President Joe Field

Joe Field is the owner/operator of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord, California. Field is a recipient of the Will Eisner "Spirit of Comics" Award and a columnist for Comics & Games Retailer magazine.

Field graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Broadcasting/Marketing and was formerly the Marketing Director for KJOY-AM/KJAX-FM in Stockton, California. In that role, Joe spear-headed a drive to get Marvel Comics to recognize Stockton as "the Official Birthplace of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four." The successful effort led to Joe doing free-lance public relations work for Marvel Comics' publisher Stan Lee, which in turn led to Field working with, then becoming co-owner of WonderCon, Northern California's largest comic book convention. Field and his WonderCon business partner Mike Friedrich sold the convention to Comic-Con International in April of 2001.

Field has served as a director for the Direct Line Group, the Northern California Comic Dealers' Association (NCCDA), Bay Area Comic Retailers (BACR) and Comic Book Retailers' International (CBRI) trade associations. Field is also the founder of Free Comic Book Day, the industry's only coordinated promotion outreach effort. FreeComicBookDay.com

President Pro-Tempore Chris Powell
Chris Powell is the General Manager of Lone Star Comics and mycomicshop.com, an 8-store chain and mail-order business specializing in comic books, games, toys, and collectibles. Having been with Lone Star since 1989, Chris has worked at every level of the operation. Starting in a part-time sales position, he has also managed stores, worked in the back office, and now handles customer service and operations in the retail stores and mail order. Chris is a member of the Founding Board of ComicsPRO, serves on the Advisory Board for the Game Store Resource Forum, is the Chair of the ComicsPRO Mentoring Committee, and writes somewhat regularly for Comic and Games Retailer Magazine.

Recording Secretary Gary Dills
Gary Dills is co-owner of Phoenix Comics and Toys, a chain based in Northern Virginia with recent expansion into Columbus, OH with their acquisition of The Laughing Ogre. Gary has worked in the Direct Market since 1994 and was a member of the ComicsPRO Founding Board. He is also a member of the Free Comic Book Day advisory board and a frequent poster to the Comic Book Industry Alliance forum, sharing his insights into comics retailing to help other retailers improve their businesses. Gary also serves as Chair on the ComicsPRO Outreach Committee, supervising ComicsPRO's presence at trade shows and conventions.

Corporate Secretary / Treasurer Amanda Emmert
As part of the founding board, Amanda Emmert (formerly Fisher) did the legwork for the creation of ComicsPro as a nonprofit organization and works on the Membership Committee handling applications and member files. Amanda began her career in comics at the age of 16, working at The Splash Page in Billings, MT. She helped open a second Splash Page location in Missoula at age 18, and became the manager of that store in 1998. In 2001, Amanda bought the Missoula store with a partner and renamed it Muse Comics. Amanda opened a second Muse Comics location in downtown Missoula in 2006. She has written articles for “Comics & Games Retailer” and is a member of the Free Comic Book Day advisory board. Amanda is always looking for ways to improve her store and her industry, with a focus on small-market comic book stores. She is the proud mother of two energetic little boys.

Director Rick Lowell
Rick Lowell is the owner of Casablanca Comics, with two stores located in Portland and Windham, Maine. He has been active in the comics community since the 1970's. Rick and his wife Laura opened Casablanca Comics in 1987. Casablanca Comics has been a finalist in the Eisner Spirits of Retail Awards at San Diego Comic Con multiple times.

Rick is very active working with libraries to promote comics, and currently deals with over 100 libraries on a regular basis. Rick has a background in graphic arts and previously worked as an art director before opening the stores. He has also worked on other industry projects and was part of a focus group at Diamond Comics to discuss graphic novels.

Besides a lifelong love of comics, Rick's other interests include vintage diners, pinball, rock 'n roll and the Boston Red Sox. He lives in Portland, Maine with his wife Laura and two children, Caitlin and Duncan.

Director Brian Hibbs
Brian Hibbs has owned Comix Experience in San Francisco since 1989. In addition to running the store, Brian writes the industry’s longest-running comics retailing opinion column, Tilting At Windmills, originally for Comics Retailer magazine (and collected by IDW Publishing), and now running monthly at Newsarama.

Director Carr D’Angelo
Carr D'Angelo is the co-owner of Earth-2 Comics in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. He started his career in New York as an editor and writer for Starlog, Fangoria and Comics Scene magazines. Moving to Los Angeles, he became a script reader, studio executive and movie producer.

In 2003, D'Angelo partnered with Jud Meyers to open Earth-2, named for the home planet of the legendary heroes of their youth. The shop specializes in collections and graphic novels in addition to periodical comics.

Director Benjamin Trujillo
Benjamin A. Trujillo, a native of California, received his undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University in 1994, his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1997, and his LLM in Taxation from Washington University School of Law in 1998.

Ben then worked for nearly a decade in the fields of business planning, continuation and administration. In that time he and his wife purchased Star Clipper, a St. Louis comic and pop-culture retailer. Under their direction Star Clipper was awarded the Eisner Spirit of Retailing award and has grown to become one of the region's premier independent pop-culture retailers.