Episodes

Our guest for this week is Michael DiFrisco, Chief Marketing Officer at the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). He is also the owner of BrandXcellence, a brand consulting firm, and has more than 30 years of experience in helping businesses connect with their target audiences. In this episode, Michael shares his views on how branding has evolved in the last couple of years and what association leaders can do to create a strong brand identity. When associations hit a bumpy road, rebrand...

Talent acquisition is certainly on every leader’s mind today, which is why we’ve brought on this week’s guest, Sarah Mitial, Founder and CEO of People Architectural Group. She’s a human resources professional who helps organizations hire and retain the best talent. Sarah talks to us about the most significant trends in talent acquisition today, and what employers can do to attract the type of talent they need. If you’re currently hiring or having difficulty retaining employees, this episode is n...

This week, our guest co-host Kevin Martlage, Senior Consultant at .orgSource, takes the reins as he interviews career and leadership consultant, author, and keynote speaker, Al Dea. Al is also the founder of Betterwork Labs and the host of the MBA Insider Podcast. In this episode, Al talks to us about the new landscape of talent acquisition in the new world, and the challenges and opportunities that technology brings for the future of business cultures. This episode is a treasure trove of great ...

Our guest for this week, Reggie Henry, Chief Information and Engagement Officer at ASAE, has been leading IT initiatives for 26 years in the association space! What a feat! In this episode, Reggie talks to us about the most significant changes in his approach to leading technology initiatives, his leadership style, and his challenges over the years. He also tells us about recent ASAE projects that are designed to listen more closely to “the voice of the member.”

Today, our guest is Allison K. Summers, Executive Director and Chief Staff Executive of Zonta International. She is a global business leader, an author, and a sought-after speaker, and the former president of the American Marketing Association. In this episode, she shares with us some of the challenges and opportunities involved with leading an international organization for women. She also talks about what she thinks are the biggest challenges for female executives today, and some tips on how t...

Our guest for this week, Kim Robinson, President of Frontline Co., talks to us about the type of associations that benefit most from support by a management company and the advantages of this approach. She also shares her insights on how association business models are changing and the most important technological development for associations.

Our guest this week is Elizabeth Lepkowski, Chief Learning Officer at the American Academy of Clinical Endocrinology. She has also served as director of education at the American Society of Anesthesiologists and e-learning manager at the American College of Chest Physicians. Today, she shares her thoughts on education in the association industry and how programs are growing and changing, and what her organization is doing to meet those needs.

In today’s business landscape, technology enables digital transformation at warp speed. A customer-centered approach is critical to combat challenges as members expect you to cater to their individual preferences. Our guest for this week, Patrick Dorsey, EVP Marketing at Impexium, shares with us the new face of membership management and how to deliver intuitive and valuable services to your members to further your association’s mission.

Our guest for this week is Amanda Kaiser, a member engagement specialist and also an author and sought-after speaker who has presented in many prominent association venues. Recently, Amanda partnered with Matchbox Virtual Media to co-create the Virtual Networking Incubator and she shares what they discovered in that project. She also talks about the collaboration with Dynamic Benchmarking to develop the New Member Engagement Study and learn the trends in engaging new and old members. Lots of gol...

This week’s guest is the IrishmanSpeaks Conor Cunneen, a keynote speaker and a consultant whose mission is to improve people, performance, and productivity with a smile! Conor walks us through strategies to ensure a great customer experience and how leaders should think about employee engagement. His great sense of humor on addressing challenging topics such as culture and change management will make listening to this episode such a breeze!

Disruptions will happen throughout history. The big question is, are you and your organization ready? Our guest for this week is Robin Champ, a Senior Trainer and Consultant at LBL Strategies, focusing on strategic foresight and strategy management. She’ll walk us through on how we can integrate foresight in our strategic planning, looking for signals and trends, as we navigate our paths in Association 4.0.

How will you describe the culture in your workspace? Jamie Notter, Co-Founder and Culture Strategist at PROPEL and a 30-year veteran in the association space, talks to Sherry about how workplace culture is the biggest source to differentiate yourselves as an organization and as an employer.

