Belmont's stakes: chairman Barbara Belmont, CAE, wants you to keep turning to ASAE for learning and networking, as she has throughout her career in association management.

THERE SHE SAT, NEAR THE END of a long day of listening to speakers during her first ASAE program by her own admission "so bored she couldn't see straight." Then, association executive Chuck Rumbarger, CAE, the last presenter of the day, began to speak. Barbara Belmont, then a promotional council coordinator with the National Association of Home Builders, straightened In her chair with the realization of what Rumbarger was saving: There was a large, professional association community out there, the members of which were continually expanding their knowledge and resource networks through their involvement in ASAE. She, and the other future association executives needed to get involved. She was hooked.

Belmont, the executive director of the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA and the 'Child Nutrition Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia; and ASAE's 2003-2004 chairman of the board, will happily tell you that she would not be where she is now were it not for resolving to make the most of the programming and networking ASAE has afforded her in the nearly 25 years since she listened to Rumbarger at what was an orientation for a now-discontinued ASAE--University of Maryland educational program. She is a true believer, ASAE and the people she has met along the way having been central to her professional upbringing for so long, and she spreads the wealth: Belmont supports the involvement of more than 20 ASFSA staff in ASAE. By way of illustration, she points in three "ASAE Future Leaders" from ASFSA and the 13-15 staff who attend ASAE's Management and Technology Conference each year.

Belmont does not take lightly the responsibility of helping talented staff--some of whom have "been with me from the beginning"--to continue ally develop. The 46 staff of the 55,000-member ASFSA and its sister Child Nutrition Foundation are immersed in countless programs and services, all designed to achieve one thing: to see that all children have access to nutritious meals during the school day. If you want to see Belmont get excited, ask her to tell you about launching Child Nutrition U, an online training and certification program targeted to ASFSA members who can't travel long distances for education; developing, through cooperation with PepsiCo and Dr. Ken Cooper of the Dallas-based Cooper Clinic, a wellness area in the association's Web site that, among other things, will help members track diet and exercise; and taking online ASFSA's Keys to Excellence standards program. Then talk to her about working with the World Food Programme and the Chilean government to create the Latin American Food Service Network, which will focus on setting up feeding programs in other Latin American countries that are sorely in need. Challenges? This is a reauthorization year for federally funded school nutrition programs, so ASFSA is laser-focused on advocacy as well.

Belmont herself has traveled light years, as association executive and volunteer, since that first ASAE program. From 1978 to 1991, she was a National Association of Home Builders staff vice president of marketing, association services, membership, and special industry councils. From 1991 to 1993, she served as senior vice president of marketing for the NAHB for-profit subsidiary SMART House. She has been at ASFSA ever since. In addition to having held various volunteer roles at ASAE, she is a director on the board of Friends of the World Food Programme, among other volunteer roles.

Today, as chief elected officer, Belmont finds herself at the center of an ASAE focused on stability and poised for what she views as a bright future. In the wide-ranging interview that follows, she talks about customer focus, partnerships, planning, ASAE's new president and CEO, and how Chuck Rumbarger got to her that day twenty-some years ago.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: ASFSA is doing a lot of exciting, member focused stuff. How do you anticipate your members' needs?

Belmont: We do an environmental scan and a member assessment survey every two years; on the off year, we do a comprehensive operations survey not only to help members benchmark their programs, but to help us identify trends in child nutrition programs. We also use Focus groups to gather information about what is on members' minds. For example, we spent about eight to nine months on developing an issues paper, as we call it, concerning the association's priorities for reauthorization of federal child nutrition programs this year. During that process, we used our online communities and did an online survey. To provide our state leaders with more opportunities for member input, we have also started holding "mega issue" discussions in our house of delegates.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Are your mega issue discussions similar to those used by the ASAE Board of Directors to dig into emerging issues affecting the profession?

