Through The Noise

Through the Noise is back with Annette Brown of FHI 360 -- a human development non-profit based in Durham, NC. Ms. Brown was one of the earliest guests on our show and we're excited to have her back nearly three years later to see how and what she's doing these days. With FHI 360, she's the Director of the Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative and helps those involved in evidence-based research to work more effectively and to be able to distribute their work in the best places. Join us for a chat on research, proof, and evidence in making the case in your own work. FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Annette N. Brown, PhD leads the Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative at FHI 360, the mission of which is to grow the visibility and portfolio of FHI 360’s research and evaluation work across sectors and promote an organizational culture for evidence generation and use. She also serves a

"Everyone has a book," says today's guest, Howard Yoon, literary agent, and partner in the Ross Yoon Agency. That will certainly be music to the ears of many of our listeners (as well as our friendly co-host Blake who has already written a book!). The Ross Yoon agency acts as a filter for the publishers and they build the bridge between authors that have a book worth selling and the publishers who print it and distribute it to bookstores and into the hands of the audience. Ross Yoon is based in Washington, DC and focuses on nonfiction books that are considered "need to read" rather than "nice to read." Thinking about writing a book? Have a book you're shopping around? This is another episode not to miss!

Nancy Burke sits down with Blake and Ernesto to talk about a segment of the large economy that occasionally goes unnoticed and is often left out of larger discussions about employment. Direct sales are a way for companies to hire people as contractors and for 20 million Americans to earn money through sales but without being stuck in a traditional retail environment. Nancy Burke is the Vice President of Membership for the Direct Selling Association and the DSA represents the ~150 companies that employ the sales force. A couple you may have heard of -- or used -- are Avon and Mary Kay.

Greeley Koch of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives answers the phone and our questions from Chicago. Greeley is a true jet-setter, but he travels the world making travel easier, better, safer, and more convenient for travelers, primarily business travelers. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig! ACTE hosts 60ish events around the globe in 20 different countries, and he gets to lead the industry that is helping make business leaders more productive by making their travel more efficient. A huge portion of their revenue comes from these events, followed by sponsorships; membership makes up just 10%. Don't miss this episode to find out how the ACTE stays nimble in a fast-paced, competitive travel world and what you could take back to your own organizations or projects. ACTE is a global association that represents the interest of corporate travel buyers, and pioneers educational and technological advances that make business travel productive, cost-effective and straightforward. Greeley Koch is the executive

Tracy Todd and Jillian Bashore of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy join us on Through the Noise in their respective roles as Executive Director and Communication Manager. Tracy Todd brings 20 years of experience as a licensed marriage and family therapist to the role of Executive Director and brings a critical understanding of the profession to the association that works to advance the profession. Like many associations, the staff of the AAMFT struggle with the problem of "selling" the membership to potential members and creating a value for those who support the organization -- if the work is being done anyway -- what's the point of joining? Tune into this episode for their own take on this ubiquitous problem. Have you faced this problem within your own organization? Would you like to share stories of your struggles and successes with Through the Noise listeners and share the wealth of knowledge? Get in touch! We're always booking future guests who have valuable lessons to offer our l

Richard Tracy and Amanda Brondy of the Global Cold Chain Alliance join us to talk food (and flower) cooling and preservation. They are part of the "industry that is feeding the world" and the Alliance is comprised of four different associations involved in refrigeration, shipping, and transport of the food that makes it to your plate and the cut flowers that make life a little more beautiful. You could probably guess that the United States consumes a lot of frozen food -- but you won't believe the shocking number in comparison to the rest of the world. Well... maybe you would. The Global Cold Chain Alliance works around the world and enables farmers to get their food to market even if they're not so close. Enjoy those strawberries in January? You can thank the members of the Alliance for making sure the food you want is right at your fingertips. The discussion of "appropriate" technology that is used in different parts of the world is fascinating. Richard Tracy is an agribusiness professional, as well as an i

Close your email, turn off your phones, and get ready to take some notes. Author Chris McGoff joins us on the show and offers countless invaluable techniques that can transform your personal life and work life. He's the founder of The Clearing, Inc, a strategic management firm that utilizes his 33 years of experience helping companies of all sizes around the world. Who are your customers? What do they need? How can you effectively meet that need? If you're in a position of authority -- are you actually leading or simply managing? What makes a good leader and how can you become a person who leads and inspires? Are you heading in the right direction? Are you asking the right questions? Chris McGoff, Founder of The Clearing, Inc., has spent the last 30 years helping governments and organizations to engender new, transformative possibilities for a better world. McGoff is a speaker and author of Match in the Root Cellar: How You Can Spark a Peak-Performance Culture (Advantage, July 2017) and The PRIMES: How Any Gr

