Kellner Replaces Miller for APS Content

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Less than four months after American Philatelic Society executive director named Martin Miller as part of his “senior leadership team,” responsible for all “content” (editorial matters) at the USA’s largest stamp collecting organization, Miller has decided to leave, and a replacement has been named. The APS press release, with a correction to the number of years Kellner has been an APS member: It will be 47 years on January 1, 2019:

APS Welcomes New Leadership in Content Management

Today the American Philatelic Society named Mark A. Kellner as Chief Content Officer replacing Martin Miller. Miller, who joined the APS staff in October 2017, will be taking a new position closer to his home in South Carolina.

Kellner, who recently became a Life Member of the APS, first joined the Society in 1972 and his collecting interests include United States, Great Britain, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Israel. After attending Boston University’s College of Communications, Kellner began a journalism career including philatelic and non-philatelic newspapers.

Mark was an enterprise reporter for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, and a 24-year contributor and columnist to The Washington Times. He also wrote a tech column on handheld computing for the Los Angeles Times, and earlier was a reporter at the Times Leader in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania.

“Mark’s career as a journalist, editor, and author remind us how diverse and talented the APS membership can be,” said APS Executive Director Scott English. “With the experience that Mark brings to the team, we will be able to bring exciting content to the APS membership both in print and online.”

Kellner’s career included serving as Editor-in-Chief for PC Portables, News and Industry Editor for MISWeek, editor of the Adventist News Network, and News Editor for Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines. He has also authored three books, including WordPerfect 3.5 for Macs for Dummies® and God on the Internet.

“It’s the privilege of a lifetime to serve the American Philatelic Society and its members,” Mark said. “I look forward to developing and enhancing content for the website and keeping The American Philatelist and Philatelic Literature Review at the top of the field.”

Kellner will join the APS staff on January 7, 2019.

About Mark
A Life Member of the American Philatelic Society who first joined nearly 47 years ago, Mark A. Kellner has collected stamps for many years. His interests include stamps from the United States, Great Britain, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Israel.

Mark began his journalism career by contributing a stamp column to the Queens Tribune in New York City, owned by another collector, Gary Ackerman, who later served 15 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also wrote for Linn’s Stamp News and spent several years as Stamp Collector’s Washington, D.C., correspondent. During that time, he was the first to report plans by then-Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank to release a commemorative honoring Elvis Presley, which was released in January 1993.

Along with his philatelic writing, Mark’s been a newspaper reporter and columnist in New York City; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City, Utah. His most notable connections were with The Washington Times, where he was a contributor for 24 years, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, where he was an enterprise reporter.

Mark also served as Editor-in-Chief of PC Portables magazine, as well as News and Industry Editor for MISWeek, and as a staff writer for Federal Computer Week, Government Computer News, and Unix Today. He’s the author of WordPerfect 3.5 for Macs for Dummies® and God on the Internet.

For 11 years, Mark served at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, first as editor of the movement’s Adventist News Network news service and then as News Editor for Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines.

The Kellners currently reside in Salt Lake City, along with Jacques Kellner, Mark’s father, who introduced Mark to stamp collecting, a lifelong pursuit for both men.

“We do expect to move,” the New York City native tells The Virtual Stamp Club. His immediate predecessor, Martin Miller, spent one week a month working from home in South Carolina. Miller’s predecessor, Jay Bigalke, spent three weeks a month working from home and one in Bellefonte. Executive director Scott English has expressed a preference for someone working in-house full-time.

9 thoughts on “Kellner Replaces Miller for APS Content”

    • I don’t know, but word is that Scott was not happy that Jay did not relocate. Martin was also working from home (South Carolina) one week a month.

      I also note that Mark worked early in his career for the Wilkes-Barre PA newspaper and I believe he was always an “Easterner” until the job with Deseret News.

      • I’m glad. It makes the job much more difficult for the editor if there is not easy interaction with other staff and the opportunity to check things out at the APRL. It’s a tough job, and I hate to see it made even harder by distance.

        • I agree. There’s a certain… synergy? …. in newsrooms, and I think it would apply at the APS editorial offices. You can’t think of a word or a synonym, or you’re drawing a blank on someone’s name, and you ask out loud, “What’s another word for ‘fecund?'” I don’t think you get that working by yourself, or by calling colleagues.

          • The synonyms you see are “fertile,” or “productive” — both adjectives that you’d like for a thriving editorial department as well. Ours was here at the APS, with Martin very much leading the band. Martin headed home not merely to spend more time with his family, but for a much better job in sales promotion and management, where he also has proven abilities. I only had the pleasure for five months, but I am really going to miss him, as he was just great to work with.

            Fred Baumann
            APS Editorial Content Specialist/
            Associate Editor

  2. Bear in mind that the Carolinas, from which Martin hails, endured damage from two hurricanes and regional flooding in 2018, and he was not happy being hundreds of miles from home when those took place. I well remember the white-knuckled 16-hour drives back and forth between central Wisconsin and central Pennsylvania before I came to work at the APS as Public Relations Director in 2009; they are utterly exhausting.
    By the way, T meant to write “the synonyms you seek” above; editorial colleagues make great proofreaders, too…and I say this as the guy who miscounted the number of branches in the Menorah in the December AP!

    Fred Baumann

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