Belmont: That's one of the benefits of serving and being active in ASAE. When the mega issue discussions were introduced to the ASAE board meetings, I immediately saw them as a tool that had tremendous implications across the board for all associations. I introduced mega issue discussions first to our board of directors and then into our house of delegates, and we've experienced a vast improvement in tire way that we address issues, especially with subjects of a sensitive nature that have previously gone unresolved. Having these mega discussions helps state and national leaders understand critical points before shaping policy.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Would you share an example of how this tool has worked for ASFSA?

Belmont: Many of these discussions fall into that arena of bringing about change within the organization. We've had mega issue discussions on issues like the name of the association and whether it's still appropriate. Must people who serve on the national board tend to be more future focused in their thinking than many of our members. In the past, we would've pushed forward only to be defeated in the house of delegates. Now, we first go to the house, where input from the members of that body helps shape the framing of the policy. Board members facilitate the breakout groups, and from the discussion reports the board determines the best options and strategies to move forward. As a result of some mega issue discussions, we've actually decided not to move forward.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: So through your process you're getting more buy-in.

Belmont: Members are part of the policy making, rather than having policy handed down to them for their blessing. This process flip-flops the way that we've handled policy before, and it seems to be working well.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: You're really investing effort in listening to the customer, something I'm sure you'll agree is increasingly important for all associations.

Belmont: Definitely. Today I don't believe most associations have a house of delegates. So the question becomes, when you are a national or international association, how do you get member buy-in when you don't have a delegate body or you're not a federation or don't have state affiliates or local chapters? It's important that we find a way to measure member attitudes, provide members a forum for expressing their opinions, and let them know they are being heard. The mega issue discussion format has worked very well for our association. Sometimes we actually will have a discussion with our board on an issue, and then they determine whether it needs to go to the house of delegates. Having the mega issue discussions has improved the attitude of the state leaders toward the national association because they now feel more a part of policy making; that's been a tremendous advantage.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: How do you reconcile the impetus for seeking input from a wide group of stakeholders with the need to sometimes move very quickly?

Belmont: Before you can get members or affiliate leaders to empower you to move quickly, they need to have trust in the leadership, or trust in the state, national, or international organization, and building that trust is a challenge. Those of us located in the Washington area are always suspect by those outside the beltway. In our case, we've used a great deal of training in the arena of leadership to try to help nut members and affiliate leaders understand the necessity of being able to act quickly. I think they all recognize that, even in their own slates, change is happening so rapidly and some of the traditional ways we've conducted business in our organizations will result in negative outcomes. ASFSA's governance structure was designed in 1946. This is 2003. We really haven't changed it all that much. But we have a higher degree of trust between the house of delegates and the board today, and partly that is due to the mega issue discussion, but partly, too, it is based on following through and really working on that trust. Our delegates are more comfortable than they've ever been before with empowering the board to move forward. The board is more willing to empower the executive committee and the ASFSA staff.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Speaking of change, what challenges do you see cutting across associations?

Belmont: One is that people are not willing to commit the time and energy to associations that they used to. Most people today feel they have far too little time to keep up with the demands of daily life. Whether it's perception or it's real people can argue all day, but perception to me is reality. We're fortunate at the national level of ASFSA that we're not having trouble getting people to become involved. However, many of our state affiliates and local chapters are having a very difficult time finding people to take the job of president or to chair their conference or membership committee. This seems to be a very serious issue for most association. So one challenge is simply to get people to join an association and participate, much less get them involved in volunteering. I don't think young people are averse to joining, but your value proposition must be meaningful to them. Young people flare much higher expectations from their organizations today. When I went to work for the National Association of Home Builders, if you were in that business, there was no question that you would join the association. You owed it to the industry or profession, regardless of what you took away. Many people today look more at the bang for the buck they receive, not unlike when they're purchasing a consumer item. As an association executive for ASFSA, I can't help but believe that every person who works in child nutrition should be a member of our association. The fewer members we have, the less influence we have on legislation and funding for "their programs."

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: What's the answer?

