... I, too, will be saying good-bye to OAH this coming year. In May, I informed the executive board that I would not be seeking a third five-year contract. My nine years at OAH have been an incredible experience. I have written about what we have accomplished this past decade in my annual report (see page 12). Here I would like to say how grateful I am for having the privilege of serving as your executive director. When I moved to Bloomington from Albany, Georgia, in the fall of 1999, we had a big agenda laid before us based on the new mission statement adopted the previous spring. Within three months, however, the U.S. Justice Department brought a racial discrimination suit against the Adam’s Mark Hotel, where our March 2000 annual meeting was scheduled to be held. The Adam’s Mark affair occupied us for the next year or so, but we got back on track. The executive board, meeting on retreat in 2002, created a strategic plan which has guided our operations since. We have accomplished some important parts of that plan that have helped us move toward our goals of reaching a broader audience and affecting history education at all levels. It is now time for the executive board to reexamine and revise or replace the current plan. I think I have accomplished all I am able in the current situation and I am happy to turn over the executive leadership of our organization to a new director. I will continue to serve for much of this coming year as the executive board creates its new plan and hires its new director. As I step down from leadership, however, I will remain a loyal member. As it is for most of you, the OAH is my professional home and I plan to support and promote it as long as I practice American history.