
The Association Podcast
Jake Toohey (Adage Technologies), Gretchen Steenstra (DelCor) and Ben Muscolino (Breezio and AMS Geek) bring you The Association Podcast. With a combined five decades of experience in the association tech space, they explore challenges facing associations and bring fresh ideas to address them using strategy, design, analytics, and technology.
Latest episodes

Feb 8, 2022 • 57min
Startup to Acquisition, Crypto for Associations, and Web3 with Tim Spell
Tim Spell, CEO of OpenWater joins us on The Association Podcast, fresh off their recent sale to ASI. We get to hear about his M&A journey. We also get into a few topics we haven't previously touched on like what Bitcoin and cryptocurrency can do for associations and their investment portfolios, how exploring non-traditional avenues could help future-proof organizations, and the emerging topic of Web3.www.getopenwater.com

Jan 21, 2022 • 54min
The Intrapreneur's Journey to Association Analytics CEO with Julie Sciullo
On this episode of The Association Podcast, we are thrilled to be joined by Julie Sciullo, CEO of Association Analytics. We get to hear Julie's story as an intrapreneur and entrepreneur throughout her career, her thoughts on how associations can best use data and analytics to advance their missions and serve members. We also get to hear about how mentorships can be so beneficial for association professionals and different ways to make mentorships work for different personality types. Finally, we talk about some of the awesome work that Julie's doing at Association Women Technology Champions. Always a great conversation when you get to talk to Julie Sciullo! www.associationanalytics.comwww.awtc.tech

Jan 18, 2022 • 52min
UX-Centric Career Management Success During the Great Reshuffle with Alexis Redmond, JD, MA, CAE
This week on The Association Podcast we welcome on Alexis Redmond, JD, MA, CAE. Alexis is the Director of Career Management Resources at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. As most are aware, this is quite an interesting time in the world of career management and recruiting and we got to hear what Alexis and ASHA are doing to provide value to members and employees during the Great Reshuffle. Alexis gives us some insight into why a User Experience-based approach to career management is the best way to appeal to job seekers in 2022.

Jan 12, 2022 • 57min
The Art of Learning to Listen with a Mission with Lowell Aplebaum
Lowell Aplebaum, FASAE, CAE, CPF, CEO & Strategy Catalyst of Vista Cova joins us this week and shares some incredible insights and experiences as a Master Facilitator in the association market. He has worked with association boards of all sizes helping people listen, hear, and understand each other in the pursuit of a common goal. Enjoy! www.vistacova.com

Dec 23, 2021 • 51min
Lessons in Association Innovation from Google with 2020 ASAE Annual Keynote Speaker Steve Lerch
Happy New Year everyone! Most people start the new year with new motivations and we're going to kick off the new year at The Association Podcast with Steve Lerch. Steve is the President of Story Arc Consulting and is a Keynote Speaker as well as a consultant. Keynote speakers usually motivate their audiences so we thought he'd be fitting for the first episode of 2022.Steve spent most of his career at Google and worked with Associations helping them with Digital Marketing, so we get to hear a lot about the culture and innovation work and experiences at Google and what he talks to his association audiences about, like when he was the keynote speaker at ASAE Annual in 2020.Contact Steve at www.storyarcconsulting.com.

Nov 18, 2021 • 38min
How CX, Best-in-Class, and Ensuring Fit Define a Business with Pete Zimek
Pete Zimek, Founder and CEO of Novi AMS joins us to talk about Novi and QuickBooks' unique value proposition to the association market. We hear about how a hyper-focus on best-of-breed technology and integrations, customer experience, and transparent alignment with customers is the key to successful relationships.

Nov 16, 2021 • 43min
Moving the Needle with Experimentation with Andy Dempster
Andy Dempster, Director of Business Strategy at Optimizely, joins The Association Podcast to share his journey from the association world at SME to Optimizely. We get into all of the things associations should know when it comes to DXP vs. CMS, proprietary vs. open-source platforms, content personalization, experimentation, CDP, search, and a whole lot more.

Nov 11, 2021 • 33min
Why Protech and Togetherwork Chose Each Other with Kevin Bruffey and Jake Fabbri
We have a special BREAKING NEWS episode of The Association Podcast. We get to hear from Kevin Bruffey, President of Protech Associates, and Jake Fabbri, CMO of Togetherwork about the big news broke this week when Protech joined the Togetherwork family.

Nov 9, 2021 • 49min
You've Got To Know When To Mobile with Mark Wallach
This week we welcome our good friend Mark Wallach, Manager of Business Development for RD Mobile. Mark is a fascinating guy with an incredible story. We get into all things mobile with Mark. If you have questions about whether you need a mobile app at your association or what a mobile app can do for you, this episode is for you.Mark WallachEmail: mwallach@rdmobile.comMobile: 561.385.2323

Oct 26, 2021 • 48min
Brand Marketing Lessons from a Comedian with Leigh Kessler
This week on The Association Podcast we welcome Leigh Kessler. Leigh is not only a veteran marketer in the non-profit world but an accomplished standup comedian and keynote speaker, so we get to hear about the similarities between standup and brand marketing. We get a really unique perspective on how brands and associations can learn from comics about how to differentiate themselves. Check out Leigh's standup and keynote work at www.standupspeaker.com.