Incoming Chair Sal Martino highlights ASAE's work to combat discrimination, advocate for associations

CHICAGO—Three days of educational sessions, speeches, entertainment—and yes, parties—wrapped up Tuesday night as the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition held its closing celebration in Chicago's storied football stadium, Soldier Field. The meeting was the largest in ASAE history with more than 6,000 attendees.

At midday in the McCormick Place convention center, during the closing general session, incoming ASAE Chair Sal Martino drew applause when he introduced himself as the first openly gay chair in the association's history.

Martino, CEO of the Albuquerque, N.M.-based American Society of Radiologic Technologists, highlighted ASAE's advocacy against state and local laws that foster discrimination (such as so-called bathroom bills) or would otherwise harm the association sector.

ASAE this summer cofounded the Professional Certification Coalition in response to legislation in Louisiana and Missouri that would have restricted use of the term "certified." ASAE and other associations were able to remove the offending language in Louisiana, but not in Missouri.

"There's some crazy stuff going on out there and we all need to sit up and take notice," Martino said. "Because what happens in one state can often be mimicked in other states in a kind of domino effect, and what happens in the states can be a bellwether of what happens at the federal level."

Closing keynote speaker Siri Lindley exhorted attendees to reach their fullest potential. Lindley overcame anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and her father's rejection of her homosexuality to become a world-champion triathlete despite not knowing how to swim at the age of 23.

She described the grueling training regimen imposed by her coach, Brett Sutton, in the mountains of Switzerland, which had her questioning whether she could go on.

"If we're not doing things that we don't think we can do, consistently, how will we ever truly know what's really possible?" she said.