I will again be joining the ASP Board of Directors.

Last week, members of the Association of Shareware Professionals voted to bring me back as one of six Directors. I last served on the Board in 2004, and I made the decision then not to run for election at the end of my (second) term. Having served that year as Chairman of the Board, I needed to take a break from volunteer service for a while to concentrate on business. After a couple of years, though, I was asked (and nominated) to run again. I accepted and stood (not ran) for election.

Three of the six Director terms expire each year, and (obviously) the terms are each two years. This time, there were 5 candidates, and the membership seems to have wanted experience. I (a former CoB) received the most votes, followed closely by Mitchell Vincent of K Software (current CoB) and Sam Bellotto Jr. of Crossdown (sitting Director). Sam is another game developer/publisher, and I know that Mitchell is a closet game developer (and successful business software publisher). There will not be much turnover on the ASP BoD this year, but I know my election (replacing an absentee Director) will be a net positive in terms of participation.

So, on January 1, 2007, I will again be a Director of the Association of Shareware Professionals, with all the limited prestige and complete lack of remuneration that entails. One nice thing, though, is that I have personally met all of the other 2007 Directors, as well as the current Officers and Executive Director; this is not always the case for an international organization. I think that we have a good team for moving the ASP forward.

My first public act as Director-elect is to now ask anybody reading this who is not already a member to please consider joining the ASP. When I first joined (last century), it was the best $100 that we had ever spent on our business. The annual cost has not risen, and the value of the marketing and business information has not decreased, so the investment is better than ever. If you already are an ASP member, please volunteer.

Thank you for your support.