The Daguerreian Society’s bylaws outline a process for nominating and electing members of its Board of Directors, who serve three-year terms. The process requires a vote of the members.
Except for our Business Director, Diane Filippi, Society Board members are all volunteers. Individuals may serve for up to three consecutive terms with a two-year hiatus before being eligible to run again.
Each year, seats on the Board open. This year, there are three open Board positions for the 2026–2028 term. The Board's Nominating Committee has put forward the following slate of nominees:
Susan Meyer has been a member of The Daguerreian Society since 2012 and a daguerreotype collector since that time. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Duluth (History), she notes that her interest in daguerreotypes is connected to her love of history: they show what people did, how they lived, and, in some cases, how they died. In addition to daguerreotypes, Susan and her husband collect American industrial art, including WPA paintings and black-and-white photography from the 1930s and 40s. Susan worked for 3M for 42 years before retiring in 2017 as a global supply chain manager. She has served on the board since 2020 as Treasurer, Board Chair, and a member of the Strategic Planning Committee. She has agreed to serve a third term on the Board.
Dave Fondiller has served on the Board since 2023 and is running for his second term. Based in New York, he first joined the Society around 1995 after writing a feature story on Matthew Isenburg’s extraordinary collection for Forbes, where he worked as a staff writer. After a hiatus of several years, he rejoined in 2013 and has been active ever since. Board leadership roles include co-chairing the Marketing & Communications Committee, serving on the Membership and Publications Committees, and participating on various Symposium-related teams. He is also one of the Society’s social media administrators. A passionate collector of daguerreotypes and other early images, Dave brings more than 25 years of marketing and communications experience to the Society. A graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, he currently works as a communications and editorial consultant.
Edith Cuerrier (first-term nominee) is a French Canadian born near Montreal and now based in Newfoundland and Labrador. She works as an archives technician at The Rooms Provincial Archives in St John's, NL. A photography scholar and enthusiast, she will be teaching a History of Photography course at her local community college this fall. She served as project cataloguer of the Cromer Collection at the George Eastman Museum (2017–2019). Earlier in her career, she spent more than 20-years as a military photographer in the Royal Canadian Air Force (1980–2001). Edith earned her MA in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) in 2009 and a BA in Anthropology from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2006. She has been a member of the Daguerreian Society ever since 2008, when Nick Graver introduced her to the organization and she acquired her first daguerreotype. She attended her first Daguerreian Symposium in Paris in 2013, and several others since. She looks forward to attending more in the future, and especially to meeting everyone in Hartford, Connecticut, this year.
Members will vote to fill the three positions from the proposed slate and may also write in candidates. The three individuals receiving the most votes will fill the open Board positions.
Members will receive a ballot link by email on September 5. Results will be announced at the annual business meeting on September 26 in Hartford.
