2019 Nominations and Governance

The Nominating and Governance Committee, pursuant to Art. V Sec. 12 of the ANS By-Laws approved for publication all of the nominees as follows:

The following Trustee candidates have been nominated for a one-year to three-year term (until the relevant annual meeting of Fellows and until his or her re-election or successor shall have been elected and qualified), for vote by the Fellows of the Society: 

Class of 2020

Ms. Beth Deisher, of Sylvania, OH, became an ANS Member in 1983, and was elected a Fellow in 1991. From 1985-2012 was editor of Coin World and from January 2017 to September 2019 was Director of Anti-Counterfeiting at the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation. Author or primary editor of 10 books in the numismatic field. Recipient of the 2010 ANA Farran Zerbe Memorial Award; the Numismatic Literary Guild’s Clemy Award (1995); the Burnett Anderson Memorial Award for journalistic excellence (2006); and was inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame in 2013. First elected to the ANS Board of Trustees in 2013, Ms. Deisher has served on the Strategic Planning Committee and the MACO committee, and is a supporter of the ANS Appeals, most recently to the campaign to endow the Chair of the Executive Director.

Mr. Jonathan Kagan, of New York, NY, joined the ANS in 1982, was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1985, became a Life Fellow in 2000, was elected to the ANS Board of Trustees 1995-2000, and held the position of Treasurer from 1998-2000. An investment banker by training, he is the Managing Principal of Corporate Partners in New York. Previously, Jonathan was a Managing Director of Corporate Partners I, which he joined in 1990, and of Centre Partners Management LLC. He began his career in the investment banking division of Lazard in 1980 and became a General Partner in 1987. At Lazard, Jonathan helped head the corporate finance and capital markets areas. He has been a director of public companies and is a director of several private companies. Jonathan received a D.Litt and M.A. (1st Hon.) from Oxford University and an A.B., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard College. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society and the Society of Antiquaries.  His academic interests include early Greek coins and the history of numismatics.

Class of 2021

Mr. Scott E. Buck, Allentown, PA, became a Full Associate Member in 2018. He earned his BS in Accounting from Albright College, and an MS in Taxation from Widener University.  With more than 33 years in public accounting, Scott has been with the firm Morey, Nee, Buck & Oswald, LLC since 2011. His coin collecting interest began at age 7 when his grandfather gave him a 1971 mint set from the State of Israel. After a hiatus from coin collecting during college, he was bitten by the bug again at a local coin show where he found a 3 Gros Groschen/Groszy Trojak of Sigismund I from Danzig. He specialized in coins and paper money from Danzig.  In 2003 he sold his Danzig collection through a Stack’s auction. His recent focus has been on Ancient Judaea and the Roman Emperors who ruled at that time. He is a member of the ANA, Gesher Galicia and the Lehigh County Historical Society. Scott and his wife have 6 children (2 boys, 4 girls).

Prof. Kenneth W. Harl, of New Orleans, LA, was a 1975 Eric P. Newman Graduate Summer Seminar student and joined the Society that same year. A Fellow since 1991, he was first elected to the Board Trustees in 2001, held the office of Second Vice-President annually 2013-2016, and serves on the Collections Committee. A Professor of History at Tulane University, Prof. Harl has written extensively about Roman provincial coins and in particular Asia Minor.

Dr. Noel Lenski, of Woodbridge, CT, joined the ANS in 1993 when he participated in the Eric P. Newman Graduate Summer Seminar. A professor of Classics and History at Yale University, he studied Classics at The Colorado College (BA 1989) and Classics and Ancient History at Princeton (MA, PhD 1995). Prof. Lenski focuses on Roman history and particularly the history of the later Roman Empire. He is interested in power relations as these played themselves out at all levels of society, from emperors to slaves. His research ranges broadly across Late Antiquity and includes studies in political, military, social, economic, religious, cultural and art history. His two monographs, on the emperors Valens and Constantine, explore the limits of imperial power in light of reader response theory and life-worlds theory. He has also published extensively on the history of slavery in antiquity and is currently working on a monograph on slave law in the later Empire.

Class of 2022

Dr. Keith M. Barron, of Haute-Nendaz, Switzerland, is an entrepreneur and exploration geologist in the mining sector.  He holds a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Western Ontario and is an Adjunct Professor there. He is Chairman and CEO of Aurania Resources Ltd., the founder and a Director of South American uranium explorer U3O8 Corp., and President and CEO of Firestone Ventures, and owns and operates a sapphire-ruby-gold mine in Montana, USA. Dr. Barron is a member of the Getty Council in Los Angeles.  He received the Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award at the PDAC 2008 convention, for his role in the discovery of the Fruta del Norte gold mine, and he was jointly named the Northern Miner’s Mining Man of the Year 2008.  A generous contributor to the ANS including the Library Scanning Project, and the campaign to endow the Chair of the Executive Director, Dr. Barron was first elected as a Trustee in 2013, and serves on the Executive, and Nominating & Governance Committee.

