October 24, 2006, Annapolis, MD: The American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) announced that Mr. Bob Wiggans has joined the ABYC Team as the organization's Director of Membership and Development, and Ms. Helen Koepper has recently been hired as the Technical Department Coordinator.

Bob Wiggans, Director of Membership and Development will be responsible for nurturing relationships with existing members, identifying and enrolling new members, educating people on the benefits of becoming an ABYC member and providing opportunities for donors to support the ABYC mission. Bob has worked in the non-profit association management field for over 20 years. He came to ABYC after having served as Membership Director for the 2,000 member Council on Foundations where he was responsible for managing the membership renewal and development aspects of their $10.6 million membership dues revenue operations. Prior to serving with the Council on Foundations, Bob was V.P. of Membership & Communications for the 18,000 member Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), a trade association representing commercial real estate. Bob earned his "Certified Association Executive" (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives and has a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Maryland. Bob will be at both the International Boatbuilders' Exhibition and Conference (IBEX) from November 1 - 4 in Miami, FL and the Marine Equipment Tradeshow (METS) from November 14 - 16 in Amsterdam.

Helen Koepper, Technical Department Coordinator will be responsible for committee correspondence, meeting arrangements and publication editing within the Technical Department. She comes to ABYC after working in the life insurance industry for 18 years where she was involved in standards certification and quality assurance. Helen earned her B.S. in Mathematics from Towson University.

ABYC has been developing, writing and updating the safety standards for boat building and repair in the United States for over 50 years. ABYC is actively involved with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as well as education and certification programs for marine technicians. These standards are available on CD-ROM, online (Web-STIR) and in printed form. Membership and general information can be requested by visiting the ABYC web site at www.abycinc.org.

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