Highlights

October 2005: First issue of Associations Now is published.

"When ASAE merged with The Center for Association Leadership, two publications with significantly different approaches to serving essentially the same audience needed to become one. Rather than choose one approach over the other, we started with a tabula rasa, and asked the question: How can this new publication best serve and inspire the greatness in associations?"

—Scott Briscoe, first editor-in-chief. Briscoe is now senior director, communications and marketing, at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

January 2006: The first Volunteer Leadership Issue is published as a supplement to Associations Now.

May 2006: The Daily Now conference newspaper makes its debut at the Springtime Expo.

September/October 2010: Five-year anniversary issue is published.

"The team wanted to celebrate five successful years, but not just make it all about us. So we chose to carry a theme of '5' throughout the issue, including asking industry leaders five questions that would affect associations in the next five years."

—Samantha Whitehorne, deputy editor

2011: The Associations Now Interactive Extra is AN's first foray into the digital space.

"The Associations Now team wanted to take advantage of tablets to experiment and help readers turn ideas into action in ways that weren't possible through traditional print and web publishing. There were some rough edges, but I'm proud that we broke away from tried-and-true formats and went in a new direction."

—Lisa Junker, CAE, former editor-in-chief. Junker is now director of publishing and communications at the Entomological Society of America.

September/October 2012: Associations Now unveils a revamped magazine and daily news website, www.associationsnow.com.

"Our 2012 relaunch took Associations Now fully into the digital age, not only in format but in mindset. With a new website and an email delivering news every day, we had to get faster, write tighter, and think more broadly about how associations connect with the wider world. We still love print, and the bimonthly magazine remains the backbone of the AN brand. And we know that change is constant, so we'll be ready when we need to pivot again to best serve readers."

—Julie Shoop, vice president, editor-in-chief

September/October 2015: AN celebrates 10 years and more than 100 issues!

Editors' Picks

Which of the 108 covers over the last decade stand out to the AN team?

Ana Maria Rivera-Pramuk May 2007	Katie Bascuas November 2008
Joe Rominiecki June 2010	Rob Stott August 2011
Samantha Whitehorne March/April 2014	Julie Shoop Sept/Oct 2014

Dream Interview

We asked you who is the one person you'd like to see interviewed on AN's pages. Here are a few names from your wish list:

"Serena Williams. I would like her to talk about her spectacular career and what she had to overcome to meet her success in tennis, and how does she mentally prepare to stay in the game at her level for so long?"

—Diane Dukes, director of meetings and events, Professional Liability Underwriting Society

How About Pope Francis? He has reframed the church's message to be more inclusive and modeled the power of a servant leader. He isn't changing the message or the mission or the vision; he's leading from the outside in, and in doing so he is modeling how we can facilitate change in our own associations."

—Peggy Hoffman, CAE, CEO, Mariner Management

"How about Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer discussing leadership development? He incorporated leadership training to build a group of 85 players into a national-championship-winning team."

—Steve Drake, president, SCD Group, Inc.

"Whoever is the CEO of the fastest-growing business-membership-based association. I'd like to know how they get businesses to join. That would be a great read."

—Jessica Dunker president and CEO, Iowa Restaurant Association

"What about President Obama? Like him or dislike him, it would be interesting to hear the president discuss the state of civil society from his point of view."

—Jeff Horn, president and CEO, BOMI International

Then and Now

10 years later, things change (even a little)

Generational Takeover

2005: Headline in the October issue: "Give Gen X a Seat at the Table"
2015: Millennials make up more than half the workforce, as "centennials" emerge

Beyond Dot-Com

2005: The .travel domain makes its debut
2015: Associations are behind the launches of .wine, .bank, .realtor, and many more

IRS, Part I

2005: The IRS hikes the gas mileage reimbursement rate from 40.5 cents to 48.5 cents "temporarily"
2015: The current gas mileage reimbursement rate is 56 cents

IRS, Part II

2005: IRS begins requiring organizations with $100 million in assets to file electronic Form 990s
2015: IRS considers a proposal that would require all Form 990s to be filed electronically

Associations in Action

2005: Associations provide aid after Hurricane Katrina
2015: Associations provide aid to earthquake-rattled Nepal

[This article was originally published in the Associations Now print edition, titled "10 Years of Associations Now."]