NRA Board Resignations

Eb Wilkinson and Joel Friedman have tendered their resignation from the NRA Board of Directors effective today. Eb’s term would have expired at the close of the Meeting of Members in Houston in April. I should note that he is on the ballot by petition for the 2026 Board of Directors election.* Joel’s term expires in 2027.

From John Frazer announcing the resignations:

We have received resignation letters from Eb Wilkinson and Joel Friedman.

Until the adjournment of the Annual Meeting of Members, these additional vacancies will be filled by the next runners-up in the 2025 mail ballot election, Todd Figard and Jim Wallace.  (Kim Rhode was the runner-up after Mr. Figard, but declined to serve due to schedule conflicts with the January meeting.)

The mail ballot election will now fill the following seats:

  • Twenty-five three-year terms that expire in 2029
  • Three two-year terms that expire in 2028
  • Two one-year terms that expire in 2027

Please join us in thanking Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Friedman for their Board service, and in welcoming Mr. Figard and Mr. Wallace.

There are 38 candidates on the ballot. If one includes the 76th Director, then a total of 31 out of those 38 will be elected to the Board of Directors. To clarify, the eight runner-up candidates will vie for the 76th Director one-year seat.

Both Todd Figard and Jim Wallace are on the ballot for the 2026 Board election. They were both selected by the Nominating Committee.

Finally, it should be noted that both Wilkinson and Friedman are trustees of the NRA Foundation. Whether this is another move by those trustees to distance themselves from the NRA is up in the air. There are plenty of rumors regarding the aims of the Foundation and for the time being they will remain rumors.

*I do not know at this time whether Eb Wilkinson has removed himself from the 2026 ballot as well and I have that question into John Frazer.

Jim Wallace Elected 76th Director

Jim Wallace was elected as the 76th Director yesterday. His closest competitor was Joel Friedman who was the “official” candidate of leadership. This is further shows that reformers are gaining in strength as they coalesced to support Wallace.

By my count, a total of 740 votes were cast or approximately 1% of the total number who voted in the 2024 Board election.

The results:

The results of the in-person balloting have been received from our election auditing firm.

James L. Wallace has been elected by the members to a one-year term ending in 2025. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Wallace back to the Board.

The final vote tally is as follows:

  • James L. Wallace – 212
  • Joel Friedman – 142
  • Greer Johnson – 96
  • John C. Sigler – 87
  • Kim Rhode – 79
  • David A. Keene – 70
  • Antonio A. Hernandez – 28
  • Regina Roberts – 26

In another interesting development that I learned of this morning, Carl Rowan, Jr. resigned from the Board. His position will be filled by Joel Friedman who was the first runner-up in the 2024 Board election. Since the resignation came after the Meeting of Members, Friedman will only serve until the next Annual Meeting.