Belmont: We have to work harder at finding out what the right value proposition is for our membership. Our association is going to incorporate a new software that will be able to measure both services and programs that have the greatest value to our members. The one we're looking at will not only help us determine what's most important but how we are doing in providing this service. We have to find new ways of getting information that will help supply us and keep us on target with what the right value proposition is and whether it's one value proposition for all members or multiple value propositions if you have a highly segmented membership. ASFSA is a vertical association. We have people who have Ph.D.'s and are teaching at the university level. We have major city directors who run multimillion-dollar programs. We have district directors--some who run medium to large districts and more whose districts are very small. Then we have sire managers, the people who manage a high school, junior high, or elementary school food service. Then we have employees. It's a big challenge. Our membership has dropped by 10,000 across the past eight years. But almost all of that came because of changes occurring in the labor force at the employee level. We didn't lose any directors who we've gained across the years, and our managers have stayed about the same. But the industry is using more part-time people as employees in schools because labor has become so expensive. Those people are working fewer than four hours a day and primarily don't care about being certified. I don't know if there's a value proposition for them unless they have a desire to move forward in the field. It's that type of information that we're trying to latch onto.

Another issue that all associations face is competition. Are there any of us who don't have more competition for what we do? And there are those who would like to splinter off some of the new members. Three or fir years ago competition was from trade publications that compete for advertising and wanted Io get into our trade show business. Now in the past year we have been fending off those who would splinter off segments of the membership.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Then do you see forging partnerships and alliances as an emerging opportunity?

Belmont: There's not only increased opportunity but increased necessity. If you're an association that's involved in advocating on behalf of programs or a profession or trade, the more voices you can bring to the table, the more likely you are to be heard. Those alliances home very important. Partnerships, certainly to us, are more important than ever. So much of what we do could not be done without our partners, and many of our best partners come from the industry or commodity side of the business. Our dues only account for 19 percent of our revenue, so we must be very good at selling advertising; we must be very good at putting on meetings; we must he very good at all our nondues revenue efforts. Without partnering on new program development and education, we would fall quite short in providing our members what they want and need. Our dues range from $10 to $85, which is quite low compared to most associations today. The association invested a great deal of money from its reserves about five years ago for developing our standards program, Keys to Excellence. Now to update it and make it an interactive Web site: program was going to be very costly. Through our foundation, the National Dairy Council provided the necessary funding. Many of the education programs that we offer today actually come through industry dollars.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Associate member relations is pretty important, then, at ASFSA as at ASAE, especially since industry dollars are limited.

Belmont: Yes. Two things are happening in the hospitality community, from which a majority of ASAE's associate members come. One is the economic impact on the industry as a whole; they are really hurting. This has been going on now for two-plus years. The other side is that more organizations seem to be competing for fewer dollars from the same people. We all keep going back to the same well. We can do a much better job of listening and hearing what it is association suppliers have to say. I really commend [2002-2003 ASAE Chairman] Red Cavaney for creating a special advisory panel to the chair to work with him this year so that we could help bring about some changes for the ASAE annual meeting in Hawaii. At the same time, we made the associates one of our top program priorities, and I have had the good fortune of befog the board liaison for that group. I think the staff and hoard came up with some ways that we can advance the benefits that they derive from their participation in ASAE. Associate members are certainly going to remain a priority to me during my term.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: You are stepping in as chair at a pivotal time for ASAE. What are your thoughts on the challenges ahead?

Belmont: Anytime you're taking on a volunteer role like the chair you would like everything to be stable and moving smoothly. But I must say that this is a very exciting time to he the ASAE chair. I'm going to have a great partner in the new president and CEO, John Graham. And although times have been difficult, the board has managed to reshape the governing framework and make some changes that will be most helpful to John and the future of ASAE. We are fortunate to have outstanding people on the board who are willing to commit their time and expertise and a new president with excellent credentials. I would hope that at the end of the year everyone will feel as upbeat as those of us on the inside.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: What gives you that confidence about ASAE's future?

Belmont: We've put some positive things into place. In terms of program priorities, we now have a very advanced and sophisticated system of strategic program budgeting. During the past couple of years the board has moved to a strategic governance model. This has become a very interactive and involved board that is willing to commit a great deal of time and energy. And whether serving on the audit committee or the finance committee or the leadership committee, everyone has a very significant role to play.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: In terms of moving leadership to the next level, where will you focus?