Though there are a few different organizations known as the Knight Foundation, we're pleased to be joined by Anusha Alikhan, the Director of Communications of the prominent John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Founded by two brothers who were newspaper publishers from Akron, OH, the Foundation is the leading funder of media innovation in the United States and supports organizations, people, and ideas that are working to engage their communities. Headquartered in Miami, they fund projects across the country, focusing on 26 cities and towns. Beyond the communications realm, they have recently begun hosting an annual Cities Challenge, asking what could make cities more successful. Anusha Alikhan is the director of communications for Knight Foundation. She creates communications strategies across Knight's program areas and leads campaigns to advance its impact and visibility. She loves a great story and is always exploring new avenues to highlight Knight’s work and the work of its grantees in dynamic and compe

Bryan Fratkin of SparkInfluence is one of the most popular guests we've had on Through the Noise so we've brought him back in to talk shop, advocacy, and building relationships. One of the main ways that people use the SparkInfluence software is to connect with legislators and to do so in a way that helps build those meaningful relationships necessary to stand out from the crowd. Anyone can sign a form letter -- and just as easily anyone can ignore a form letter. SparkInfluence helps people and organizations automate more of their life by factoring in influencers and prioritization and emphasizing customization and automation. If you're interested in saving time, money, and human resources, you won't want to miss this -- and our other past episodes with Bryan Fratkin.    Bryan is founder and Managing Partner of Whistle Stop Digital (WSD), leading a team in devising and implementing a digital strategy for issue advocacy and PAC campaigns. The goal is always the same; Using a mix of both traditional and innovat

Today's guest Alison Teitelbaum wears many hats and she is an Associate Vice President with MCI USA, the US branch of an international firm with offices in 60 countries that helps companies and associations engage their target audiences and grow strategically. Through her work with MCI, she's worked with seven different associations focused on health-care and she joins us in her role as Executive Director for the American Health Quality Association. The AHQA works with member organizations that are focused on increasing access to quality healthcare and ensuring that the professionals who provide these services have access to education and training to work effectively. Alison Teitelbaum serves as the executive director of the American Health Quality Association (AHQA) and has more than 12 years of experience in public health improvement and association management. The American Health Quality Association (AHQA) is an educational, not-for-profit national membership association dedicated to promoting and facilita

Despite the "non-profit" nature of the work most of us do, we cannot do any of that work without money and JP Moery and Patty Leeman of The Moery Company join us on Through the Noise to talk about the ways they help organizations generate revenue. Over the past seven years, The Moery Company has worked with organizations across the DC area to increase their operating budgets through strategic planning in the membership, sponsorship, and exhibitor programs. Why should someone pay to join your organization if you're doing the work anyway? Join US (for free) for a look into the changing world of membership and access whether it's time to revisit your organization's benefits and perks. JP Moery is the President and founder of The Moery Company.  He has 25 years of experience in the association industry, has built a track record of success at the nation’s most influential associations.  He has developed a reputation as one of the foremost specialists in association revenue growth. Patty Leeman is the Chief Analyst

Blake and Ernesto are joined by two women from the National Communication Association. Jenna Sauber represents the organization as their Media Relations & Public Outreach Manager and Dr. Paaige K. Turner who joined the National Communication Association about six weeks ago as their Executive Director after three decades in communications academia. NCA is more of a "scholarly society" than a standard trade organization and their 7,000 members across the field study the ways that people communicate. Just because everyone communicates doesn't mean that they are doing it well and the research done by their members studies many different elements of communication such as gendered communications, over-talking, and visual and other nonverbal communications.

We're pleased to welcome Jeff Lenard of NACS, the National Association of Convenience Stores, to the show today. NACS mission is in their tagline, "Advancing Convenience & Fuel Retailing," and they represent convenience stores and their operators -- comprising fully 4% of the GDP! There are nearly 155,000 convenience stores across the United States serving 160 million people each day and NACS strives to help them become more effective and efficient so that you and everyone else can get back to the business of saving the world. Disclosure: NACS is a client of Human Factor Media, the parent company of Through the Noise, and Blake produces their podcast. There's a great anecdote in today's episode about the reach and impact of their podcast. It could help you too!

