Winning ways: enthusiastic, creative, and dedicated...the 2003 Key and Academy of Leaders award winners are standouts in the association management community.

A TASTE FOR ADVENTURE

THOMAS H. HENDERSON, JR., TELLS FASCINATING STORIES ABOUT HIS EARLY career as a lawyer. He was a University of Alabama law student in the 1960s when then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy urged him to join the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. RFK's words stuck. In Henderson's 16 years there, he prosecuted Mafiosi and helped convict nine people in the infamous labor racketeering case surrounding the murder of Joseph "Jock" Yablonski.

But the part of his career that Henderson affectionately calls "a wonderful adventure" has been in association management. For the past 15 years, he has been CEO of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, also in Washington. To go there he traded the drama of the courtroom for the challenges of building membership, boosting programs, and serving society through projects such as Trial Lawyers Care, a nonprofit organization set up to provide free legal services to the 9/11 terrorist attack victims. Today ATLA has 60,000 members, 180 staff, and a $30 million budget.

His dedication to the adventures of association management earned Henderson the 151st Key Award, ASAE's highest honor for association chief staff executives. The award recognizes an executive who demonstrates exceptional leadership in his or her own association and commitment to the profession. Henderson will receive the award at ceremonies during ASAE's 2003 Annual Meeting and Exposition, August 23-26 in Honolulu.

Here are Henderson's views on his career change, the challenges of managing an association for a sometimes-unpopular profession in trying times, and the vital importance of volunteering.

Why Henderson left the courtroom: "1 just never liked the win-lose aspect of it," he says. What he liked better was the taste of management begot after leaving the U.S. Justice Department in the l980s to direct the Bar Counsel of the District of Columbia. There he realized how satisfying it could be to create win-win situations by being an effective leader of staff and programs. "I love to manage. What's exciting is to watch people work together and produce." And doing just that--by working with members, staff, volunteers, and on Capitol Hill-was the appeal of the ATLA job when he accepted it in 1988.

The biggest challenges of association work: Right now the major test is the economy, Henderson says. "You can fix your mission and a lot of other things, but if the economy goes south, it's difficult to keep your staff and volunteers spirits up." Like other associations, ATLA has had to grapple with membership ups and downs; limited member dollars for education and other services; competition from state associations; and high-stakes legislative issues.

Innovative ways to handle those challenges: To bring in new revenue, in 2001 ATLA created a membership category called the Leadership Forum for high-end law firms. It has attracted 302 firms paying $1,000-$5,000 a month for a package of special member benefits and national recognition. New revenue to date: $4.9 million.

In 1999, Henderson was instrumental in raising money for the new ATLA Endowment. Now worth almost $20 million, the endowment provides new funds for research projects and educational initiatives about the civil justice system.

Underlying all projects is the ATLA strategic plan. Henderson spearheaded the association's first within a year of his arrival, and he's still proud of how the updated versions of that original plan, plus a three-year budget cycle, have kept the association on course. "It keeps us from making irresponsible or emotional decisions quickly," he says.

Innovative ways to handle emerging issues: Just 10 days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, ATLA created Trial Lawyers Care, which provides free legal representation to all who sought assistance from the federal Victim Compensation Fund. More than 1,500 people have sought help from more than 1,825 ATLA member volunteers.

Henderson says it's the largest pro bono legal-services program in history. And according to Roger A. Wentz, executive director, American Traffic Safety Services Association, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and chairman of the Awards Committee, it's just one of the reasons Henderson was chosen for this honor. "Tom Henderson has had a truly outstanding career as an association executive. He has served his own association extremely well; given to others in the industry, including service on the ASAE board; and contributed to the greater community by establishing Trial Lawyers Care."

Henderson's extracurricular activities: He's the first to admit he likes staying busy. For professional development, he has served on more than a dozen ASAE boards and committees, including the board of directors and the Key Professional Associations Committee, or KPAC. After hours, he's been deeply involved in the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law and the Constitution, which brings high school students interested in law to Washington. He was also a founder, board member, and president of the Christmas in April program to repair the homes of poor, elderly, and disabled people. He helped the local group develop into the national Christmas in April USA program (now called Rebuilding Together).

The best advice he ever got about fundraising: "You can't take rejection personally. There are a million reasons why people say no, but sometimes they only mean not right now. When things change, they may say yes.

