IARP President Rick Robinson announces that IARP’s chief executive officer and executive director, Carl Wangman, reported to the IARP Board of Directors that he will begin his path to retirement in early 2017. Based on his decision he will no longer serve IARP after the end of this year. Carl’s association management company, The Center for Association Growth (TCAG), has managed IARP for the past 10 years. He has served IARP as the chief executive officer and executive director for the past seven years.
The IARP president has appointed a special task force to explore the association’s management direction for 2017 and beyond. The task force, chaired by immediate past president, Lynne Tracy, will make specific recommendations to the IARP Board of Directors. Those recommendations could include retaining the services of TCAG with a new chief staff officer, selecting another association management company, hiring a full-time staff, or other management options.
The other members of the task force include Barbara Byers, current IARP treasurer and chair of the IARP Finance Committee; Steve Yuhas, Life Care Planning section representative to the IARP Board of Directors; Jeff Carlisle, current president elect for the IARP Florida Chapter, and past national president of IARP; and Steve Shedlin, current co-chair of the IARP/ISLCP First Annual Conference in Pittsburgh in October 2016, past national president of IARP, and the 2015 recipient of the IARP Lifetime Achievement Award.
Carl Wangman’s fifty-year career in association management began after a four-year career as a naval officer at the end of the Korean War. Carl is a 1955 graduate of Yale University, for which he recruits high school students in the Chicago area. The retiring IARP chief executive officer has owned three association management companies, beginning in 1974, the year Carl achieved his Certified Association Executive distinction. Over 100 professional societies, trade associations, and foundations have been managed by the association professionals at the Wangman-owned association management companies. He has served as the executive director and chief executive officer for over twenty different groups.
President Robinson said that he will answer questions about the process for future IARP management during his next Open Mic teleconference on Monday, April 18. The IARP president hopes to have a member of the special task force also available to answer member questions during the open mic session.