On April 7, 2022, Dara Rudick, CEO of Management HQ (MHQ), was invited to participate on a panel of association management experts where her role was to specifically share how MHQ supports diversity, equity, and inclusion within client associations.
“Often associations think if Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as a standalone addition to day-to-day operations and governance of an organization,” said Dara. “Part of my message to this audience is that it starts with values. One of MHQ’s values is ‘Openness: we’re only as strong as we are different.’ Before we begin work with a client, we try to ensure our values align, this makes us so much more effective in supporting inclusion within the client’s association.”
More than 200 association professionals registered for the event. Also on the panel were Michael Dwyer with Association Headquarters, J. David Rozsa with Metacred, and Michael Reed with Bloch|Reed.
“We do all of our work through a lens of equity,” said Dara. “Early on in our work with our clients, we talk openly about the fact that a lot of the work of our associations has been built on exclusivity, leaving people out. We have built our system in a way that may not be open to equity. We ask the questions: ‘How do we acknowledge this? How do we change those systems within our organizations to support equity?’”
Dara went on to suggest that in order to build organizations that truly reflect our communities, we examine the building blocks of our associations including bylaws, board structure, and nominations processes. While working at a strategic level to support DEI, it is equally important to take the opportunities that arise on regularly to discuss comments and items that might arise that might not ultimately support inclusion. It is also about building a team that is brave enough – and kind enough – to have these conversations.
About MHQ
Management HQ (MHQ) is an accredited, full-service association management company. Our diverse team does our work through a lens of equity. We support boards so boards can focus on mission. MHQ manages the full business of client membership-based organizations, including providing each client an executive director and a full management and operations team. MHQ serves associations and their members in these sectors: Government, Information Sciences / Education, Human Services, and Identity-based Associations. For more about MHQ, visit https://www.management-hq.com/.
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