Taking the reins of SWANA in November 2023, Amy shares her background, her vision for the association, and her passion for connecting people while continuously learning and evolving with the times.
What is your background? How did you end up in your career? As an association management executive, I fell into this hidden gem of a career more than 20 years ago and I have grown to love it. I have two degrees in international affairs, so at the beginning, I was picturing State Department, CIA, etc. While I was getting my master’s in international affairs, I found a position at the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives located in Washington, D.C. (which is now part of the American Society of Association Executives), and from that moment on, I found this whole new opportunity. I thought ‘Wow, I could do international and global work at this level for different industries and professions through associations.’ I have worked for 24 years in associations, so I know a lot about how they work. During this time, I have discovered that there is an association for almost everything; the truth of it is people want to get together and connect to other people, create new opportunities, and even to curate what is out there and bring it to other members. What associations have been able to do is be that credible source for society. My first role as an Executive Director was serving an association in media publishing representing those involved designing, creating content, marketing, communications, magazines, and other publications, etc. I have served many different professions and industries, including the Special Libraries Association, who are information professionals who ensure accuracy, and the Consumer Brand Association, which represents the companies that develop the products that we buy in grocery stores. This is where I learned a lot about packaging and sustainability. These manufacturers, as part of their ESG goals, are trying to figure out how they can build and create their products in a more sustainable way. I had the opportunity to participate in leadership conversations about a circular economy and that included how to get consumers to be more knowledgeable about sustainability. At the Consumer Brands Association, we partnered with the Recycling Partnership to connect Recycle Check with SmartLabel. My career in associations has given me a great foundation and understanding about who is at the center of what we do—the members. I have also been able to build a strong foundation in terms of how to work with an association’s infrastructure, operations, financials, etc. I do believe that just because associations are generally nonprofit and 501(c)3, it does not mean that we cannot run like a business to do more for that industry going forward. I have worked with many boards of directors over my time to strengthen them, teach them how to be nimble, and take all the information and data provided to make a decision and move forward. All of this has prepared me to be in this role and be a part of waste and recycling. I really do believe in “Carpe Diem”—seizing the moment—and I get to do international work, which is what my initial goal was entering college, it is just in a different, more fruitful way, in terms of being able to work with members that have a direct impact on society.
Considering your work with other associations, was there one that you found most unique? What are you able to bring to SWANA? There are a lot of similarities among associations—you learn how to manage a board of directors, the financials, the operations, the technologies, etc. However, within all of that, each association has its own culture, history, and its own unique traditions. And by having all these learning experiences, I can bring the best parts to SWANA at this point in time in its evolution. One of the most unique associations I worked with was the Special Libraries Association because it consisted of those librarians that work in unique niche settings, such as legal librarians, museum librarians, architecture firms—anything that is niche or a special collection. What is so powerful about them is that they are behind the scenes. They collect the facts and do the research that lawyers are using in cases, what architects are doing, physicists, mathematicians, and others. They are really trying to make sure that accurate and factual information gets out there. That group is most similar to SWANA in terms of its structure, with chapters and specialty areas in terms of the SWANA technical divisions.
What were your first impressions of the waste and recycling industry? While I had a little bit of experience with the industry, it was from a different point of view. One of my first impressions was how complex this industry is. It runs 24/7, regardless of weather, a pandemic, or any other circumstances. The industry still figures out how to make sure our communities are safe, and, from my perspective, it is all made to look so simple. As a consumer and not somebody who was brought up in this industry, I put my trash and recycling out, I come home at the end of the day, and it is gone. You do not think about everything else that is happening behind the scenes.
I was also impressed with the emphasis on safety and bringing people home at the end of the day. Employees are driving big trucks, moving heavy vehicles, operating different machines, all while dealing with other dangerous situations like the fires from lithium-ion batteries. Safety is so important.
This industry also empowers their communities and plays such a vital role in shaping environmental sustainability, resource conservation, and circular economy principles. Much of these ties into SWANA’s strategic plan—one of the main goals is to become climate champions—and they are really at the pinnacle of dealing with the environment.
What are the first things you addressed when taking the reins of SWANA? SWANA and the waste and recycling industry need a stronger voice and to play a key role in policy and advocacy efforts, as well as to become an established industry leader in the circular economy. We need to be climate champions and show the new generation coming up, or people who want to switch careers, that this industry is somewhere they want to be, which is also one of our strategic goals—becoming an employer of choice.