Mr. Michael Beall, of Richmond, VA, joined the ANS as a Full Associate in 2017, became a Life Member in 2019, and has been a generous donor.  He earned his B.S. and M.S degrees in accounting from the University of Virginia. He entered the investment profession nearly 40 years ago and is currently Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee for Davenport & Co. LLC, which manages approximately $7 billion in client assets.  He regularly interacts with and advises investment and finance committees, a number of which oversee the financial matters and invest assets of not for profit organizations.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation for Greater Richmond and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Good Samaritan Ministries, a faith-based rehabilitation program that has been in operation for over 30 years. Mike collects Biblically related coins and historically significant ancient Greek and Roman material.  He often writes, speaks, and exhibits for Church and Civic clubs on numismatic topics.  

Dr. Andrew M. Burnett, of London, UK, was Deputy Director of the British Museum from 2002-2013, studied Ancient History and Philosophy at Balliol College in Oxford; received his MA from Oxford (1979), and his PhD at the University of London. He is author, co-author or editor of more than 25 books and more than 100 articles and book reviews principally in the field of Roman and Roman Provincial numismatics, and has been an ANS Member since 1982. Among his many distinctions is the ANS’s 2007 Archer M. Huntington Award for excellence in Numismatic Scholarship, was appointed a CBE in the New Year’s Honors of 2012, and from 2013-2018 was President of the Royal Numismatic Society. Dr. Burnett was first elected as a Trustee in 2013, Second Vice President 2017—present, and serves on the Executive Committee.

Mr. Daniel G. Cohen, of New York, NY is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cohen & Company Inc. and of the board of managers of Cohen & Company’s majority owned subsidiary, Cohen & Company LLC.  Mr. Cohen is Chief Investment Officer of Cohen & Company’s Asset Management Business, President and Chief Executive of Cohen & Company’s European Business, and President, director and Chief Investment Officer of Cohen & Company’s indirect majority owned subsidiary, Cohen & Company Financial Limited. Mr. Cohen also currently serves as Executive Chairman of The Bancorp, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of FinTech Acquisition Corp III. In these capacities, Mr. Cohen has overseen the financing, acquisition and placement of billions of dollars of ABS, commercial mortgage-backed securities, corporate and financial technology related assets. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Academy of the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the Visiting Committees for the Humanities of the University of Chicago, and a member of the board for the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Mr. Cohen is also the Chairman of the Board of the Paideia Institute, which promotes classical studies, and a Trustee of the Arete Foundation. Mr. Cohen holds a B.A. in East Asian History from University of Chicago.

Mr. David Hendin, of Nyack, NY, has been an ANS Members since 1976, a Fellow since 1992, a Life Fellow since 2001, a member of the ABSS since 2009, was an ANS Adjunct Curator from 2010 until his election to the Board of Trustees in 2016, and has held the position of First Vice President since 2017. He currently serves on the Executive, Nominating & Governance, Finance, and Collections Committees. A specialist in weights and currency of the ancient Levant, especially Judaean and biblical, local Roman provincial and Nabataean numismatics, Mr. Hendin is the author of Cultural Change: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Coins of the Holy Land (2011), Guide to Biblical Coins (2010), now in its fifth edition, Ancient Scale Weights and Pre-Coinage Currency of the Near East (2007) and 14 other books, as well as more than 45 articles in scholarly journals and book chapters. With Andrew Meadows he edited Ya’akov Meshorer’s, Coins of the Holy Land: The Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection at the American Numismatic Society and the Israel Museum. Hendin was the principal curator of the ANS’s exhibit Cultural Change: Coins of the Holy Land at the New York Federal Reserve Bank Museum in 2010/11. He has received numerous honors including in 2013 the Gunnar Holst Numismatic Foundation Medal of the Swedish Numismatic Society at University of Göthenberg, Sweden, and has been a trustee of The Scripps Howard Foundation, The Kinsey Institute, and the American Friends of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem. He lectures frequently on Biblical-related numismatics at educational institutions and conventions worldwide. 

