How I Got Here: Bruce Hammond

ASSOCIATIONS NOW, December 2012 , Brain Power

Director of Marketing and Communications, National Sporting Goods Association, Mount Prospect, Illinois

Bruce Hammond's career started 19 years ago when he worked as a janitor in a local manufacturing plant. "Really glamorous, I know," he says. But as the current director of marketing and communications for the National Sporting Goods Association, he says every job—even his least glamorous one—prepared him to be a better association executive and taught him some lessons. Two that stand out: "People connect with other people, not logos and brands," and "Praise in public, and punish in private."

A Working History

1993: Manufacturing plant janitor

1994–96: Dish washer at a local Italian restaurant

1997–99: Summer job as a bag-room attendant at Youngstown Country Club

1997–2000: Delivered packages on campus

2001–04: Communications/PR specialist at Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity National Office

2004–06: Assistant director of alumni affairs at Ohio Northern University

2006–10: Director of communications and editor at Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity National Office (worked remotely from Detroit and then Aurora, Illinois)

2010–present: Director of marketing and communications for the National Sporting Goods Association