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Sara Hisamoto
410-659-7071

ASAE & The Center Hold Diversity Summit and Healthcare Conference in Baltimore

(Baltimore, MD) – The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) announced today that ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, one of its strategic partners, will bring two important meetings to Baltimore in December of this year and March of 2009.  A Diversity Summit will be held at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore December 10-11, 2008; and the 2009 Healthcare Association Conference will be held at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards March 30-31.

The Diversity Summit was created to meet an important diversity and inclusion initiative introduced by ASAE & The Center at their annual meeting last year.  It is being supported with a grant by the Global Hyatt Corporation. The summit will address diversity in the workplace and inclusion in the association community.  One hundred invited attendees will participate in the summit including members of ASAE & The Center, diversity practitioners, board members, CEO’s, and other key stakeholders. The summit will assist organization leaders with developing their diversity efforts, as well as providing them with a forum for offering input about the support and services they need from ASAE & The Center in order to successfully sustain diversity and inclusion practices.

BACVA worked closely with ASAE & The Center to develop the Healthcare Association Conference, a first time event.  The March conference will draw CEOs and senior level executives from professional and trade associations representing healthcare professionals, scientific researchers as well as suppliers. Programs will share information regarding the management of healthcare associations and explore innovative ways to tackle issues in the workplace.

“When we formed our Strategic Partnership with ASAE & The Center last year, we immediately started talking about bringing a healthcare conference to Baltimore,” says Tom Noonan, president & CEO of BACVA. “Baltimore’s highly respected medical community makes it a natural fit for a conference of this nature. Over the past 18 months, we’ve put a greater emphasis on attracting more pharmaceutical and medical meetings, so this conference will be a tremendous help in raising our profile within that community.”

ASAE & The Center are one of the largest and most influential associations in the meetings industry.  Their membership includes CEOs and top level executives who make the decisions about where to hold their conventions and tradeshows. The American Society of Association Executives is a membership organization of more than 24,000 association executives and industry partners representing more than 11,000 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in 50 countries around the world. The Center for Association Leadership is the premier provider of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association profession. Together, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership provide resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association community.