Like many of her peers, Ashley Hodak Sullivan, director of membership and marketing for the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) in Washington,  
D.C., stumbled into association work. 

After graduating from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 2008 with both a bachelor’s degree and an MBA, she interviewed for a marketing coordinator position at the Maryland Association for Justice (MAJ). When the executive director, David Walls, asked, “Do you know what an association is?” she acted like she did. But it was obvious that she didn’t. “You’re full of it, aren’t you?” he said. “A little bit,” she confessed. Luckily the rest of the interview went well, and she was hired. 

More than a decade later, Sullivan is among four Young & Aspiring Association Professionals being honored by Association TRENDS and CEO Update as part of the 2024 Salute to Association Excellence. Nominees in this category must be 40 or younger. The awards celebration will be held on Feb. 24. 

Sullivan and fellow honorees Doug Hoekstra, Shari Sally and Katie Goodman happened upon the association sector and made it a career. The secret to their success? They all discovered specialties within the industry that put their careers on an upward trajectory and came across unofficial mentors who led by example.  

Be open to trying new things 

After Sullivan joined MAJ, Walls became her unofficial mentor. He encouraged her to pursue association management as a career and join the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Sullivan quickly moved up to a managerial role and stayed with MAJ for four and a half years. The roles that followed — chief operating officer of the New York Trial Lawyers Association and account executive with Kellen Association Management Co. — prepared Sullivan for her current job.  

She joined NACUA in 2018 as director of membership and marketing. Among her responsibilities are developing strategies and overseeing the budget for membership recruitment, retention and engagement, as well as collecting dues. She also develops marketing, communications and branding strategies, runs NACUA’s educational programs and events, and serves as liaison to three committees.  

Following the first COVID-19 shutdown, Sullivan quickly transitioned NACUA’s annual conference from in-person to virtual. She and her team of 17 employees rebranded the event, recreated all communications and messaging, and repriced and re-sold sponsorships. They accomplished it all in six to eight weeks prior to the conference.  

“We not only converted a lot of folks who were supposed to be coming in person, but also brought a lot of folks to the table who never had the budget to attend before. It brought a lot of new voices to the conference,” Sullivan said. 

A “professional development junkie,” she has served on multiple ASAE councils and committees, earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential and presented and moderated at several national conferences. She also earned Association Forum’s 2017 Forty Under 40 award.  

When thinking about her next role, Sullivan would like to get back to a deputy executive director or COO position. While at Kellen, she held leadership roles with two clients, serving as deputy executive director of GardenComm and executive director of the Hotel Electronic Distributors Network Association. “I like the idea of still being a practitioner and doing the work,” Sullivan said.  

Her advice to other aspiring association leaders: “Constantly be open to learning, trying different ideas and doing things that scare you. If you aren’t terrified, maybe you aren’t taking enough risks.” 

Find a focus  

Katie Goodman wasn’t familiar with associations when she graduated from Syracuse University in 2009 with a degree in political science and policy studies. But Goodman, now vice president of education and leadership programs at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) in Washington, D.C., quickly found her place in the industry. 

The summer following graduation, Goodman worked in the government advocacy department of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She was immediately drawn to the educational side of AIMBE’s business, an interest that became the focus of her career.  

“Even as I began looking for new opportunities, I wanted to stay in associations,” she said. “I loved the member relationships and supportive workplace culture.” Goodman’s search for a larger, broader association led her to ACEC, a 118-year-old D.C.-based trade association with approximately 6,000 engineering companies and related businesses as members. 

She was hired in 2013 to expand the education curriculum for ACEC’s discipline-specific member groups. In 2018, Goodman helped create Pathways to Executive Leadership, a program specifically for mid-career-level development. At the time, ACEC only offered entry-level and leadership development programs — nothing in between. Pathways filled the gap. It was so successful (it has quickly sold out each year since its inception) that ACEC made leadership development a priority and promoted Goodman to oversee it. Another promotion, to her current role, came in May. Since then, Goodman has been leading strategy for online courses, webinars and in-person education, and overseeing discipline-specific and demographic-based forums for the entire association. She also continues to run and deploy ACEC’s leadership programs.  

“I’m willing to try new things we haven’t done before and set ambitious goals,” she said.  

After noticing that female participation in her programs was dwindling, Goodman signed up for ElevateHER, a seven-month program that aims to increase female representation in architecture and engineering. It involved two full-day education symposiums and a group project. Goodman and her cohort developed a structure and site map for a web tool that connects women reentering the architecture/engineering industry with positions. The website is still available. 

Through that program, Goodman connected with women across the country who taught her about the importance of diverse representation in the industry. “It morphed into a priority of mine,” she said. “I was lucky enough to run our women in leadership forum, where I’ve been able to continue that work.” 

