Over the last couple of months WINS has launched into a New Era. We've revised our Bylaws to the extent that they're more functional. And, the long-awaited leadership elections have concluded. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised that we had so many candidates. That's a testament to the dedication of our membership. I thank all of the members who ran for offices. Each is well-qualified and it's truly unfortunate that all could not serve. Hopefully we'll have even more candidates the next time.

On behalf of the Board of Officers, I thank everyone who took the time to vote on the Bylaws and in the elections. Your new Leadership has vowed to work hard for you and the club. Also, on behalf of the Board and the entire WINS membership, I thank interim President Mr. Craig Rathkamp, interim Treasurer Mr. Robert Peterson, and interim Librarian Mr. Mark Watson for their service to WINS.

Being on the Board of Officers has, thus far, proved to be a very time-consuming experience. You've probably heard comparatively little on the Talk List from your Officers the last few weeks. That's because, in between our usual, daily activities, we've been hard at work discussing opportunities and positive things for the club.

WINS has a new PayPal account for electronic receipt of funds and donations, and a new checking account for receiving checks and money orders, and for paying our bills. Treasurer Joe Garbarini will likely address these more fully in his report.

The Board has authorized Secretary Dave Noble to open a U.S. Post Office Box (POB). The new POB will become the official snail-mail address for WINS. It will be located in St Louis, Missouri. That location will provide WINS a concrete edification associated with a large, central, well-known city; a city that's steeped in numismatic history and presence. Dave will provide our new business address as soon as the POB is opened.

The Board is working on a media release on our recent elections. The elections are the pretext of the release, but the opportunity provides us the ability to tout WINS and to market the club for some overdue recognition and membership recruitment. Hopefully this will be the first in a succession of media releases that will help give WINS its rightful place on the numismatic map. The releases are planned for the print media and internet media. We'll advise everyone when the releases are accomplished so you can be on the lookout for them.

The new Announcement page contains notices and items of interest as well as automatically updated gold and silver values and charts.

Our seventeenth auction recently closed and was another success, thanks to JD White our Auctioneer. For those who've never participated in the WINS Auction, please consider doing so. It's great fun. And it provides the opportunity to sell those extra coins you have lying around. Many members have also utilized the auction as an opportunity to donate to the WINS Treasury. Please consider donating the proceeds from some of your extra coins to the WINS Treasury. The Treasury pays our bills and will hopefully help us to market WINS. It may also help produce our new WINS Club Token. Any donations to the WINS Treasury, regardless of size, are always welcome and appreciated.

Speaking of the new WINS Club Token. Don't forget about the Club Token contest which is linked from the Announcements Page noted above. The contest runs for about another six weeks. The design competition will provide us with the obverse and reverse for our Club Token. It's also hoped that the obverse design, or some combination of submitted designs, will provide us with a permanent WINS Logo. As well, we're discussing the possibility of marketing our Club Token to help beef up the WINS Treasury. Please read about the contest and participate. There are two grand prizes and small participation awards. Besides, it'll be fun.

WINS continues to grow and has an exciting future. We currently have almost 400 members from 40 different countries around the world; of which about 20% are Active Members. Hopefully some marketing will help to increase all of those numbers. If anyone has any marketing ideas, please don't hesitate to advise the Board or volunteer to help. The email addresses for the Board of Officers can be found on the WINS General Information Page.

And finally, a thanks to Vice President Ray Larson for several years of neat WINS Newsletters, and to Newsletter Editor Doug Prather for carrying on that great tradition.

Best Regards,
Ralph J. Huntzinger