Association Transformation

Send us Fan Mail Membership work is relationship work, and relationships are built in real time. Sara Bustard, MBA, CAE, Deputy Director of the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce, joins me to talk about a membership career that runs from explosives engineers to osteopathic physicians to chambers of commerce. She's also a student of improv. It started after a car accident and a concussi...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Burns, Co-Founder and CEO of StratSimple, and I went through almost 200 strategic planning RFPs for a white paper we wrote together. As a fellow strategic planning nerd, he joins me to talk about what we found: RFPs that prescribe a five-year plan before anyone has done the listening, no budget or range, and very little about what happens once the plan is approved. We get int...

Send us Fan Mail Attendees are registering later, booking hotels last minute and still expecting to be wowed. John Bailey, CEM, Director, Shows & Exhibits at the National Rifle Association, joins me to talk about planning events at a scale most of us never see. His team runs the Great American Outdoor Show, a nine-day consumer hunting and fishing show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that draws mo...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know Olympic sports are run by associations? When you watch Olympic fencing, you're seeing an association at work. National governing bodies like USA Fencing are 501(c)(3) membership organizations, and they deal with a lot of the same things your association does: limited staff, member dues, pricey events, board composition and finding new members. Phil Andrews, CEO o...

Send us Fan Mail Renewal letters are landing, and the numbers aren't pretty. Brian Haney, CAE, SVP and Association & Non-Profit Specialist at Relation Insurance Services, joins me to talk through health insurance for associations, especially small-staff shops trying to build a 2027 budget. Brian's first message: you probably have more options than you think. They won't all be ch...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 178 of Association Transformation, Elisa sits down with Brian Weiss (SVP of Society Programs at the American Chemical Society, with PMI, RMA, AMA, and NCMA behind him) for the globalization conversation most associations skip straight past. A few of the highlights: 🌍 Do the non-business case before the business case. Why is the board really asking? You can't meet...

Send us Fan Mail Cybersecurity isn’t just an IT problem. It’s a leadership, governance, and organizational resilience issue! In Episode 178 of Association Transformation , Elisa and Andrew sit down with Mike Baker, VP, Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for DXC Technologies, to bring cybersecurity out of the server room and into the association boardroom. They explore what associatio...

Send us Fan Mail The Association Transformation summer hiatus is over early, and for good reason. Three-time guest Jay S. Daughtry, M.Ed., joins Andrew and Elisa for a timely preview of the 2026 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition. Jay just released his annual "What I'm Looking Forward to at ASAE Annual 2026" guide, built with input from voices across the association community, and...

Send us Fan Mail Most associations are not short on ideas. The real struggle is moving from plan to progress. In episode 175 of Association Transformation , we dig into Project Management Paralysis  - why association projects stall, how communication and culture get in the way, and what it takes to turn good intentions into real execution. Because plans do not execute themselves. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This week on Association Transformation, we’re unpacking another UK controversy: members can ask hard questions about outcomes and value, but they don’t get to design the org chart. Instead of letting leadership lead, parts of the charity sector has jumped straight to a public “bun fight" with one of its membership organisations (the NCVO), including open letters, outside pre...

Send us Fan Mail Inspired by recent industry research, including member experience and membership marketing benchmark reports, this episode explores what “engagement” really means for associations, where organizations may be confusing communication with connection, and why success should be measured by more than clicks, attendance, and activity. Tune in for a thoughtful, practical conversation on...

Send us Fan Mail What if the goal isn’t to bounce back… but to move forward stronger? In this latest episode of Association Transformation , co-hosts Elisa Pratt (Brewer Pratt Solutions) and Andrew Chamberlain (Elevated) unpack a bold idea: 👉 Stability isn’t success—and recovery may actually be holding associations back. Recorded (literally) from the road as Elisa drives home from the Pennsylvani...

Send us Fan Mail March is National Ethics Awareness Month , which makes it the perfect time to talk about something every association faces, but few discuss honestly: ethics in leadership. In the newest episode of Association Transformation , co-hosts Elisa Pratt of Brewer Pratt Solutions and Andrew Chamberlain of Elevated unpack what ethical governance really looks like inside associations. Not j...