Belmont: To me the one missing element is the planning process. We have a strategic plan developed five years ago that is no longer relevant to what the issues are today confronting ASAE. We need to have an issues management system to help us identify and maintain awareness of internal and external issues and engage the members in consensus building around the issues. We need to utilize the scans done by the ASAE Foundation and the Planning Committee, and then we need to begin the planning process. We need to actively engage the minds of those who sit on the hoard, on the sections, and on the allied groups and to begin with identifying the most critical issues confronting ASAE. Once we have consensus on the priority issues, ASAE can move forward with determining outcomes and strategies.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT; What would you say are some of those issues that ASAE needs to wrestle with?

Belmont: About 25 years ago, when I was just coming into this business, I started out as an associate editor. But if people asked me what I was doing, my answer was always association management. When you work for an association, whether you're running meetings or working on a magazine or in education or technology, to me you are in the field of association management. Think how beneficial it would be to the association community as a whole if once somebody started working in this field we began to get that individual to think of himself or herself as an association professional and to see the career paths that are available. Otherwise, we not only lose good people, but groups end up splintering off and weakening the association community. If at the beginning we can get people excited about the field of association management and seeing themselves as association professionals, hopefully we can retain these good people as part of the profession and part of ASAE.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: How do you see ASAE itself needing to evolve to achieve goals like influencing professionals who are in their formative career years to identify with association management as a career path?

Belmont: We need to examine not only our educational offerings, but how we market them. I believe it will take some market research to evolve our positioning and message points, but young people need to hear more stories about people who have built careers in association management. Our new president and CEO is an excellent example of someone who worked his way up to the CEO position. To be successful today an association has to 1) have the right value proposition and 2) be absolutely outstanding in delivering customer service. I would like to see ASAE set the bar in customer service. I think that there's a sense out there that that hasn't always been the case. It's an interesting challenge, because on one hand you have less staff resources, but we're talking about becoming more responsive.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Other priorities?

Belmont: One of the things that we certainly have to do this year is build stability. One of my concerns is that there's a perception out there about ASAE's stability and future. Sitting where I am, I think we've done a great deal to stabilize the financial situation. I think the future is quite rosy, but that's an insider's perspective. We have to build confidence among our members, and I expect that to be a major locus of the new CEO. Part of it is being more transparent than we've been in the past. One oldie things that we on the search committee really tried to look for in a prospective CEO was someone who would operate on that basis. To me there's nothing wrong with admitting that we have challenges or problems. Transparency, openness, and honesty are really critical for rebuilding people's confidence in ASAE.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: What are your thoughts on the new CEO, John H. Graham IV? Why is his skill set such a good match for what ASAE needs to do? What will be his initial priorities?

Belmont: Those who know John well know that he has an outstanding record as the president and CEO of the American Diabetes Association. What makes him such a good match for ASAE is a strong record as a consensus builder capable of bringing about major changes; a strong track record of growing the organization; and a strong background of financial knowledge and skills. In addition, John is the perpetual student, always looking for new ideas and ways to do things. His leadership skills have been proven on both the ASAE board and the ASAE Foundation board.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: One last question: What did Chuck Rumbarger say at that first ASAE conference that got you so fired up about association management?

Belmont: Sometimes when we go to work for an association, especially one as large and with as many staff as the National Association of Home Builders, we think that because we're bigger than the guys down the street, we know it all or we do it better. We don't always see or understand the need for networking. There are things that we don't know outside of our own association. If you don't see that, then you don't tend to belong or become involved or participate in education sessions that are offered. What Chuck got me to realize was that there is this association community from which all of us can gain and learn and that none of us at any point have all the answers or know it all. ASAE has resources that can help us find answers to what we want to know. Chuck got up there that day and started talking in terms of the larger association world. He got me to understand that there was a lot that I didn't know. He also talked about strategic planning, making me realize that this was something I didn't know anything about. Through his encouragement, I started signing up for programs, seminars, and various things that ASAE was offering. The time I got involved, the more I realized how much I was learning from other people and other organizations. Everything along the line that I did in the field of association management, I did better because of my involvement with ASAE. I tell people all the time, and I mean it sincerely, that I believe that my success and where I sit today is largely due to that decision made years and years ago to become active in ASAE and to take everything I can away from ASAE in terms of learning and networking--and at the same time recognizing that I have a responsibility to give back to ASAE.

