officers & directors
Ronald J. Klimley
President
Terry Kurzinski
Secretary
Andrew Urushima
Treasurer
Dr. James Mazepa
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Edwin J. Andrews
Immediate Past President
Dr. Thomas Bieniosek
Director
Regis Hoffman
Director
Dr. Jerzy Kupiec-Weglinski
Director
Roger Stanford
Director
James Mazepa, Ph.D.
Dr. James Mazepa, RDP, RAHF, FRPSL is a retired professor of Family Psychology. He has received eleven International Large Gold or Gold Medals for his collections including an International Large Gold for “Poland 1858-1865.” In 2000 he received the Champion of Champions Award for his Mexico exhibit. He is the author of over 125 articles. He is a regular contributor to the POLONUS Polish Philatelic Society Bulletin with his Gems of Polish Philately and other articles. He received the APS Luff Award for service to philately, the Gold Diploma of the Polish Federation for lifetime contributions to Polish philately, an elected member of the Real Academia Hispanica de Filatelia, only the third U.S. philatelist to be elected to this group, and a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society (London). He is an APS National and FIP International philatelic judge. In 2015 he was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists. He first joined POLONUS in 1971 and has served as secretary and currently is Chairman of the Board.
Ronald Klimley
Ron is a long time stamp collector and exhibitor who joined the APS in 1982 and first exhibited at ROPEX in Rochester NY in 1988. Ron is currently a member of Polonus as well as the AAPE (Diamond Award Recipient and 2015 Clyde Jennings Award Winner), AFDCS (Board Member), UNPI (Board Member & Secretary), USSS, UPSS, ATA, Sports Philatelists International, as well as several other philatelic societies. Ron enjoys philatelic writing having authored articles for several journals. In addition he is an enthusiastic exhibitor with a highlight being his participation at NY2016 as an exhibitor in the experimental first day cover class and as a speaker where he spoke about first day cover exhibiting. He currently serves Polonus as a BOD Member and President of the Society. Ron resides in Tampa, Florida, where he is a global training director.
Thomas Bienosiek, Ph. D.
Currently President of the Collectors Club of Akron and President of the Medina County Stamp Club. Member of the American Philatelic Society since 1983. Member of the APS expertising committee since 2005. Member of the International Society for Japanese Philately. A life-long collector, interested in all areas of Polish philately, with a strong interest in the modern issues. A reliable volunteer for the APS Volunteer Work Week, working in the library, where he assisted Robin Gates-Elliott with the transfer of the holdings of the Polonus library to Bellefonte, Penn., and a frequent volunteer at APS Stampshow, where he can be found supervising Stamps by the Bucket. Employed as Director of Technology in the steel industry, he resides in Litchfield, Ohio. Tom currently serves Polonus as a BOD member and is Chair of the Communications Committee responsible for both the Polonus Bulletin and the Polonus website.
Terry R. Kurzinski
Terry started collecting stamps in 1959 when he traded some marbles for a paperback stamp collection, and was off and running. He belongs to numerous philatelic organizations including Polonus, APS (since 1981), American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors, and, the Collectors Club of Chicago. Terry also exhibits, on the topic of the Louisiana Purchase and has written articles for the United States Specialist and American Stamp Collector & Dealer. Professionally, he holds a degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin (Stevens Point) and retired from the accounting field in 2006.
Andrew Urushima
Andrew is a longtime member of APS, Polonus, AAPE (Ruby Award winner), Universal Ship Cancellation Society (USCS), International Society for Japanese Philately (ISJP), American Helvetia Philatelic Society (AHPS), International Society of Olympic Historians, Virtual Stamp Club (VSC), and ATA. Andrew is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of Sports Philatelists International and is active as a national and international exhibitor. He currently serves as Polonus Secretary and Treasurer and as a board member. He previously has served as Secretary and was on the publication committee for Polonus. He has authored several articles for the Journal of Sports Philately. Professionally, Andrew is a finance executive with Banyan Security, Inc., a Silicon Valley venture-backed startup company.
