Associations Thrive - 50. Lowell Aplebaum, CEO of Vista Cova, on How Governance Powers an Organization and His Phoenix Philosophy When It Comes to Committees

50. Lowell Aplebaum, CEO of Vista Cova, on How Governance Powers an Organization and His Phoenix Philosophy When It Comes to Committees

07/27/23 • 32 min

How do you define governance for an association? How does governance power or constrain an organization? What are some things chief execs can do to improve their relationships with Board members?

In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Lowell Aplebaum, CEO of Vista Cova. Lowell introduces Vista Cova, talks about his journey to becoming founder and CEO of Vista Cover, and then discusses why governance is so critical to the success of an organization. Lowell discusses:

How managing Board relationships well is essential to the success of any chief executive.
How chief execs bring in outside facilitators when their voice needs to be part of the discussion and when they want to be sure the discussion is balanced and objective.
How outside facilitators can help organizations navigate hard discussions and tough decisions.
How governance are the bodies of the organization that determine direction and help allocate the right resources in the right way to get to that direction.
His top tips for improving relations with Board and committee members every week.
How committees should be like phoenixes. When an organization creates a new strategic plan, all committees should be sunsetted, and then reborn to support the new strategic plan.
How organizations should have a schedule for reviewing their governance so that when they do it, it’s objective, and does not rely on who’s in the seats at the time.
The difference between having a nominating committee and a leadership development committee.
Vista Cova’s Charrette, which brings together a small gathering of industry thought leaders who decide on the most important issues of the day and who walk away with better questions and a better understanding of those issues.

References:

How do you define governance for an association? How does governance power or constrain an organization? What are some things chief execs can do to improve their relationships with Board members?

How managing Board relationships well is essential to the success of any chief executive.
How chief execs bring in outside facilitators when their voice needs to be part of the discussion and when they want to be sure the discussion is balanced and objective.
How outside facilitators can help organizations navigate hard discussions and tough decisions.
How governance are the bodies of the organization that determine direction and help allocate the right resources in the right way to get to that direction.
His top tips for improving relations with Board and committee members every week.
How committees should be like phoenixes. When an organization creates a new strategic plan, all committees should be sunsetted, and then reborn to support the new strategic plan.
How organizations should have a schedule for reviewing their governance so that when they do it, it’s objective, and does not rely on who’s in the seats at the time.
The difference between having a nominating committee and a leadership development committee.
Vista Cova’s Charrette, which brings together a small gathering of industry thought leaders who decide on the most important issues of the day and who walk away with better questions and a better understanding of those issues.

References:

Previous Episode

undefined - 49. Carly Boos, Executive Director of the CLL Society (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), on Aligning All Activities with Your Strategic Plan

49. Carly Boos, Executive Director of the CLL Society (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), on Aligning All Activities with Your Strategic Plan

How do you tie your strategic plan to everything that your organization undertakes? How do you manage the push and pull between mission and margin?

In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Carly Boos, Executive Director of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Society or CLL Society. Carly introduces CLL Society, talks about her journey to becoming the Executive Director, and discusses the things CLL Society is doing to thrive. Carly discusses:

What CLL is, that it’s a blood cancer that is both a leukemia and a lymphoma.
The push and pull between mission and margin, and how well-run organizations are able to do more.
How she was brought in to develop the organization’s first strategic plan, and she started with a SWOT analysis and lots of conversations with stakeholders.
How everything that CLL Society undertakes is measured against the strategic plan to ensure algnment with the plan.
Their new community hematologist outreach program.
How patients who are being treated by an oncologist or hematologist who is not focused on CLL often have worse treatment outcomes, so CLL Society has a program to connect patients with experts at no charge.
CLL Society’s in person and virtual support groups.
CLL Society’s research grant program, which encourages research and innovation into new treatments for CLL.

References:

CLL Society website

Next Episode

undefined - 51. Todd Hauptli, CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), on Generating Significant Non-Dues Revenue and Aligning Staff Around a Shared Vision

51. Todd Hauptli, CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), on Generating Significant Non-Dues Revenue and Aligning Staff Around a Shared Vision

How do you support your airport executive members during a pandemic when travel drops by 94%? What does it mean to embrace non-dues revenue in a big way? How do you create and foster an entrepreneurial spirit among your staff?

In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Todd Hauptli, CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE). Todd introduces AAAE, talks about his journey to becoming CEO, and then discusses what AAAE is doing to thrive. Todd discusses:

How he made the move from government affairs to becoming the chief executive.
How he wrote a book that charted a plan for growing the association’s revenue to $100M by 2028 and presented it to the search committee as part of the interview process for the CEO role.
How just 2% of AAAE’s revenue comes from dues! The rest of of AAAE’s revenues come from partnerships with best in class for profit companies to provide mission-critical products and services to airports.
How he believes that great people, aligned around a shared vision, committed to excellence, can achieve amazing results, as has been the result at AAAE.
How AAAE takes a lot of its revenue and delivers it to the Foundation, which gives it back to the profession through scholarships and professional development grants.
How AAAE took the lead during the pandemic and convinced the federal government to help save the airline industry and the airports.
How domestic travel is back, even surpassing 2019 numbers in some cases, but international travel still has a ways to go to reach pre-pandemic levels.
How AAAE is on track to reach $133M in top line revenue in 2023! Which means Todd reached and exceeded his $100M goal well before 2028!

References: