Company Resume

QUALIFICATIONS

NINETEEN ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONALS with 201 years experience in associations and marketing and management responsibilities for up to 20 staff and up to $4 million in budgets.

• Recognized as a creative leader, outstanding communicator and effective administrator.
• Produce and manage award-winning marketing and communications campaigns.
• Negotiate 19 conference hotel agreements annually.
• Manage more than $3.6 million in annual budgets and provide fiduciary responsibilities for $1.7 million in cash weekly in 33 separate accounts.
• Generate $571,000 in corporate sponsorships annually.
• Facilitate strategic planning and visioning sessions for multiple organizations.
• Manage annual consumer attitude surveys and other research to guide marketing plans.

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EXPERIENCE

ALPHA ZETA ORGANIZATIONS
1994 - Present

• Reduced Alpha Zeta’s annual operating costs 5% when we moved the 97-year-old organization from its Lafayette (IN) office to the DrakeCo office in St. Louis. Work included transitioning staff, negotiating lease buy-out, arranging for move of records and equipment, establishing new office and converting records to new database system, all while seamlessly continuing to process new and renewed memberships and alumni donations.
• Facilitated planning and wrote a 21st Century Ag Leadership grant request that led to $85,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. We coordinated an outside vendor’s focus groups and quantitative research on the future of ag leadership and completed the project on schedule and on budget.
• Organized the Centennial Celebration; created an AZ Centennial Honor Roll and a Summit on Food, Fiber and the Environment including a major awards presentation. The Summit – jointly hosted by AZ, Agricultural Publishers Association, Foundation E.A.R.T.H. and others – resulted in record attendance.

AGRICULTURAL MEDIA SUMMIT
1996 - Present

• As CEO of the Ag Publishers Association, helped conceive of the concept for a combined conference of the American Agricultural Editors Association (AAEA), Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and APA; worked for three years to bring the groups together for the initial Ag Publications Summit in 1999. Nearly 500 editors, reporters, publishers and others attended.
• Now incorporated as the Agricultural Media Summit, LLC, the AMS has become the largest single media conference in agriculture, annually attracting 400+ attendees and featuring a sold-out trade show.
• Because of its success, the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) and Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) now hold their annual conferences in conjunction with AMS.

NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE ASSOCIATION
1998 - Present

• Provide full-service association management. Work with a 37-member Board of Directors and 6-member Executive Committee; develop budgets and provide financial reports; coordinate activities with 27 affiliated state organizations and Canadian associations; host consumer-oriented Web sites; publish four quarterly newsletters, a four-color quarterly magazine, an annual membership directory; and implement an extensive public relations and marketing program.
• NCTA came to DrakeCo with serious financial issues, including a negative net worth of $67,000 and a total budget of $550,000. With careful budgeting and financial management, the association now has an annual budget of $1.7 million and a positive net worth of $234,000.
• DrakeCo facilitated a strategic planning session and outside market research that culminated in a new organizational structure. NCTA created four Premier Sections (one for each element of the industry) with separate benefits and memberships under the NCTA umbrella. In the initial year, 54% of the members joined one of the Premier Sections.
• Facing a downturn in sales of Real Christmas Trees, DrakeCo worked with industry leaders to create a nationwide marketing program funded with voluntary donations. Increased contributions from $190,000 to more than $750,000. Managed an aggressive consumer marketing program that included scholarship contests, an online advergame, marketing tool kits and radio PSAs that resulted in sales increases of 15.8% in the inaugural and another 21.0% in the second year.
• Manage all aspects of two annual meetings (one with 1,000 attendees; other with 150 attendees) which includes selling and managing an 100-exhibitor trade show and generating corporate sponsors.
• To convey a positive environmental message to consumers, conceived, developed and maintain a RealTrees4Kids! program that includes a Web site (www.realtrees4kids.org), curriculum materials for teachers and an exhibit at the annual National Science Teachers Association convention.
• Manage all aspects of the annual program putting the official Christmas Tree in the Blue Room of the White House, which generates extensive media coverage including HGTV, A&E, Today Show, Good Morning America, USA Today, The Associated Press, etc.
• To reach additional consumers, currently developing a unique Yuletide Tree Gift Card program which will provide value added gift cards for members to provide to their customers. “Advertising” on the cards will generate significant revenue to the association.
• The NCTA Campaign is a marketing case study in the 10th edition of Consumer Behavior, a collegiate textbook by Blackwell, Miniard and Engel.