Today we step back into the charity realm of our nonprofits but our guest "Dad in Chief," David Simpson of All Our Kids says that their organization is not a charity as much as a family. With their regular 28 people Thursday night dinners, it does seem like more of a family than a charity and we'll dive into what it means to approach an organization in that nontraditional way. They offer food, shelter, mentoring and help kids become the kids they need to be. They've been incorporated for a year and are excited to see this model expand in a franchise form as they've been contacted by lots of people wanting to do the same thing in their own community. Dad in Chief is also joined by Koleco, one of the "kids" who has gone through their programs and is now a working DJ about to embark on a solo world tour. This episode is definitely inspiring if you've ever had dreams of approaching life in nontraditional ways. David Simpson is executive director and Dad-in-Chief at All Our Kids and is incredibly grateful to be su

If the intro surprises you, stick with us -- we're welcoming Ken Jaques and Julie Johnson from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) -- one of the podcast clients of Human Factor Media. They're now up to their 65th show with 7000 listeners! CIPE works to encourage democracy with the aim of making the countries safe for private businesses. The organization is currently working on 100 projects in 50 countries and strives to collaborate with and amplify other groups working towards similar missions.

Emily Bardach is the Executive Director of Women in Government Relations and we were lucky to get her on the show today between some of the 200 events her organization coordinates every year for their 1200 members. They work to advance and empower women who work with the government and to encourage more women to become involved. Join us for this conversation as Emily, Blake, and Ernesto delve into some of the issues facing micro organizations that are experiencing growth. Emily Bardach has managed associations for over 20 years including Women in Government Relations (WGR) which she has been involved with since 1999 and currently serves as the Executive Director. Emily is employed by Association Management Group of McLean, VA. WGR is the premier, non-partisan professional society for those who have responsibilities and interests in the field of government relations and/or public affairs.

Today we're pleased to welcome Mark Frieden, President of Crossbow Strategies to the show to give us some pointers. Don't worry, we haven't changed our focus -- Crossbow Strategies is not what it sounds like. We're still here for the nonprofits and associations and Mark Frieden is too. His company Crossbow Strategies helps for- and non-profit companies adopt strategies and policies to operate more sustainably. Instead of focusing simply on the profit (which most of you don't anyway!), he works with companies to help them become certified B-Corps -- companies and organizations that are certified by a third party that they have expanded the scope of their operations to also consider the well-being of the environment and people in their decision-making. If you've thought about making your nonprofit or company more sustainable, you won't want to miss Mark Frieden's insights! Mark Frieden, of Alexandria, Virginia, is a native to the DC area. After more than 20 years of advertising sales, he completed his MBA at Ge

Our listeners are certainly familiar with the Peace Corps and the National Peace Corps Association is effectively the alumni association for all Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Our guest today is David Fields with the NPCA who serves as their "Social Entrepreneur in Residence" -- bringing new ideas and models to nonprofits. There's nearly 225,000 returned Peace Corps volunteers with experience working with tough problems in often difficult circumstances and he helps bridge the gap between their experiences and people trying to solve problems from a distance. He works to help nonprofits stay relevant and limber by applying methods used for venture capital to nonprofits. David Fields is a traditional analyst for the National Peace Corps Association by day and instigator of special projects for the association by night. Over the past 6 months his work has been highlighted in time magazine, popular science, and the guardian. The National Peace Corps Association is a membership organization that works to advance

We're happy to welcome Christopher Crooks, a principal with Cresa which is a global real estate firm with a tenant-only focus. Mr. Crooks has been with the firm for over two decades and has recently launched a program within the company to help veterans get into real estate. Additionally, he's founded a nonprofit organization to further that same goal of helping vets into the real estate practice. Real Estate Careers for the Armed Forces (REC4AF) is the nonprofit that furthers his commitment to helping vets transition out of the military and into civilian life through workforce training to enter the real estate practice.  Chris has more than 24 years of real estate experience, including over 21 years of consulting and brokerage service at Cresa and over three years of commercial/industrial real estate appraisal for major banking institutions in New England. Chris co-founded the Armed Forces Practice Group specializing in helping veteran-owned companies as well as companies that support the Armed Forces in the

Ernesto and Blake are reunited! Blake has been away preparing podcasts for some nonprofit clients (yep... you do need one too), but he's back to welcome Michael Johnson to the show. President and CEO of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, Johnson is in the association world because it's the best way to help industries cut "through the noise" (ding ding ding!) with policy makers. This informative conversation delves into the decrepit state of infrastructure in the United States and the need for more investment to move the economy forward. If you don't like the idea of driving to work across a crumbling bridge that is scored a "D+" by the American Society of Civil Engineers, don't miss this episode and support infrastructure investment. NSSGA President and CEO Michael W. Johnson serves as the chief advocate for the stone, sand and gravel industry. He is responsible for the strategic development and execution of the association’s advocacy mission in the areas of industry promotion, membership advoca