The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) has announced that Jessica O’Hanlon, CAE, a Senior Program Manager at IEEE-ISTO, has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE®) designation. The CAE is the highest professional credential in the association industry.

Jessica is a non-profit professional with over fifteen years of experience in volunteer, operations, and association management. The CAE credential illuminates her knowledge in the domains of governance, executive leadership, organizational strategy, operations, business development, member and stakeholder engagement and management, advocacy, marketing and communication. Currently, she supports  AIS Consortium, BITA Standards Council, IMTAB, the ISTO Board of Directors, LTAB, and the Wireless Power Consortium.

“Earning the CAE provided an opportunity to hone skills needed to build robust technical consortia,” said O’Hanlon. “The certification reflects my commitment to ongoing growth in support of the IEEE-ISTO Federation of member alliance programs.”

The CAE Program elevates professional standards, enhances individual performance, and designates those who have acquired and have demonstrated the knowledge essential to the practice of association management. To be designated as a Certified Association Executive, an applicant must have a minimum of five years’ experience with nonprofit organization management, complete a minimum of 100 hours of specialized professional development, pass a stringent examination in association management and pledge to uphold a code of ethics. To maintain the certification, individuals must undertake ongoing professional development and activities in association and nonprofit management. More than 4,700 association professionals currently hold the CAE credential. The CAE program is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).

ASAE is a membership organization of more than 48,000 association executives and industry partners representing 7,400 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world. With support of the ASAE Research Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, and provides resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. For more information about ASAE, visit asaecenter.org.