Career Success Stories

ASSOCIATIONS NOW, October 2011 , Community now

Attendees at the 2011 ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo in St. Louis had a chance to share some of their favorite success stories from their careers when they visited the Career Advancement Center, hosted by ASAE's CareerHQ. Here is a sampling of what they had to say.

"Coordinating a statewide advocacy campaign and bringing together top-notch lobbying firms, association members, and families living with autism or intellectual disabilities to (successfully!) stave off significant proposed budget cuts to services this year."

—Gabrielle Sedor, communications director, PAR - Pennsylvania Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Email: gabrielle.sedor@gmail.com

"After only two years as events and sponsorships manager, I sold out the exhibit hall and all major sponsorship opportunities in only two months. I was shocked, and my boss is still bragging that he hired me!"

—Kwedi Gipson, events and sponsorship manager, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Los Angeles. Email: kwedi@caala.org

"When I joined my first nonprofit, I didn't realize I was on a career path within association management. I think my proudest moment was when that light bulb turned on. I've since earned the CAE credential. (Another proud day!)"

—Jamie Beaulieu, CAE, senior director, The Tax Council, Washington, DC. Email: jbeaulieu@thetaxcouncil.org

"Helping our certification system design team. By applying lean business process facilitation to their application process, we cut application-processing lag time (nonpeak) by 80 percent and reduced mean time to professional certification by more than 60 percent. The project even won the Avectra Users and Developers Conference 2010 award for 'Most Radical Change to a Business Process.'"

—Kate Evans Pollin, manager, business systems analysis and consulting, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Rockville, Maryland. Email: kevanspollin@asha.org

"Under my direction, our board just approved a new affiliate association focused on green manufacturing."

—Jim Warren, director, member services and education, FMA-Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International, Rockford, Illinois. Email: jimw@fmanet.org

ASAE Career Headquarters www.careerhq.org

If you're looking for the next step in your association management career or looking for high-quality candidates to fill open positions at your organization, check out CareerHQ.org—the best source of association jobs and resumes. In addition to helping you find your next job—whether it's as CEO, director of technology, or membership coordinator—ASAE's career services department offers such services as executive coaching, resume writing, and more. For more information, contact Catherine Lux Fry at clux@asaecenter.org.

Are there certain career-related topics you would like addressed in this section? If so, please email your questions or topic ideas to careerhq@asaecenter.org. We look forward to hearing from you!