Cleveland, Ohio, June 19, 2009 – More than two dozen GCSAE members and friends gathered on June 19 to hear Greg Melia, Vice President, Member Relations and Credentialing, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, address them on “How to Strategically Plan for the Future while Surviving the Present.” The event, held at the 100th Bomb Group Restaurant, also included a silent auction with donations from InterContinental Hotels, the Ohio State Parks & Resorts, the International Society of Explosives Engineers, Atwood Lake Resort, Cleveland Area Board of Realtors and others. Prior to his talk, Melia presented GCSAE Secretary/Treasurer Jim Hieb with his CAE pin.

Melia spoke about how leaders should strive to first be divergent, gathering as much information and viewpoints as possible before bringing all the aspects together and being convergent. He also reviewed recent research findings on how association leaders were feeling about their sector of the economy and the impact it was having on associations, before stressing the importance of communicating our association’s value to our members.

GCSAE President John Zajc stated, “in today’s economy it was timely to have Greg join us and discuss issues that affect us all.”  He added, “this program was the perfect close to our 2008-09 program which has been jam packed with useful programs.”

Like most GCSAE programs, those in attendance received 1 CAE credit for attending.