MIDSTATES HEARTH, PATIO & BARBECUE ASSOCIATION
1999 - Present

• Organized this affiliate of the national organization and grew its membership from zero to 220.
• Manage an annual meeting and a membership event at the national convention.
• Manage Stove Change-out marketing programs in cooperation with an industry sponsor and the EPA.
• Produce and distribute newsletters and other membership communications.

AMERICAN ACADEMY ON COMMUNICATION IN HEALTHCARE
2003 - Present

• Selected on Sunday and started management on Monday. Moved files and records from Washington office while coordinating a national conference eight weeks after assuming management.
• Provide overall management for this 440-member, $525,000 budget national organization representing physicians, clinicians and others interested in improving communications skills in healthcare.
• Manage an international conference including negotiating hotel contracts, arranging for speakers, coordinating abstract submissions, promotion, registration and financials.
• Manage six to eight educational courses per year including committee support for faculty, program and curriculum development, negotiating hotel contracts, arranging for speakers, promotion, registration and financials.
• Developed and manage innovative Web-based e-learning resource for medical schools, residency programs and clinicians which has been adopted by top-rated medical schools such as Yale, Stanford, Albert Einstein and UCLA.
  • Conducted strategic planning with the board and facilitated member involvement which led to a change in the name of the organization.

DAIRY CALF & HEIFER ASSOCIATION
2005 - Present

• Assumed management in November 2005. Moved files and records from Iowa office.
• Facilitated board strategic planning that led to a three-part focus; resulted in renaming the organization to broaden its appeal; created a concept for a Platinum Level membership to be introduced in 2007.
• Under our full management, 2007 annual conference profits were 64% higher than the previous year.
• Membership renewal rates up 9%; corporate sponsorship and advertising has increased 58%.
• Organized first Industry Outlook Day and 10 one-day regional Profit Seminars to expand awareness.

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT FOUNDATION
2005 - Present

• Based on issues identified in consumer research, proposed creating the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation as the charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association with a mission of advancing the spirit of Christmas for children, families and the environment.
• Upon NCTA’s approval, prepared and filed all paperwork involved to organize (articles of incorporation, bylaws, policies and application to the IRS) the Foundation and receive its 501(c)(3) designation.
• Recruited FedEx to sponsor a major Trees for Troops program which shipped 4,300 trees in 2005 and 11,854 trees in 2006 to Air Force, Army, Marine and Navy personnel stationed in the War Zone and in the U.S. Consumer tracking polls show 15 million households recalled seeing, hearing or reading about the Foundation’s Trees for Troops program. It has earned both the Silver Anvil Award of Excellence and the ARC Founders Award.

COUNTRY LIVING ASSOCIATION
2006 - Present

• Using trends and research in the rural living market, began developing concepts for a rural lifestyle association in 2004. We suggested such an association to Meredith and, in 2006, we discovered that Teresa Hinrichs was moving forward with the same concepts.
• We joined efforts and launched the Country Living Association (CLA) in late 2006 with Hinrichs as the majority owner and DrakeCo as its association management company.
• In the first four months, we have recruited five major corporate sponsors and generated more than 8,000 members.

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OTHER RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

MONSANTO COMPANY
1992 - Present

• Developed and managed 41 conservation tillage educational conferences. Attendance ranged from 250 to 1,700. Negotiated hotel contracts; coordinated speaker arrangements; implemented promotion; managed budgets of up to $1 million; conducted evaluations; supervised other contractors; coordinated with additional sponsors such as Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the EPA.
• Managed an international Crop Residue Management conference for 65 global leaders and Monsanto staff. Negotiated hotel contracts; arranged for “side trips” to facilities in two states; coordinated technical poster session; developed overall schedule; issued invitations and tracked registrations.
• Implemented efforts for Monsanto to raise more than $5 million for a special 1993 Rural Flood Relief Fund at the American Red Cross. Developed contacts with multiple organizations (e.g., USDA, Doane Ag Services, NCGA, ASA, New Holland, Market Directions) to build coalition to reach funding goals; coordinated “check presentation” at a national television event in Branson (photo of Bob Hope, Ross Perot, Monsanto vice chairman and Red Cross chairman appeared in People Magazine); coordinated market research of rural flood victims to guide Red Cross and other agencies providing support. Earned a PRSA Silver Anvil and ARC Founders Award for this project.

PILE DRIVING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
1997-1998

• Provided interim management for this new organization. Doubled its annual budget to $200,000; managed its annual meeting and educational seminars and secured three-year commitments of $100,000 per year to enable it to hire its own Executive Director.

Agri-Marketing Magazine

• Associate publisher (1995-1996)
• Salesperson for the NAMA trade show (1994-1996)
• Managing editor (2002-2005)

Facilitated strategic planning and/or leadership development for the following organizations:
Agricultural Retailers Association (membership and dues plan)
AMC Institute (marketing plan)
American Society of Association Executives (educational roundtables for Deputy CEOs)
American Society of Farm Managers & Rural Appraisers (leadership development training)
BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (organizational audit and recommendations)
Doane Agricultural Services (consulting on layout, design and readability of newsletters)
National Association of Credit Managers - Gateway Chapter (strategic planning session)
National Agri-Marketing Association (chapter presidents workshop sessions)
National Athletic Trainers’ Association (leadership development session)
North American Equipment Association Executives (leadership and association management training)
Southwestern Bell Corporation (now AT&T) (team building session)
U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc. (strategic planning session)
Western U.S. Agricultural Trade Association (strategic planning session)

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PRIOR ASSOCIATION WORK EXPERIENCE
We also have experience in various management positions at the following non-profits:

• American Optometric Association
• Agricultural Retailers Association
• American Soybean Association
• Arts and Education Council of St. Louis
• Asthma & Allergy Foundation, St. Louis Chapter
• Cahokia Mounds Museum SocietyMake-A-Wish Foundation of Metro St. Louis
• Missouri Dairy Association
• National Corn Growers Association
• National Fertilizer Solutions Association
• National American Equipment Dealers Association
• National Association of Credit Managers

RESOURCES & PARTNERS
We work with a number of related organizations and companies to efficiently and effectively achieve the goals of our client associations. Some of these have included:

• Market Directions
• Harris Interactive
• Populus
• Smith & Harroff
• Osborn & Barr
• American Nursery & Landscape Association
  

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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
AMC Institute - Vice President
Agricultural Relations Council - Past President
Alpha Zeta Foundation - Past President
American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Cause Marketing Forum
Fellowship of Christian Farmers International - Co-Founder
National Agri-Marketing Association - Past Presidents of Gateway Chapter
St. Louis Agri-Business Club - Past President
St. Louis Society of Association Executives

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AWARDS & RECOGNITION
ARC Founders Award (1994; 2006)
ASAE Associations Advance America Award of Excellence (2006)
ASAE Associations Advance America Honor Roll (2006)
Best of NAMA (Regional, 2001)
Case Study #7, 10th edition of Consumer Behavior (2006) by Blackwell, Miniard and Engel
PRSA Silver Anvil (1979, 1983, 1994)
PRSA Silver Anvil Award of Excellence (2005, 2006)
Silver SABRE award (branding) (2006)

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SUMMARY OF DEGREES HELD BY STAFF
70% of staff hold college degrees; 30% hold advanced degree: 3 MBAs, 3 Master's Degrees; 12 Bachelor's Degrees

DEGREES HELD BY STAFF
B.A. in Business Management, Bradley University
B.A. in Communication, Truman State University
B.A. in Sociology, University of Missouri
B.J. in Journalism, University of Missouri
B.J. in Journalism, University of Missouri
B.S. in Agricultural Economics, Ohio State University
B.S. in Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri
B.S. in Agricultural Journalism, Iowa State University
B.S. in Education, University of Missouri
B.S. in Finance, University of Missouri-St. Louis
B.S. in Journalism/Agronomy, Kansas State University
B.S. in Political Science, Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
M.A. in International Journalism, Ohio State University
Master of Public Administration, Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
MBA in Management, Lindenwood University
MBA, Regis College
MBA, St. Louis University

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PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
Gary Vorpahl
Past Chairman, Chair of Selection Committee
Agricultural Publishers Association (now the ABM Agri Council)
Hoard’s Dairyman
28 W. Milwaukee Avenue
Fort Atkinson, WI 53838
920/563-5551 | gvorpahl@hoards.com

Jim Heater
Past President, Member of Selection Committee
National Christmas Tree Association
Silver Mountain Christmas Trees
4672 Drift Creek Rd SE
Sublimity, OR 97385
800/952-3905 | jim@silvermtnchristmastrees.com

Anthony (Tony) Suchman, MD, FAACH
Chairman
American Academy on Communications in Healthcare
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester
585/271-4233 | asuchman@rochester.rr.com

Steve Bechard
Past President, Member of Selection Committee
Dairy Calf & Heifer Association
R&R Dairy
633 Lakeshore Road
West Chazy, NY 12992
518/846-8422 | sbchard@westelcom.com

Tom Davis
Former APA Representative to the Ag Media Summit
Meredith Corporation
1716 Locust Street LN430
Des Moines, IA 50309
800/678-2659 | tom.davis@meredith.com

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