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Excerpt from Association & Non-Profit BISNOW Washington - Jan. 20, 2010
One of the biggest challenges for association leaders is overcoming TTWWADI (pronounced "twahdy"). Don't worry, we had no idea what it meant either. Luckily, Student & Youth Travel Association exec director Claudia Mansfield Sutton could explain: The acronym, invented by her friend, stands for "That's The Way We've Always Done It." Claudia, who previously worked at the American Association of School Administrators, took the helm of the 12-year-old association nine months ago. As a new leader for a relatively young association, she's hoping it will be easier to make changes that might be nearly impossible at a more established org. One example: SYTA has always voted for new leadership at its annual conference; to save precious time, Claudia and the leadership are proposing to use electronic or mail ballots instead.
SYTA's top two goals for 2010 are to build membership and make SYTA more of a household name. She's increasing visibility through cross-promotion with like-minded organizations. For example, SYTA and the National Association for Music Education write columns in each other's publications. Now, Claudia is expanding the exchange to several more orgs including the Learning First Alliance and the National School Boards Association. Outside the office, she's getting it done on the greens. The golf fanatic claims she's a terrible player but says it's a great business activity. She often plays with other association types and there's an annual tournament for SYTA's Youth Foundation.
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