[two_third]On February 9th, 2015, The Midwest Society of Association Executives (MSAE) teamed up with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) to collaborate and launch an initiative for diversity and inclusiveness. Dara Rudick, CEO of Management HQ and 2015 MSAE Board Chair, was involved with the initiative by supporting the experts and championing the efforts. This event was hosted and sponsored by Meet Minneapolis CVA.
In the following conversation, Rudick answers our questions about the initiative.
What is the background of MSAE/ASAE’s Diversity and Inclusiveness efforts?
In general, MSAE has always strived to be inclusive. However, as a number of MSAE member associations began to explore diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) within their organization, they began to look to MSAE to model best practices. The MSAE board saw this as a great chance to explore how to ensure that MSAE was modeling these best practices, and became more reflective of the communities that MSAE and our members serve.
Much to our benefit, ASAE has been working on a D&I initiatives for the past 26 years and had a strong track record of driving diversity and inclusion. Melvin Tenant and Meet Minneapolis hosted Alexis Terry from ASAE to come to Minnesota to collaborate with MSAE to support our efforts in the midwest.
What was the goal for the planning session?
The goal was to explore what D&I meant to MSAE, how we could structure our strategy to have the most significant impact, and what next steps we could take to continue the momentum.
Who participated?
The initiative has attracted a significant amount of interest – as much interest as I have seen since my early involvement with MSAE more than 15 years ago. A powerful array of approximately 12 MSAE association leaders participated in the session.
Was that goal accomplished? If so, how?
The planning taskforce decided upon a recommended action plan. We are making some significant recommendations to the MSAE board to ensure sustainability of our effort, and we are looking forward to partnering with ASAE in the future. The taskforce became more cohesive in our vision, and I believe everyone at the table expanded their own awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusiveness.
What are the next steps?
Our taskforce will recommend to the MSAE board of directors that the MSAE D&I taskforce, which is now an exploratory, temporary group, becomes a permanent standing committee of MSAE. We will assess MSAE’s current D&I efforts and areas for growth, and we have built a strong foundation to move forward. We will stay closely connected with ASAE to partner to accomplish our efforts in the Midwest and support ASAE’s efforts nationwide.
View Event Photos:
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