection, helping make it the world’s finest. They served on the Council of Philatelists from 1997 through 2004.

Following Bob’s graduation from the University of Wisconsin and then service in World War II and Margie’s graduation at Northwestern University, Bob became the founding president of the National Bulk Vendors Association. Together Bob and Margie collected U.S. stamps and participated in hobby activities with Bob serving as president of the Chicago Philatelic Society. They began building a philatelic library, which ultimately led to a deep interest in colonial and post-colonial postal history. They collected early postal documents, presidential free franks, and Sanitary Fair stamps and ephemera. They wrote the definitive study on Sanitary Fair issues and in 1993 published A Philatelic and Historical Study of Civil War Benevolences.

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.

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. 

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.

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 died in 2011 while still an active member of the Council of Philatelists. He was a New York-based marketing consultant, knowledgeable on a wide range of U.S. philatelic topics, but he specialized in the stamps and postal history of the 1847 issue. He wrote extensively on those subjects, and his collections won both gold and grand awards nationally and large gold medals internationally. Mirsky served on boards of the Collectors Club of New York, the Philatelic Foundation, and Postal History Society. He was a member of APS, USPCS, AAPE, RPSL, PPHS, and USSS.

Patricia Stilwell Walker began collecting seriously when she discovered postal history as a young adult. She has formed award winning collections in Irish postal history (Grand Prix National The Stamp Show London 2000) and Baltimore postal history (several national level Grand Awards) and also has a collection of her home county that includes paper ephemera as well as covers. As well as being a successful exhibitor, Pat is an accredited National and International Judge. A life member of the American Philatelic Society, Pat is a former member of the APS Board of Vice-Presidents, a Past President of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, and also of the Eire Philatelic Association; she is currently Treasurer of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors and a Director of WE (Women Exhibitors). Pat is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, a member of the Society of Postal Historians, the American Philatelic Congress, the Collectors Club of New York which honored her with the Alfred F. Lichtenstein Memorial Award in 2006, and the Baltimore Philatelic Society where she is Chair of the BALPEX Exhibits Committee. Now retired, Pat holds a BA Magna Cum Laude in Mathematics from Vassar College and spent 30 years working for IBM in the field of main frame telecommunications support.

Scott Trepel, author of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum exhibition catalogue Rarity Revealed: The Benjamin K. Miller Stamp Collection, is president of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York City. He has written numerous works including auction catalogues that have become standard philatelic reference works, including The City Despatch Post 1842-1852 Issues: A Study of America’s First and Most Versatile Stamp-producing Plate and Wells, Fargo & Company 1861 Pony Express Issues.

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, is past-president of the Royal Philatelic Society Canada and the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors, curator of the Canadian National Stamp Collection, a prolific writer, exhibitor, and judge. He has written three books and over 200 articles related to philately in newspapers, specialized magazines, and general publications. He is a member of many local, national, and international philatelic organizations. Verge has been honored as a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London and received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 for his philatelic achievements. Verge lives in Toronto, 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.

Richard Winter, renowned maritime postal historian with a special interest in transatlantic steamship mail, joined the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists in the fall of 2003 as a representative of the collector community. Since 1983 he has published almost one hundred articles in his field, most based on original research. He is the current editor of the Foreign Mail section of the Chronicle, the award-winning journal of the USPCS, a position he has held for fifteen years. Author of two of the four basic reference books about transatlantic mail, his philatelic studies have now branched into the postal history of North Carolina. He is currently involved in a ten-year project to document all nineteenth- and twentieth-century postmarks of that state. This information becomes available to the public via the National Postal Museum’s web site as each of the state’s hundred counties is produced. In addition, he is an experienced national and international exhibitor, having attained the International Championship Class with two separate, stampless-cover exhibits. His work for the philatelic community has been recognized through the receipt of numerous awards, including the Distinguished Philatelist Award of the USPCS, the American Philatelic Society’s John N. Luff Award for Distinguished Philatelic Research, and the CCNY Lichtenstein Award.