His best source of fundraising advice: His wife, Paulette V. Maehara, CAE, president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Alexandria, Virginia.

His next adventure: Henderson plans to retire in August 2004 to do more volunteer work, go back to school to study or teach, and travel. Though he and his wife love France and Italy, he also enjoys annual hiking trips to locales such as Alaska and Yosemite with colleagues he has met through his ASAE work.

How it feels to be involved in a profession people say they love to hate: "Trial lawyers do not become trial lawyers so they'll be loved. If they do, they're in the wrong profession," Henderson says with a laugh. "Trial lawyers are there to level the playing field and give a voice to people who don't have one. Anyone who can make a difference like that is doing very important work."

RELATED ARTICLE: A NOSE FOR NEWS

COMPILED BY ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT STAFF

A DEDICATED PROVIDER OF NEWS AND information relating to the association community, Anne Daly Heller, cofounder of the newspaper USAE, is the 16th recipient of ASAE's Academy of Leaders Award.

"Anne Heller has been on the news side of the association business for more than 20 years. She has built a reputation for telling it like it is," says Roger A. Wentz, executive director, American Traffic Safety Services Association, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and chairman of the Awards Committee. "And she has given generously of her time to the community of which she is a part."

Heller is the managing editor of a staff of four reporter-editors, keeping up with--and ahead of--the news, assigning stories, choosing front page photos, and signing off on each issue's lead story selections. None of her staff like it, according to husband and business partner Ross E. Heller, but she's willing to remake the front page if a breaking story warrants it. When the CEO of an important industry association resigned a few years back at 5 p.m. on a Thursday night--USAE's deadline--the story led the front page with a "jump" to the inside. And the paper was still on its way to the printer by 7:30 p.m.

Heller enjoys being dogged in "the chase," as she refers to her pursuit of a story. She has, over the phone, tracked down reluctant news makers in bars, on the highway, and in other unlikely locaions--frequently right on deadline. Says Ross Heller, "When she learned the foreperson of the Monica Lewinsky grand jury was a [Washingtonj, D.C., hotel manager who'd been fired for being off work too much due to her federal service commitment and was suing her hotel bosses, she not only named names but broke the story nationally via USAE's Web site. This effort beat the Associated Press, got USAE mentioned in The Washington Post and The New York Times accounts the following day, and earned the paper a nomination for a Pulitzer."

A "volunteer fundraiser in chief" for several causes related to ASAE and other industry groups, Heller has helped raise thousands of dollars. She has served on the ASAE Summit Awards dinner committee since its inception in 2000 as well as on committees for the ASAE Foundation, the Professional Convention Management Association's Education Foundation, and the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus Foundation.

"I sold the most Girl Scout cookies when I was a Brownie, so selling is in my veins," she says. Her secret to fundraising success: "You must be dedicated, determined, and not afraid to ask for the sale."

Such dedication and determination have taken her far in her publishing career as well. "Across the years, [USAE] has entertained and enlightened many, and at times probably upset a few, but it has defined itself as a community mainstay," says former ASAE President and CEO Michael S. Olson, CAE.

After more than two decades as a close observer of associations, convention and visitor bureaus, and the hospitality industry, Heller is convinced that the industry is best served when covered thoroughly and objectively. "It is my belief that USAE's mission is to search out the truth and to publish it--in short, to use our paper's spotlight for the benefit of the industry at large," she says.

Asked to name the things of which she is most proud, Heller lists her 36-year marriage; the accomplishments of her three sons, James, Christopher, and Patrick; and the growth and achievements of USAE. USAE is a community newspaper, she says. It's "the common thread that binds this national professional community of association executives and their various business partners together. We're there, week in and week out, through good times and ill."

The Academy of Leaders Award is the highest honor ASAE bestows on associate members. It is given to those who demonstrate exemplary support of ASAE and the association community. The award will be presented to Heller in ceremonies during ASAE's 2003 Annual Meeting and Exposition, August 23-26 in Honolulu.

"I am particularly honored to be the first journalist and second woman to be the recipient of ASAE's most prestigious award for non-association executives," says Heller. "We at USAE weekly newspaper arc proud to have a part in chronicling the stories of the association world. To be recognized for our contribution is indeed gratifying."

Compiled by ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT staff E-mail: [e-mail].

Karla Taylor is a freelance writer based in Bethesda, Maryland. E-mail: [e-mail].