I think SWANA has a huge role in educating the consumer and public. What goes in the recycling bin? What can we do to make it more standard? What can we do about battery safety so that the consumer can understand what happens if they put one in the trash bin? What about proper disposal of hazardous waste? Plus, on the safety side, educating the public on “slowing down to get around” collection vehicles.
The industry is not only making communities livable, but also taking the steps toward sustainability, so how do we go further? Look at landfill gas to renewable natural gas projects, recycling materials to make new products, electric vehicles, etc. It’s amazing. I had the opportunity to go to a waste-to-energy facility in Virginia and see how they provide electricity. I also visited a facility in California using a large-scale anaerobic digestion process with compostable materials to create renewable natural gas. The site also houses a large slow-fill natural gas fueling facility for a fleet of trucks. It’s fascinating to consider all the variables that go into making sure you have the right size trucks to match the anticipated route tonnage and adequate fuel to complete the day. It’s also notable to see how the industry is working to turn closed landfills into parks or something that is beautiful and useful. It is probably something the consumer would not think about in the beginning. So, these tours have been important to me. That will continue throughout my time here. I want to keep learning and seeing what’s new, and I think all of this is just so impressive. This industry is resilient and adaptable, and consumers’ perspectives are changing in terms of sustainability; new generations want to work for companies that have corporate responsibility and sustainability, and our industry is responding to all these evolving challenges. The industry has the capacity to be innovative and creative and drive that positive change forward, which has such an impact on our society.
Another important thing for me was to get to know the staff team. With some staff members being virtual, how do we continue to create that culture of collaboration and entrepreneurial spirit? Getting to know the board of directors has been important as well, including the advisory board, which represents the chapters and the technical divisions. For SWANA SOAR and WASTECON®, a key thing for me was thinking about what that event structure looks like and the viability of the two events with all these other events in the industry space. If we are going to bring people together for a unique experience, what does that look like and how can we be a differentiator in our market? I want to make sure that we are delivering a valuable experience. I hit the ground running, and we continue to ramp up these efforts and leverage the knowledge of the members and industry experts to help us drive that forward.
How do you plan on growing and evolving SWANA? Every day, I get more excited about the opportunities I see. Certainly, for me being an association management executive, a key focus has been on learning the industry, so I’m looking at this as a fresh start. I believe history is important and informs where we are going, but we want to take advantage of new opportunities. So far, I have spent a lot of time traveling and meeting with current, past, and prospective members, and I have heard a lot about what can be improved and enhanced. Listening to concerns and suggestions is important. Another focus has been to build and rebuild partnerships. We have been looking at the like-minded organizations in this space and been having conversations to see where we align, how we can support each other, and what their position is on a certain subject. We have also been working and having meetings with government agencies like the EPA and OSHA. I am introducing myself and learning what is going on and seeing how we can keep pushing those partnerships forward. Since the SWANA strategic plan was already approved by the board of directors, I immediately wanted to look at where we were and what progress had been made towards those goals and put some metrics around them so we could measure what success looks like. We have big goals, and the first one centers around safety and getting the industry off the top 10 list of most dangerous jobs. We have moved from fifth to seventh and that is huge. We can develop a proactiveness of safety and tell the story of what the public and private sector are doing day after day to keep workers safe. Another focus in evolving SWANA is what it looks like to be a climate champion. We also want this industry to be an employer of choice and have people say “I want to enter this field.” The strategic plan has a span of five-years with re-evaluation in 2027, and we are going to reach those goals by being flexible and nimble.
SWANA is unique because it represents both the public and the private sector, bringing together industry leaders and members. Now, we need to get to the point where we are on top of policy and we are advocating for our industry and making sure that our education, training, and development hit the mark and we put out relevant and current content and resources. That is when people say “it is easy for me to renew my membership,” or they tell their friends or colleagues that they need to be a part of SWANA. We need to continue to elevate the importance of our industry, the workers, and what they do, and we need to keep advocating and magnifying our engagement in technical areas. We have seven different technical divisions, representing different subject matters throughout the industry, and we need to keep strengthening them and use their expertise to help us with policy and training. Right now, SWANA has around 10,000 members with 47 chapters and members from 34 different countries. When thinking of DEI and building inclusivity and belonging, while North America is important, we want to know what’s going on in other countries, and we do have members who live in other countries, so we are expanding our knowledge of this. As a part of the U.S. Plastics Pact, SWANA will also be joining the Plastics Pact in Canada. Part of this membership is to enhance our program areas, products, and services. It is understanding our connections among members and other chapters. I will be attending many chapter events because it is important to understand what is happening at the local level and support the activities that chapters are bringing to the communities. We are also going to make sure that our members understand the work that we are doing on the policy side and share our comments. Collaborating with other groups on comments when necessary, there is power in bringing people together and working together to issue a statement or comment. I look at us as a conduit and want SWANA to be this hub for people to look to us to lead. We may not be developing everything from A to Z, but we are playing a role in it, and we are encouraging students and young professionals to be a part of it. SWANA’s role is being a leader to build our industry and make it stronger and we will do that by bringing professionals together and keeping our strategic goals top of mind to move us forward.
