Association CEO Index 2024 - Flipbook - Page 4
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Association CEO Index 2024
Foreword
The idea for this sentiment index came to me last
year when I was in a CEO’s office watching her
phone almost bounce off the desk due to an
avalanche of calls within a 20-minute window.
The calls came from valued members, advisors,
journalists and a board member, to name a few.
While she was taking it all in her stride, I marvelled at
how much an association CEO tackles on a ‘normal’
day, and often with very little to no resources or
budget, yet extremely high expectations from all
around them.
And this is after COVID-19, during which our leaders
worked long hours to make sure the value of the
sector or the profession they represented was either
factored into key economic or health decisions,
catered to, or receiving the recognition it needed in
larger discussions.
Four years on, and our leaders are still recovering
from the destruction caused by the pandemic, while
still showing strong enthusiasm for the many
opportunities and challenges ahead of them.
Whether it’s driving change, highlighting a key
challenge, enforcing a code of conduct, enhancing
capability through networking or learning, or by
driving awareness of the valuable contribution a
sector or profession provides our communities, the
role of an association CEO has many facets.
With this in mind, we felt it was time to get a
snapshot of what was keeping our leaders up at
night, and what was exciting them for the future. The
aim was to map out key opportunities, threats,
trends and the roadmap to attract the next
generation of leaders to take up the top job.
Within this index, key insights from an in-depth
survey are married with personal stories from CEOs
across Australia and New Zealand. The marriage of
the quantitative data and the stories from those at
the coalface demonstrates what it takes to be an
association leader, the challenges facing our CEOs
today, and what tomorrow’s leaders need or see as
avenues forward.
The insights contained within these pages are not
just reflections of the present. They are instrumental
for preparing for the future, ensuring that this sector
remains robust, dynamic and ready to tackle the
challenges ahead.
As someone who has worked with CEOs, boards and
associations on proactive and reactive media and
marketing over many years, I was particularly
interested to note the increased pressure our
leaders felt to enhance their professional brand.
I found the statistic that only 36% of association
leaders felt they had a strong and visible media
presence of particular interest. This is even more
pronounced among professional associations, where
just 28% reported they had a strong media presence.
Likewise, only half of the CEOs interviewed felt their
association was effectively raising the profile of their
profession or industry.
For me, the fact that they acknowledge this as a key
area, or opportunity, is a true testament to how
much our association CEOs are proactively
considering all avenues to ensure their membership
body is never far away from key decision-makers’
minds.
This is just one of many great data points the index
has uncovered.
We extend our deepest gratitude to all the leaders
who contributed their invaluable insights and shared
their stories with me to help shape this pivotal
resource for the association community.
And lastly, thank you to the wonderful team at
AuSAE for partnering with us on this
insightful project.
Sarah Morgan
Managing Director of Bespoken
