Zais announces his candidacy for APS president

Mick Zais is running for president of the American Philatelic Society.

Zais is currently one of three members of the APS board of vice presidents, a position he has held since he was elected in 2013. He recently served as chairman of the search committee that hired APS Executive Director Scott English, who began in his new position in August.

In an Oct. 27 announcement, Zais said, “I’m running because I believe the APS, while facing challenges, has significant opportunities to grow membership and expand member services. To this task, I’ll bring 45 years of diverse leadership and financial management experience.”

Zais served for 31 years in the United States Army, achieving the rank of brigadier general. His assignments included commanding general of all U.S. and Allied forces in Kuwait, and commanding general of Operation Provide Refuge, which brought 4,000 Kosovo refugees out of Macedonia for settlement in the United States. Zais was also the Pentagon’s chief of war plans.

He was president of Newberry College in South Carolina for 10 years, with an annual budget in excess of $20 million, and served for four years as South Carolina’s state superintendent of education.

An APS member for nearly 40 years, Zais currently focuses his collecting interests on stamps and postal history related to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the U.S. Army stamps of 1936-37.

“As your President, I will be a force for change,” Zais said. “This means I will work to reverse declining membership by building new outlets for growing our membership and reaching out to more diverse groups. I’ll work to strengthen the partnership between the APS and the 30 World Series of Philately regional shows, our 195 specialty societies, and the hundreds of local chapters across the U.S. I’ll also work to enhance relations with philatelic organizations in other countries and to grow the number of international members.”

As reported in Linn’s, current APS Treasurer Ken Nilsestuen announced his plans to run for the APS presidency during the APS Stampshow in Grand Rapids, Mich., Aug. 20-23.

APS officers are elected by the society’s members every three years. The nominating process for the upcoming election will close March 31, 2016.

The election ballot will be included in the May 2016 issue of the society’s monthly magazine, The American Philatelist.