Goodman delights in helping her 13 employees feel passionate about achieving their goals and succeeding as a team. She aspires to move up within ACEC while doing more of what she’s doing now.  

“As young leaders, it’s so important to feel we have the opportunity for growth,” she said. “I feel lucky to know I’m in a space where that’s possible.” 

Embrace forks in the road 

Burnt out from his job as a paraprofessional aide in a classroom for preschool children with autism, Doug Hoekstra was ready for a career change. Hoekstra, now director of digital content with Financial Executives International (FEI) in Morristown, N.J., took a step in the right direction before he leaped into the association world.  

He started a corporate job in the mid-2000s at Weichert Realtors, working his way up from the call center to a public relations position. His bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, taught him how to connect and engage with different audiences. But eventually he hit another crossroads: The 2008 financial crisis caused Weichert to lay off 75% of its staff. 

Hoekstra’s experience made him the perfect fit for his next job, working in marketing and public relations for a local chapter of the National Association of Realtors. However, it was a small office of four people, without any real opportunities for growth. He scoured career sites and found what he was looking for in 2011 when he joined FEI as a marketing associate. The association has approximately 10,000 members, mid to upper-level financial executives from public and private companies. Hoekstra marketed everything from events to memberships to committees before reaching the director level he’s at now.  

Today, Hoekstra works with senior leadership and leads a team of marketing professionals, facilitating the creation and execution of the association’s marketing strategies. His most significant learning happened on the job, he said.  

During his first two weeks at FEI, a pregnant colleague went on bedrest while the team was preparing for the association’s annual conference. Hoekstra worked closely with his boss at the time, Lili DeVita, now COO, to quickly learn everything.  

“It was a trial by fire that really helped me understand the ins and outs of the association,” he said. “I got a feel of how we market events and what resonates with our members.”  

In 2021, Hoekstra spearheaded the launch of a sponsored retargeting/remarketing program. The method uses online display ads to reconnect with past visitors to FEI’s website while they browse other sites. “It offers sponsors the opportunity to engage with our audience beyond our site,” Hoekstra said. Since the program’s 2021 launch, it has generated more than $160,000 in revenue. 

With his sights set on a chief marketing officer role in the future, he’s in preparation mode. He plans to start studying for the CAE credential within the next year. 

COO DeVita and CEO Andrej Suskavcevic have always been his unofficial mentors, offering problem-solving advice and career guidance.  

“When you don’t have a seat at the table, if you have someone there to advocate for you and help you climb the next rung of the ladder, it’s such a big help,” Hoekstra said. 

Become a trailblazer  

Shari Sally’s career with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) began in a college classroom in 2005, when a CTA employee gave a talk about the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). “I was so inspired,” recalled Sally, now CTA’s vice president of sales and development. “I pulled him aside and he shared opportunities to intern within CTA related to the show.” 

For 56 years, the annual four-day event in Las Vegas has been a proving ground and showcase for innovations in technology. In 2023, it drew more than 115,000 attendees. 

An internship at CTA led to a full-time sales coordinator position in 2006, following graduation. The sales department is responsible for selling exhibit space and sponsorships at CES. “I quickly learned those are the relationships I want to cultivate,” Sally said. “I love hunting for new clients and exploring new avenues to showcase new technologies at the show.”  

Sally was promoted to sales manager and director before landing her current role in January. The promotion to vice president of sales and business development followed a year-long hiatus and a return as a consultant when CTA “lured her back” in late 2022. In the limited consulting role, she had that fall, she helped CTA, which was understaffed at the time, sell exhibit space for the 2023 show, service clients and assist the team. “I painted a picture of where I saw the show moving into the future and how we should be planning and selling,” she said. “It really resonated with them. After that, they offered me the position of vice president of sales and business development” in January 2023. 

Sally oversees 16 employees responsible for exhibit and sponsorship sales for CES, where upwards of 3,500 exhibitors occupy over 2 million square feet of exhibit space. The team cultivates relationships with exhibitors and develops new product categories and experiences for the show. Plus, it sells sponsorships for press previews and CTA’s ancillary events.  

Throughout Sally’s tenure, CES’s footprint has increased 45%, from occupying the Las Vegas Convention Center and a portion of the Venetian Expo and Hotel to four campuses. She helped expand the vehicle tech category from car audio to self-driving cars and connectivity.  

Another sector Sally spearheaded is the Eureka Park space, where exhibitors meet with venture capitalists and vie for an appearance on TV’s “Shark Tank.” More than 100,000 startups have participated in Eureka Park since its 2012 inception.  

Sally credits her success to several unofficial mentors (Dan Cole, Karen Chupka and Denise Medved), performing every role in the sales department and always changing her approach to generating new business. She aspires to become a show director — the person in charge of the whole show. To get there, she plans to continue to learn from her team’s feedback and become more educated on subjects outside of sales.