Having the right people is critical for any organization’s success. In today’s business landscape, the competition for recruiting and retaining talent has been extremely fierce. Bridget Walsh, Chief Operating Officer of the Emergency Nurses Association, shares the challenges and opportunities in attracting and retaining the right talent for her association – with flexibility and adaptability at its core.

Fear of the unknown is quite common, and doing things differently from how it used to be triggered a lot of hesitation in the association management industry. This week’s guest, Vivian Abalama, IOM, CAE, shares how her organization harnessed innovative solutions amid the pandemic as it shifted its focus to having more opportunities for mentoring, while creating more benefits to engage its members.

We invite you to join in on the conversation as Sharon Kneebone, FASAE, CAE, Executive Director of the National Society for Histotechnology, talks to us about navigating forward as a leader in the association industry during this age of transformation. From shedding “sacred programs and services” that are no longer serving their purpose to developing foresight skills into an enterprise-wide competency, her insights are not to be missed!

This week’s guest, Alfred Spada, Executive Director of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA), talks to us how his association, in the midst of the pandemic, dove head on to rolling out valuable content and starting new initiatives to meet the insatiable thirst of its members to learn. Join the conversation to learn more on how NCSEA was able to diversify and extend its member reach despite the disruption, accelerating the different aspects of the association in more w...

In an industry that thrives on in-person meetings, find out how Stefanie Reeves, Executive Director of the Maryland Psychological Association (MPA), anchored her association and provided true value when help is most needed. In the midst of the pandemic, MPA established itself as the go to for information, and the transition to telehealth was among the biggest issues they tackled. Stefanie is an experienced association professional with a passion for advocacy. She is a Fellow of the American Soc...

Needing a place to sort our your goals, daily habits and rate your progress? Our guest for this week Tom Morrison, CEO of Metal Treating Institute Management, and Professional Speaker and Life Coach, talks about his personal development system – PersonalGDP.com – a 25-week challenge, which allows you to input your annual goals, note your hurdles and rate how you feel you are doing in 16 key areas that drive your quality of life. Don’t miss this episode!

Today’s host, Sharon Rice, Managing Director of Business Strategy at .orgSource, talks to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Consultant Christine Saxman, CEO of Saxman Consulting, about the importance of DE&I in the workplace to advance as an organization and as a community. At one point or another, your organization might have asked – do we need DE&I goals? Christine walks us how our organization can get started and start the shift to showing that our organization values representation at a...

Our guest for this week, Dan Stevens, CEO of WorkerBee TV, has been helping associations for more than 14 years modernize the way they inform, educate, and inspire their community. Today, he discusses what associations should be thinking about when it comes to their overall content strategy – driving content that improves retention, recruitment, and revenue.

This week’s guest, Dr. Thomas Dammrich, is a seasoned association executive with 42 years of experience in working with members to build consensus around an action agenda to improve their industry. Currently a Business Strategist at the National Association of Healthcare Quality, Thom talks to us about his leadership style throughout the years being at the helm of the different industries he has worked with. He also shares his thoughts on what association leaders need to do to connect the dots a...

Open lines of communication go a long way in terms of building a great partnership. Our guests for this week, John Forbes, Executive Director of the American Venous Forum, and Sue O’Sullivan, President at Veritas Meeting Solutions, talk to us about how their organizations partnered to create a unique hybrid management model for associations, and how this relationship thrived through mutual trust and respect within the teams.

The pandemic, albeit a difficult time, opened so many break throughs for innovation in the association space. This week’s guest Jacqualine Price Osafo, MBA, Executive Director at Society of American Archivists, talks to us about how the changes and opportunities in the midst of today’s business landscape opened more doors to shine light on diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Join us this week as our guest, Dean West, President of Association Laboratory, talks to us about how the pandemic accelerated initiatives in the association industry—what could have taken five years is now only taking a couple of months to execute. With lots of pros and cons, Sherry and Dean discuss that while face to face meetings are still very much important, associations are currently still finding their feet in balancing and incorporating traditional and virtual strategies to extend substa...