ICTA gears up

A letter arrived on my desk yesterday with some news in it.

David Crenshaw is resigning his position as general manager of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo in order to take the position of chief operating officer of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets as of Nov. 22.

This came as quite a surprise for me.

It was only in the Nov. 5 issue of Numismatic News that the news broke that ICTA had hired a new executive director. Kathy J. McFadden was chosen to succeed Eloise Ullman. McFadden took full charge as of Nov. 1 after working for a month with Ullman as part of the changeover process.

The surprise was not that ICTA would want to hire Crenshaw. I have worked with him for years and I have always found him to be top notch at what he does.

I am glad to see the ICTA board agrees with my assessment.

However, the surprise comes from the fact that for three decades ICTA has often worked on a shoestring budget.

The chief operating officer is an entirely new position.

This signals that the ICTA budget is not scrimping as much as it has previously. It also means the leadership is building up a team to meet the challenges of representing the numismatic community in both Washington, D.C., and in state capitals around the country.

ICTA has proved itself to be a vital part of numismatics. Its efforts to educate the nation’s coin dealers in the intricacies of the anti-money laundering laws to assure their compliance are worth all the money ever spent by ICTA on anything.

But ICTA is far more than that.

It has helped win exemptions from sales tax on coin and bullion transactions in various states. It has lobbied Congress.

ICTA is the eyes and ears of many in numismatics.

Crenshaw is a great addition to the ICTA team.

My only regret is I will no longer be able to work with him on matters regarding the Baltimore expo three times a year.

But that is a small sacrifice considering the greater good of numismatics.

I wish him all the best and I look forward to working with him in his new role.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2013 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."