Alliance Report                                                          

                                                                                                         

September 30, 2025

Issue 25/08

 

The leading voice of nonprofits on postal issues for over 45 years.

                                                                                        

Copyright 2025: Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers—All rights reserved.

 

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers is a 501 (c)(4) nonprofit organization established by nonprofits for nonprofits.

 

 

Thank you!

 

Back on January 15, 2014, I wrote in my first Alliance Report:

 

I am very happy to have succeeded Tony Conway as the Executive Director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.  I truly appreciate the excellent shape in which Tony has left the Alliance, as well as the outstanding Board, membership, and sponsors of the Alliance.  I look forward to working with all of you to continue the over 30-year history of the Alliance, doing all it can to ensure affordable and reliable access to mail service that is so critical to the missions of so many nonprofits that play critical roles in our nation’s society and economy.

 

Today, I am writing to say thank you! After almost 12 years, I am happy to hand over the reins of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers to Kathy Siviter, who I am certain will carry on and take to a higher level the important work that the Alliance does.

 

I greatly appreciate all of the support and friendship I have received in this role. The Alliance has an excellent Board of Directors comprised of outstanding nonprofit leaders, very supportive nonprofit members, and extremely important corporate sponsors. I owe a special thanks to the loyal dues-paying members of the Alliance who make everything we do possible.

 

There is always a risk of leaving people out when you thank specific individuals, but I am going to name a few.

 

 

Having interacted with several boards, I can say without hesitation that the Alliance board is the best. I can’t say how much I appreciate their support, friendship, and dedication to our cause. I have had the great fortune to work with two outstanding board presidents, Meta Brophy and Jim Asselmeyer. The fact that they have dedicated so much time and talent as volunteers in addition to their day jobs continues to amaze me. The same goes for the rest of our executive committee in recent years—Tracey Burgoon, Jerry Mathis, and Sandra Miao. I appreciate so much the opportunity to work with all of them and all our outstanding board members over the years. Our past board president and current representative to the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee, Steve Smith, has been an unrivaled advisor as well.

 

My predecessor, Tony Conway, as I said back in 2014, passed a great organization to me and has remained an important advisor and sounding board to this day. I have benefited greatly from Tony’s wisdom, experience, and humor. Tony’s predecessor, Neal Denton, also has remained in touch and provided great perspective and advice. I hope to continue the tradition by helping Kathy in any way I can.

 

Our legal counsel is a vitally important component of the contributions the Alliance makes to nonprofits and to the Postal Service. I have had the honor to work with two of the best in the business. David Levy served the Alliance as general counsel for over 30 years, including my first several. I had worked with David before I joined the Alliance in my role at the USPS, so I already knew of his work and reputation. My admiration only grew as I saw him in action advocating for nonprofit mailers. I appreciate David’s friendship and advice that extends from before my time at the Alliance to after his time with us.

 

As he approached retirement, David mentored our new general counsel, Eric Berman, who hit the ground running when he joined us a few years ago. We have not been disappointed as Eric has quickly established himself as a leading voice in the very specialized postal regulatory field. He augments his legal counsel as an ace poker player and our official food and wine advisor. I thank Eric for his friendship and all the great things he does for the Alliance.

 

Another indispensable ingredient in the Alliance is our economic advisers at SLS Consulting—Sandy Glick, Peter Kiesel, and the late Larry Buc. We miss Larry, who passed away earlier this year. This group has an unparalleled understanding of USPS economics and finances, and has helped us immeasurably to understand what issues are worth emphasizing in our advocacy on postal matters. Importantly, SLS has helped us to see clearly the need for major reform of the USPS business model to ensure financial sustainability.

 

Many thanks also to my friends at other associations in the vast postal universe. I especially appreciate the friendship and help of Mike Plunkett, my former postal colleague and president of the largest mailer association, the Association for Postal Commerce. Mike and I worked very hard to improve the Postal Service when we were there, and continued our collaboration many times on behalf of our members. Mike is truly a great leader for the mailing industry.

 

I also want to express my appreciation for other former postal colleagues who have answered the noble calling to represent customers’ interests: Jim Cochrane, Bob Galaher, and Leo Raymond. The Alliance has collaborated with and I appreciate many additional mailing industry associations including those led by Art Sackler, Chris Oswald, Danielle Coffey, Donna Harman, Donna Hanbery, Kate Muth, Mark Pitts, Rafe Morrissey, Holly Lubart, Jody Berenblatt, Hamilton Davison, Marie Clarke, Maynard Benjamin, Pierce Myers, Tonda Rush, Wanda Senne, Senny Boone, Mury Salls, Paul Boyle, and Todd Haycock. While everyone represents their segment of the industry, all have the common mission to achieve a healthy and sustainable USPS.

 

I want to express special thanks to the now-retired mailer advocates with the former Magazine Publishers of America: Jim Creagan and Rita Cohen. The Alliance and I worked closely with MPA for many years, sharing regulatory filings, attorneys, an office suite, and fun lunches in Dupont Circle. Much of what I learned about running a mailer association and advocating for mailers came from my almost daily interactions with Jim and Rita.

 

In a category of her own is Karen McCormick. In her roles at the National Postal Museum, the Office of Inspector General, and now at the National Postal Forum, Karen has been a champion of nonprofit mailers, the mailing industry, and the USPS. I appreciate Karen’s relentlessly positive attitude, her advice and counsel, and her untiring efforts to improve understanding of the importance of mail and the goals of the senders of mail.

 

Finally, many thanks to all of the dedicated professionals with whom I have worked at the USPS, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and the Office of Inspector General. I appreciate all of your help over the years and your understanding that, although we sometimes differ on the specifics, we all want USPS to succeed and prosper.