WASHINGTON — ASAE will honor Pamela Hemann, FASAE, CAE, President of Association Management Services Inc., with this year’s Key Award. The Key Award recognizes the association CEO who demonstrates exceptional qualities of leadership in his or her own association and displays a deep commitment to voluntary membership organizations.

In addition, Ginger Nichols, FASAE, CAE, Founder & President of GinCommGroup, will be bestowed with the Academy of Leaders Award; and Velma Hart, FASAE, CAE, Chief Financial Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, will receive the Professional Performance Award.

“Each of the honorees has demonstrated excellent leadership skills, commitment to the association profession, and service to the community. We are honored to recognize them with these prestigious individual awards. The community and ASAE have benefited tremendously because of their involvement, knowledge, and talents,” said Matthew Gertzog FASAE, CAE, Deputy Executive Director of the American Society of Hematology and chair of the 2014 Awards Committee.

Pamela Hemann, FASAE, CAE is the 65th recipient of the Key Award, ASAE’s highest honor presented to association chief staff executives, which started in 1960. Hemann is the Executive Director of Leadership California since 1999. She has been involved with the organization since 1992 and participated in the launch of the first California Issues and Trends Program. She is an active member with ASAE and the California Society of Association Executives. In 2006-07, she served as chairman of ASAE and secured board support and funding for its first Diversity Summit in 2008. She was a member of the 7 Measures of Success Task Force. She chaired the ASAE Strategic Planning Committee for two years during her service on the ASAE Board of Directors and Executive Committee. In 1996, she was inducted into the ASAE Fellows and earned her CAE in 1989.

Ginger Nichols, FASAE, CAE is the 27th recipient of the Academy of Leaders Award. It’s ASAE’s highest honor given to industry partners who have demonstrated exemplary support of ASAE and the entire association community. Nichols has been a consultant for 23 years providing advice in membership marketing, communications, governance, leadership, and effective planning. As an ASAE volunteer, she chaired the Membership Section Council and ASAE Foundation Board of Directors. She has also served on the Education Committee, Industry Partner Alliance, and Consultants Section Council. She has been a speaker and trained association professionals at ASAE and allied societies events for the past 23 years. In 1995, she became an ASAE Fellow and she earned her CAE in 1996.

Velma Hart, FASAE, CAE is the 40th recipient of ASAE’s Professional Performance Award, which recognizes invaluable contributions made by association executives who are at the top level of leadership within their organizations but are not CEOs. As CFO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, she has helped to transform the organization in a multitude of ways. She’s a turnaround specialist and has expertise in finance. She has served in a number of organizations including: AMVETS National Headquarters, AAPS, NACUBO and others, where she has led organizational transformation, turnaround and, for some, created non-dues revenue and corporate sponsorship models resulting in significant increases in new revenue annually. Hart is a past Chairman of ASAE’s board and also served as co-chair for the first ASAE Diversity Summit. She earned the 2012 ASAE Mentor of the Year award. In 2005, she became an ASAE Fellow and earned her CAE in 1998.

The awards will be presented at the 2014 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition, August 9-12 in Nashville, TN.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sabrina Kidwai, APR, CAE skidwai@asaecenter.org, 202-326-9505.

About ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership
ASAE is a membership organization of more than 21,000 association executives and industry partners representing 10,000 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world. With support of the ASAE Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, and provides resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. For more information about ASAE, www.asaecenter.org.

###