There were no petition candidates in the election for new members of the USBF Board of Directors in 2017, so the two candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee have been elected to fill the two spots that will become vacant on January 1st. Congratulations to Marty Fleisher, who will be serving his second year on the USBF Board, and to Dave Caprera, starting his first term. The full Board for 2017, in alphabetic order is:

Dave Caprera

Marty Fleisher

Greg Humphreys

Bob Katz

Brad Moss

Beth Palmer

Josh Parker

When I (Jan) listed the USBF Board members on the website at the beginning of 2016, I erroneously listed Bob Katz' term as expiring 12/31/2016, although he had just been reelected to the Board for a 3 year term ending in 2018. Unfortunately, no one noticed the error and therefore when the  time came for this year's election, we thought there were 3 vacancies on the Board for the 3 year term commencing 1/1/2017, although there were in fact only 2.

The Nominating Committee met, interviewed candidates for the Board and nominated three of them.

When the error was discovered, one of the three nominees graciously withdrew his name so there would be no need for a contested election unless a  candidate filed a petition to be on the ballot.

The two Nominating Committee candidates for the USBF Board of Directors' terms commencing on 1/1/2017 are Dave Caprera & Marty Fleisher.

Dave Caprera	Marty Fleisher (Currently on Board)

Brief Statements from the Candidates:

Dave Caprera:

I am a semi-retired tax lawyer living in Denver Colorado. I have14,000+ masterpoints, serve as the District 17 disciplinary chair, previously served on the National Appeals Committee (when they had such a thing), and write a monthly column for the ACBL Western Conference Newsletter entitled "Sleeping on the Couch." Two years ago in Istanbul and this summer in Salsomagiorre, I was a coach for the US Junior under 21 team, and am actively involved with the junior program. If elected, my principal interests are the junior program (else, "the game will die when we do") and (given my tax law background) the laws and their revision.

Marty Fleisher:

I've been an attorney for more than 30 years and a bridge player (much) longer than that.  I've also been active in the investment/financial world for about 10 years , which is about the same amount of time I've been playing very seriously  I am just completing my first 3-year term on the board and am looking forward to my second.

In accordance with the USBF Bylaws as clarified in the Election Procedures, additional candidates, who should review the Board Member Expectations document, may be added to the slate by petition, as follows:

• 4.    Petition Candidates
  Active Members in good standing may be added to ballots by petition. A valid petition application form requires twenty-five (25) Active Member signatures. Petitions must be received at USBF headquarters no later than twenty (20) days prior to the ballot mailing date.

The ballot mailing date is November 24th so the last day to submit a nomination Petition is November 4th.

If there are no petition candidates, the two candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee will be elected without need for voting.