Incoming Board Members

ROBERT J. DOLIBOIS, CAE

Executive Vice President, American Nursery & Landscaping Association, Washington, D.C.

Service and honors: 2003-2004 ASAE Services, Inc., chair; 1999 ASAE chairman of the board of directors; current board member of the Small Business Legislative Council; and member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Association Committee of 100.

PAMELA DONAHOO, CAE

Executive Director, American Mensa, Ltd., Arlington, Texas 

Service and honors: Served in various positions on the board of the Dallas-Fort Worth Society of Association Executives and the Texas Society of Association Executives; ASAE Fellow and Future Leader; and a member delegate of the Service Club Leaders Conference.

HORACIO GAVILAN

Executive Director, Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, McLean, Virginia 

Service and honors: An active member in ASAE participating on ASAE's Diversity Executive Leadership Program and a member of the Professional Convention Management Association.

MARK R. GINSBERG

Executive Director, National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, D.C.

Service and honors: Served in various volunteer roles for the American Psychological Association, the Maryland Psychological Association, and the Society of Psychologists in Management; served on the Pennsylvania State University Board of Directors and Dean's Advisory Board; recipient of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Distinguished Leadership Award.

RICHARD B. GREEN

Vice President, Industry Relations and Association Sales, Marriott International, Inc., Washington, D.C.

Service and honors: 2003-2004 chair of the ASAE Foundation Board of Directors; ASAE Fellow; member of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus Foundation Board of Directors; housing commissioner for Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX); and past president of the National Alumni Board of Directors for the University of Denver.

VELMA R. HART, CAE

National Finance Director and CFO, AMVETS (American Veterans), Lanham, Maryland 

Service and honors: Immediate past chair of the ASAE Diversity Committee; member and past chair of the ASAE Finance and Administration Section Council; past ex-officio member of the ASAE Board of Directors; various volunteer roles with the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives; and a board member of The Training Source.

MARTI KRAMER, CAE

CEO, California Society of Professional Engineers, Sacramento

Service and honors: 1999 Fellow for Advancing the Image of Engineers; past board president for the Combined Health Appeal of California; past president of the State Societies Executives Council, National Society of Professional Engineers; and past chair of the California Society of Association Executives.

LAWRENCE A. LUTERAN

Vice President, Industry Relations, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Washington, D.C.

Service and honors: Serves on The Meeting Professional Advisory Board; co-chair of Meeting Professionals International's Leadership Dinner; committee co-chair for Professional Convention Management Association's leadership and volunteerism initiative; serves on ASAE's Associations Advance America and Summit Awards Dinner committees; and recipient of the Excellence in Sales Award for Hilton Hotels Corporation.

JONATHAN T. (TOBY) MACK

Chief Staff Executive, Associated Equipment Distributors, Oak Brook, Illinois.

Service and honors: 2003 chair of ASAE's Key Industry Associations Committee; member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Association Committee of 100; past chair of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors Association Executives Council; and member of the Nucleus Committee of the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation.

JOHN W. SISCEL, CAE

Executive Vice President, Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri, Inc., St. Louis

Service and honors: Past president of the St. Louis Society of Association Executives; past chair of the Association Executives Council of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America; member and past chair of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District; and member of the Board of Regents of Harris Stowe State College.

ROGER A. WENTZ

Executive Director, American Traffic Safety Services Association, Fredricksburg, Virginia

Service and honors: Past chair of the ASAE Executive Management Section Council and the ASAE Awards Committee; past chair and current member of the Greater Washington Society of Association Exectives Government Relations Committee; and 2002 recipient of the Banff Centre Scholarship Award.

Keith C. Skillman, CAE, is the editor in chief of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT. E-mail: [e-mail].