How will SWANA improve communication with the public and membership? The first step is to get a handle on the perspectives of the membership, and I am gathering that from virtual meetings, in-person meetings, attending chapter events, and trade events, such as the Global Waste Management Symposium and Waste Expo. We will be doing a member survey and a survey to our chapter leaders, and this will give us a great baseline. What are we doing in the programmatic areas? How important is what we are doing? How satisfying is it? We want things to be of high value and people to be satisfied with what we are doing. We will look closely at that and gain an understanding of what is keeping members in the industry up at night because those are the areas that we need to develop. The chapter leadership survey will focus on how SWANA can work with the chapters collaboratively and provide support and ensure that we are both successful and thriving.
What is your vision for SWANA in the next few years? SWANA has such a strong foundation and is primed for that growth, and I want the association to be thought of in conversations. We have to know what’s going on globally. In fact, SWANA was an observer in Ottawa in April for the United Nations Environment Programme Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee (INC-4) on plastic pollution. We attended so we could understand what is going on in that area globally and how we play a role. SWANA is an industry leader in ensuring that we keep making our modern life convenient, safe, efficient, and sustainable for society, and I believe that the industry is providing solutions to some of the biggest challenges today. SWANA is playing a role to frame any perception of our industry, and I really want society to know all the strengths and the expertise of the people in the industry. It is so much more than collections. There are chemists, engineers, and other people playing key roles in this. There are so many different opportunities and careers for people to come in, and I want to expand upon that. I want SWANA to be able to anticipate what the industry does not know is coming. In addition, we need to think about how we can keep advancing RNG, play a role in circularity, and educate about the effects of lithium-ion batteries, recycling, and repurposing. What conversations can we have at the beginning of a lifecycle of a product with manufacturers? How can we work with those chief sustainability officers at these manufacturing companies to talk about the full lifecycle of the product and come up with something new if needed so when the product is done, it can be recycled easily? I also want to keep pushing what new technologies we can deploy to make our industry safer, more sustainable, and more efficient. The ultimate goal of all of this is to see SWANA as a leader and for members to be part of the organization and conversation and feel like they do not want to miss out. A key element in the strategic plan is DEI. Within the industry, we want SWANA to create a culture of belonging and how people see themselves in those leadership positions. We want to make sure that there is a career path, and that the industry is an employer of choice by building a sense of belonging in the community. I have a lot of experience with DEI from the Special Libraries Association because that is one of their core values, as they want information to be accessible. I was able to bring that to SWANA to ensure that everything from events to virtual conversations to leadership positions and how they are selected is transparent and open and people can see the pathway to engaging with us. Once you feel like you belong, you want to stay a part of it.
What do you do to relax? I have two kids—a boy and a girl, ages 7 and 10—and they certainly keep me busy! Spending time with them is important to me, whether we are playing a board game or I am watching them at dance class, soccer, or baseball. What also relaxes me is skiing. There was more snow on the East Coast this year (than last year), and we took advantage of it as much as we could. For me, there’s nothing like it. It is just you and the mountain, and there is something very powerful in that. I also enjoy the arts, whether it is theater or live concerts. In addition, I volunteer in my county as an election officer to make sure that everyone is empowered to vote.
I am also the co-secretary of the PTA at the elementary school. I try to stay involved in those activities as well. This is another reason I am excited about my role in SWANA. I have talked to the school about what I can do to educate on recycling and sustainability, especially because educating kids early on about these issues is important.
Final thoughts? SWANA has such a strong foundation for growth, and I am excited about the opportunity. I love working with the staff team and their expertise along with the board of directors and the advisory board members. Everyone has been so warm and welcoming, and willing to tell me about the job and what the day looks like for them. I’m going to keep moving forward and strengthen the association, its infrastructure, value, outreach efforts, safety, and keep being excited for what is to come. | WA
For more information, visit SWANA.org.