Dara Rudick is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with more than 20 years’ proven success in serving associations that are determined to thrive. To date, she has engaged dozens of team members to serve 10,000+ members, implement the vision of 25 boards of directors, manage hundreds of volunteers, and deliver nearly one thousand stellar events.Dara Rudick is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with more than 20 years’ proven success in serving associations that are determined to thrive. To date, she has engaged dozens of team members to serve 10,000+ members, implement the vision of 25 boards of directors, manage hundreds of volunteers, and deliver nearly one thousand stellar events.
Rudick currently serves on the boards of directors for AchieveMinneapolis, where she serves on the governance committee which she formerly co-chaired; she serves as the secretary / treasurer and chair of the Diversity Multicultural Action Committee (DMAC) for Meet Minneapolis, and she serves as a board director for the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
She founded and co-chaired the Diversity & Inclusion Committee for Associations North (formerly MSAE, the Midwest Society of Association Executives) and was a founding member of the Commercial Real Estate Diversity Collaborative, a group of trade associations committed to diversity, inclusion and equity in Minnesota’s commercial real estate industry. She also served on the board of the Better Business Bureau, where she co-chaired the Governance Committee.
Rudick has won recognition for the associations she has led as Top 100 Places to Work by Minnesota Business magazine; has received numerous Awards of Excellence from MSAE for leadership in association management, including the “Volunteer of the Year Award”; and was honored with One Heartland’s “Heart of Hope” award for providing vision, dedication and leadership, and health, hope and happiness to children in need.
Before launching MHQ, for seven years Rudick served as the top executive to a group of commercial real estate trade associations, recognized by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal as a Top 25 Trade Association, and their for-profit technology provider.
Rudick has served as board chair for the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association, and sat on the boards of The Aliveness Project and the One Heartland advisory board. She is currently an active member of Associations North, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Association Management Company Institute (AMCI). Rudick earned her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College. She has done Master’s level course work in the University of St. Thomas’ MBA department. She enjoys hiking, cooking, and connecting with family, friends and community. She and her husband are proud parents of a 22-year old son. They joyfully reside in Minneapolis’ Powderhorn Park neighborhood.