Regis Hoffman
Regis has collected stamps for the past 48 years after purchasing a mixture at a local Kaufmann’s department store. He is a member of numerous philatelic societies including the APS, Royal Philatelic Society, the American Philatelic Congress and the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors. He is past president of the Philatelic Society of Pittsburgh and is an APS Accredited National Judge. He has been a member of Polonus for 11 years and collects Polish refugee mail, British East Africa and Hollywood fan mail. He enjoys philatelic writing, and has published articles in The American Philatelist, The American Philatelic Congress Book and is a quarterly columnist for the Military Postal History Society Bulletin. He has a degree in Physics and is currently a Senior Software Engineer with a robotics start-up company. Regis currently serves Polonus on the BOD and as the Exhibits and Awards Committee Chair.
Jerzy Kupiec-Węgliński, M.D.
Jerzy W. Kupiec-Weglinski, M.D., Ph.D., is the Paul I. Terasaki Chair, and Distinguished Professor of Surgery, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). He has published more than 500 scientific papers on various aspects of organ transplantation. Jerzy has been involved in philately since childhood, and has specialized in the postal history of airmail services in Poland. His exhibits won several golds, three national grands and three FIP international large golds. Jerzy authored more than 80 philatelic articles, including for The American Philatelist (the Barbara R. Mueller Award, 2012), The American Philatelic Congress Book (the Walter R. McCoy Award, 2011 and 2012), The Airpost Journal (the L.B. Gatchell Award, 2013), the Bulletin of Polonus Philatelic Society (the Distinction Award, 2015), The London Philatelist, The Collectors Club Philatelist, and Polish Filatelista and Przeglad Filatelistyczny. Jerzy is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, and a member of several societies including the Polonus Polish Philatelic Society where he currently serves on the Board of Directors. Jerzy lives in Beverly Hills, California, with his visual-artist wife, Kasia, a medical-student daughter, Sophie, and Abigail, the dachshund.
Roger Stanford
Roger is a retired attorney and practiced law in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for 49 years. He graduated from Wittenberg University in 1969, and Boston University School of Law in 1973. He and his wife practiced law together with the firm name of Stanford & Schall, his legal emphasis in the practice being assisting individuals and small businesses with financial problems. Roger was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Real Estate Bar Association, New Bedford Bar Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. In 2003, the firm was the second law firm to be honored with the Adams Award by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for outstanding Pro Bono Publico service. Roger is married to Irene Schall, who is of Polish descent. Her parents came to America in the late 1940s, and while born in the United States, she speaks fluent Polish. Roger and Irene have two grown children and two granddaughters. Roger started stamp collecting in his youth being encouraged by his Mother who was a collector. In his wife’s family’s circle of friends there were a number of stamp collectors, which provided an introduction to Polish Philately. Roger joined Polonus at the 2016 World Stamp Show in New York City and is now a Life Member of Polonus. He had served as legal counsel to Polonus and was recently selected to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors. Roger also manages the eBay Polonus Store.
Edwin J. Andrews
Dr. Edwin J. Andrews is a lifelong collector and an accomplished philatelic exhibitor and author. Since 1972 he has exhibited 102 times using 27 different exhibits covering a myriad of treatments including traditional, display, thematic, topical, postal history, military postal history, revenue, fiscal revenue, Cinderella, one frame class, picture post card, and aerophilately. His exhibits have garnered 62 gold/large gold medals, 8 Grand and 7 Reserve Grand Awards and a myriad of special awards from various societies. He is an active member of numerous philatelic societies being a life member and former officer of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (AAPE); also a life member and Immediate Past President of the Polonus Polish Philatelic Society. His other active societies are the American Philatelic Society (APS), American Topical Association (ATA), the American Revenue Association, Germany Philatelic Society and the Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society. Dr. Andrews is an APS accredited Chief Philatelic Judge and was the General Editor of the most recent (7th Edition) of the APS Manual of Philatelic Judging and Exhibiting. He served on the APS Committee on Accreditation of National Exhibitions and Judges (CANEJ) from 2013 to 2019 and chaired its Education Subcommittee. He has presented numerous seminars on exhibiting and mounting techniques and is a prolific author of philatelic subjects and research. His most recent book, Award Winning Philatelic Treatment and Presentation. A Guide to Display, Thematic and Topical Exhibits for Exhibitors, Collectors and Judges, is available on Amazon. The book has received favorable reviews from major philatelic publications and was awarded a Large Gold medal at the Chicagopex 2021 Literature Exhibition.