Send us Fan Mail 🚨 Breaking news in the membership world. A new professional certification for membership leaders has just launched and we got the inside scoop first. In the newest episode of Association Transformation , co-hosts Elisa Pratt and Andrew Chamberlain sit down with Sarah Sladek to discuss the launch of the Membership Excellence Certification (MXC) . This conversation goes beyond the...

Send us Fan Mail Membership dues feel maxed out. But the financial pressure on associations keeps rising. In the latest episode of Association Transformation , co-hosts Elisa Pratt and Andrew Chamberlain sit down with Dr. Michael Carr-Tatonetti, CPP, CAE , Certified Pricing Professional and CEO of Pricing for Associations, to unpack what’s really happening beneath the surface. This conversation ex...

Send us Fan Mail In the latest episode of the Association Transformation Podcast , Elisa Pratt of Brewer Pratt Solutions and Andrew Chamberlain of Elevated tackle a tough question for association and nonprofit leaders: 👉 Are foundations advancing mission and impact, or quietly draining time, money, and focus? They dig into why foundations get created, why they’re so hard to unwind, and how leader...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when associations aggressively advocate for their members, while quietly shortchanging the professionals who make that advocacy possible? In Episode 167, Elisa Pratt and Andrew Chamberlain unpack a timely and uncomfortable case from the UK that exposes a deeper, sector-wide challenge: how perceived value, power, and authority shape decisions about association staff co...

Send us Fan Mail Tired of expensive conferences with ten competing tracks, swag bags that collect dust, and exhibitors standing awkwardly behind tables? So is Gordon Glenister. In this episode, the CEO of Membership World joins Andrew and Elisa to share his upcoming UK road show—a bold experiment in intimate, regional events designed around one question: How do we actually engage members in an inc...

Send us Fan Mail As associations head into 2026, the pressure to prove relevance, sharpen focus, and deliver measurable member value has never been greater. In Episode 165 of Association Transformation , Andrew Chamberlain and Elisa Pratt are joined by Grant Carpenter of Raybourn Group International for a candid conversation about what association leaders must stop doing, start doing, and seriousl...

Send us Fan Mail In this special holiday episode of Association Transformation, host Elisa Pratt is joined by Brewer Pratt Solutions' Client Solutions Coordinator Jess Bellamy for a candid conversation about the current job market in the association space. Fresh from completing an employee search that received over 400 applications, they pull back the curtain on the hiring process and share p...

Send us Fan Mail Susan Avery, CAE, CEO of the Performance Plastics Association, joins us to expose why trade associations have become the "forgotten format" in association management. With 28 years spanning both sides of the association world, Susan reveals critical differences between serving companies versus individuals that most "best practices" completely miss. We discuss h...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when seasoned industry leaders become first-time association CEOs? In this episode, we sit down with Sandy Moore (Pet Advocacy Network) and Melissa Loner (National Society of Compliance Professionals), two executives who’ve made the bold leap from the private sector into nonprofit leadership. From boardroom dynamics to member engagement, advocacy strategy to financial...

Send us Fan Mail Trust is under attack; from misinformation, disinformation, and even unchecked AI “truths.” In this powerful new episode of Association Transformation , Elisa Pratt and Andrew Chamberlain revisit their white paper Restoring Trust in Expertise and discuss how associations can become the custodians of credibility  that our fractured world needs. With ASAE’s new Trust in Associations...

Send us Fan Mail What if you could build an association from scratch? No inherited bylaws, no legacy structures, no forever committees, just purpose and potential. In this episode, Elisa and Andrew welcome Matt Ott , Executive Director of the Outsourced Professionals Association , to explore what it means to create a new kind of membership organization for a changing world of work. From fractional...

Send us Fan Mail Dying for Relevance, Zombie Members, Toxic Boards & Other Association Nightmares From members who vanish into thin air, to boards behaving monstrously, to the creeping dread of dying for relevance,  this year’s fright fest uncovers the real terrors haunting associations. 👻🧟‍♀️ Whether it’s zombie members shuffling along, toxic leaders spreading their curse, or the sector its...