For over a decade, I had the privilege of serving as the executive director of the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care (“The Partnership”), a state-based trade association for licensed home care, home health, and hospice provider companies. From the beginning of 2013 until the end of 2023, I was essentially the one and only staff member for the association. I wore all the hats — membership recruitment, event planning, finance, advocacy, communications, you name it. Like many single-staff leaders, I often joked that my job description could be summed up as “everything the board doesn’t want to do.”

In late 2023, that all changed when The Partnership’s board decided to transition from being a self-managed association to working with an association management company (AMC). This is where I became — dare I say it — a “commodity.” One day, I was the independent, long-standing executive director of The Partnership.

The next day, I was part of the transaction — formally employed by New England Association Services (NEAS), an AMC based in Warwick, Rhode Island, which now manages The Partnership. From the outside, nothing looked different. Members still saw the same branding, communications, and advocacy efforts. Yet, behind the scenes, everything expanded. The Partnership suddenly had access to a team of professionals and a suite of services that I could never have provided alone. Advocacy reach widened, membership development gained new traction, and the association could offer additional benefits that had once been beyond its bandwidth.

Reassurance From the Board’s Perspective

The transition was not without hesitation. As Cheryl Levesque, 2023-24 president of The Partnership’s Board of Directors, reflected, “Making the decision to transition to an AMC was difficult for our board. We were concerned about maintaining our governance role and the amount of staff-time dedicated to our association. We went from a single-staff association stretched beyond our limits for over 33 years to a multi-staff organization with additional resources and cost-savings overnight.”

The move has greatly enhanced the association, says Levesque. “The board of directors and its membership [can] focus on important matters that impact our industry, such as public policy and professional education, instead of tasks that solely impact the association, such as marketing membership and worrying about finances.”

Advice for Executive Directors Facing a Transition

If you are a single-staff executive director and your board of directors is considering moving to an AMC model, here are some lessons from my experience:

Review the transition checklist thoroughly. Most AMCs provide a checklist of documents, policies, and assets needed to onboard your association. Be as transparent as possible. The smoother the handoff, the quicker the AMC can add value. Hiding messy files in a closet (literally or figuratively) will not help anyone.

Watch for mission and project creep. Once the board experiences the expanded capabilities of an AMC, requests often multiply. That is a natural outcome of enthusiasm, but it is important to forecast early: What does the association need? What can the AMC realistically provide? What requires an additional cost? Open communication keeps expectations aligned.

Advocate for yourself in the employment contract. If you transition into the AMC as staff, make sure your benefits and compensation remain at least equal — if not better — than what you had with the association. That includes insurance coverage, retirement contributions, PTO, and continuing education, such as maintaining your CAE or other critical credentials. Associations may have been generous with professional development support, while AMCs can differ. Never undersell the value that you bring!

Give yourself time to adjust emotionally. After years of advocacy battles won and member relationships built, I was deeply tied to the Partnership. Professionally, I had always maintained enough distance to remain effective. However, I would be lying if I said the shift to AMC supervision was easy. At times, I wondered whether it was the right move for me personally. My advice? Give the transition time to fully play out. Both you and your association need that time to recalibrate. Plus, your new colleagues employed with the AMC need to get to know you and the association and vice versa.

Looking Back

Today, nearly two years into my AMC transition, I can say The Partnership is stronger than ever. Its brand, reach, and services have grown beyond what was possible under a single-staff model. For me, the experience has been both humbling and instructive: I went from being “the association” to being part of a larger team.

The lesson for other executive directors is this: Change may feel like you are losing something but, in reality, you may be gaining more than you imagined — for your members, your board, and your own professional growth.