Association Leaders: Part 2

Association execs don't dream of running trade organizations as children—most will tell you they fell into the field. Here are four who fell in and grabbed the bull by the horns. Come help us toast their bullish-ness July 9 in Crystal City. 

Laura Thevenot
CEO, American Society for Radiation Oncology

Memorable projects: Built ASTRO’s first-ever government relations and health policy divisions when hired in 2002; grew staff from 18 to 85; started a foundation, which has raised $12M; launched two scientific journals; built an accreditation program for radiation oncology and a medical error reporting system. 
Lessons learned: Be flexible. With a new chairman every year, it’s important to learn their style and priorities and work with them to stay on course.
Why this career: Worked for the Senate and a corporate government relations office and got recruited to a trade association. ASTRO is my first individual member association. 
Grew up: Wilton, CT.
Why DC: Lived in Houston and wanted to escape in ’86. 
First job: Worked in a dry cleaners.
Free time: Working out and cutting out recipes. 
Family: Married 26 years, one adult daughter (who’s getting a master's at Yale) and a Cairin Terrier named Eddie.
Favorite vacation spot: Toss up between Tuscany and San Terrini.
Bucket list: Recently checked off a cooking and wine trip in Tuscany. 
Daily habit: Exercise—rotate between weightlifting, Pilates and yoga.
Startling fact: Don’t like coffee or sweets.

Steve Caldeira
President, International Franchise Association

Memorable projects: Franchise industry hired 238,000 veterans, military spouses and wounded warriors by the end of 2014, far exceeding original commitment to hire 80,000; helped shrink the shortfall for loans for aspiring entrepreneurs and existing franchisees; leading the charge to restore the definition of the workweek to 40 hours in the ACA from the current 30 hours.
Lessons learned: Hire great people and get out of the way; educate, communicate and engage officers and board to get buy-in on overall strategy and execution; and give back time and personal and organization’s resources to greater DC community through philanthropic organizations. 
Why this career: Started on Capitol Hill, then morphed to working on political campaigns. Intro to associations came from working as senior manager of political affairs during ’88 elections for US Chamber of Commerce. 
Grew up: Springfield, MA.
First jobs: Cut grass, raked leaves and shoveled snow.
Free time: Golf, travel, Italian food, Napa Valley red wine and charitable work. 
Family: Married 18 years; daughter (15) and son (13).
Favorite vacation spot: Chatham, Cape Cod
Bucket list: Play golf in St. Andrews, Scotland, with three close friends.
Daily habit: Talk to members, catch kids’ sporting events and walk family’s two Cocker Spaniels. 
Startling fact: Avid lap swimmer.

Heidi Brock
President/CEO, The Aluminum Association

Memorable initiatives: Worked with Congress to create a bipartisan aluminum caucus that’s grown to 40 members and educates key policy members on issues facing the industry; restarted the Aluminum PAC; grew membership to a record level; and grew industry’s safety program by training over 49 companies and 160 of their employees in safety practices in the past year.
Lessons learned: Develop a strategic plan with clear goals and outcomes and have metrics to measure progress along the way. Also, stay in touch with your network as they can serve as helpful resources.
Why this career: Association management work is fun and interesting, with every day bringing something different. It’s a wonderful hybrid of my previous experience on Capitol Hill and the corporate world. 
Grew up: Walla Walla, WA.
Why DC: Thought about law school after college, but ended up driving across the country with a friend to DC to work for Sen. Dan Evans. Later got an MBA while working in government affairs. 
First job: Picking strawberries on a farm in Walla Walla. 
Free time: Busy with St. James’ Episcopal Church at Mount Vernon where husband is the rector. Also, family time and visiting farmers markets on the weekends.
Family: Married 12 years; son (7); and recently adopted rescue dog.
Favorite vacation spots: Cape Cod and Seattle.
Bucket list: Get cooking lesson from Chef Tom Douglas of Seattle. 
Daily habit: Early morning walks followed by a big cup of green tea.
Startling fact: Enjoys converting all of the great finds at farmer's markets into jars of jam and pickles. 

Stephen Gold
President, Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation

Memorable initiative: Spearheaded transformation of the Manufacturers Alliance from a policy research group to a US leader in executive development for manufacturing executives.
Lessons learned: Don’t be afraid to take risks or admit mistakes and always remember that association leaders are only in this business because of the members, so their needs have to be top of mind.
Why this career: First job after college was with association legend George Koch at the Grocery Manufacturers of America (now Grocery Manufacturers Association). After years of working with him, knew association management was calling. 
Grew up: Born in Birmingham, AL, but father worked as Goldwater’s deputy press secretary during ’64 campaign, so moved to DC as a kid.
First job: Soda jerk for Hot Shoppes.
Free time: Reading, exercise, wine tasting and spending time with grandchildren.
Family: Married 30 years; adult son (works for a trade association), adult daughter, who just had our first grandson, and super smart Labradoodle. 
Favorite vacation spot: Laguna Beach.
Bucket list: Four weeks in La Rioja, Spain, to visit favorite vineyards. 
Daily habit: Meditation
Startling fact: Born a triplet and pictured on the front page of the Birmingham News.