Ms. Mary N. Lannin, of New York, NY, is a noted editor of numismatic works, collaborating with authors from across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Her particular interest is in ancient Greek and Hellenistic coinage, and she actively supports the ANS’s Seleucid coins digitization project. In 2014 she became a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s recommendation, becoming chairperson of the Committee in 2015. Ms. Lannin is a former public-television producer and director (KTCA-TV 1968-1978), California winery representative (Winery Associates 1982-2000), and founding partner of Murphy-Goode Estate Winery. An ANS Member since 2010, she became a Life Member in 2012, was elected Fellow in 2015, Trustee in FY2017, chaired the MACO Committee, and serves on the Personnel Committee. She is also a life member of the American Numismatic Association, a member the New York Numismatic Club, the Royal Numismatic Society, the Swiss Numismatic Society, the Royal Numismatic Society of Belgium, the Austrian Numismatic Society, and former president of the San Francisco Ancient Numismatic Society.

Mr. Lawrence Schwimmer, of California, is a software engineer. An ANS Life Member since 2011, he was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2013. Mr. Schwimmer is a supporter of ANS programs and is a generous contributor – notably to the campaign to endow the chair of the Executive Director. He serves on the Executive Committee, the IT Committee, and chairs the Collections Committee.

Mr. Mark D. Tomasko, of New York, NY, a retired corporate attorney, joined the ANS as a Full Associate in 2005, was voted Fellow in 2015 and elected to the Board of Trustees in 2016. He currently serves on the Executive Committee, and chairs the Audit Committee. Mr. Tomasko has donated to the ANS collection and is a generous donor to the general and annual Appeals. Mr. Tomasko is a collector, writer, and researcher on bank note engraving, and has written many articles, given talks (including for the ANS Money Talks series), and done museum exhibits on the subject, most recently at the Grolier Club in 2017, “Images of Value: the Artwork Behind U.S. Security Engraving 1830s­­–1980s” with an extensive accompanying catalogue. In 2012 the ANS published the 2nd edition (revised and expanded) of his book, The Feel of Steel: the Art and History of Bank Note Engraving in the United States. Mark is also a book collector and long-time member of the Grolier Club where he served on the Council for three terms and still serves on many committees.

Pursuant to Article III, Section 1. the Nominating and Governance Committee nominates the following one (1) Individual to serve as Honorary Life Fellow, beginning in FY2020 for vote by the Trustees at their regular annual meeting on October 19, 2019:

Mr. Jerry Moran, of Green Bay, WI, Owner and CEO of MedalCraft Inc., in recognition for his engagement on behalf of the ANS and medallic art.

Pursuant to Article III, Section 1. the Nominating and Governance Committee nominates the following five (5) Individuals to serve as Fellows of the Society beginning in FY2020 for vote by the Trustees at their regular annual meeting on October 19, 2019:

Ms. Elizabeth Hahn Benge, of Chicago, IL, joined the ANS in 2014. A former ANS Librarian from 2008 to 2014, she holds the position Collection and Exhibition Manager in the Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art, The Art Institute of Chicago from 2014 to present.

Mr. Christopher R. McDowell, of Cincinnati, OH, is the Editor of the ANS’s Journal of Early American Numismatics (formerly Colonial Newsletter). A member since 2016, Mr. McDowell holds a law degree from Western Virginia University. He has written many numismatic articles and in 2015 authored Abel Buell and the History of the Connecticut and Fugio Coinages.

Mr. Robert Rodriguez, of Zepher Cove, NV, became a member in 2014 and a Life Member in 2016. He is an investor, collector and researcher of Colonial and early US coinage, and a generous donor to the ANS.

Dr. Scott Rottinghaus, of New London, CT., is a pharmaceutical executive and practicing physician. He became a Full Associate Member in 2007, is a supporter of ANS Appeals, and holds an interest in ancient Greek and Roman numismatics.

Mr. Donald R. Simon, of NYC and Portland, OR, has been a member of the ANS since 1971 and Sage Society since 2017. He has been a coin collector since the early 50’s. His expertise is in US coinage and grading and also collects ancient coins of the Levant. His grandchildren are the two youngest members of the ANS.

Pursuant to Article VI Sections 1 and 2 of the ANS By-Laws, the Committee nominates the following individuals to serve as Officers of the Board of Trustees, for a one-year term (FY 2020), and until his or her successor shall have been elected and duly qualified) for vote by the Trustees at their regular annual meeting of October 19, 2019, or as soon thereafter as is practicable:

Chairman of the Board – Kenneth L. Edlow
President – Sydney F. Martin
First Vice President – David Hendin
Second Vice President – Andrew M. Burnett
Treasurer – Jonathan Kagan, Trustee Elect
Assistant Treasurer – Kenneth L. Edlow
Secretary – Gilles Bransbourg, impending Executive Director
Assistant Secretary – Kenneth L. Edlow

Submitted respectfully,
Robert A. Kandel, Chair,
Nominating and Governance Committee