Will New Leadership Reshape the AES? Colleen Harper Appointed Executive Director
Fresh leadership has arrived at the Audio Engineering Society (AES). Will the change usher in a new era?
The AES announced that it has appointed Colleen Harper as its new Executive Director. If her name sounds unfamiliar, that’s because the AES decided to prioritize leadership experience over engineering acumen with their new chief officer. She comes to the audio organization after serving most recently as the Chief Operating Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer for the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), a $6 million clinical nutrition-focused interdisciplinary organization with 6,500 members made up of dietitians, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physicians, scientists, students and other health professionals.
Colleen Harper is the incoming Executive Director for the AES.
While at ASPEN, Harper juggled a number of tasks that presumably mirror the AES’ own needs. According to the AES, her duties there included leading the implementation of strategic goals to drive both short- and long-term growth and sustainability, leading organizational budgeting, managing ASPEN’s signature annual conference, while leading the expansion and enhancement of membership service and growth.
Harper may not know a prescription from a patch bay, but that appeared to be far from the point for the AES search committee. Her appointment follows the Executive Directorship of Bob Moses, a live sound/product design and manufacturing professional who served in that role for the AES from 2012 until July 1, 2018. Prior to Moses, Roger Furness had served as Executive Director from 1994 through 2011.
All told, Moses’ and Furness’ two tenures spanned 24 years of striving for increased relevancy for the AES, with mixed results. Dogged through the decades with an image of stodginess and general unhipness despite the glamor associated with the music industry it serves, the organization has seen the size and luster of its own flagship show, the annual US convention, slip with each passing year as it shifted to a one-coast event (NYC only for the last two years, excluding its previous every-other-year hop to LA), and an ever-smaller showfloor footprint. On the other hand, initiatives like the show’s Project Studio Expo have demonstrated an earnest attempt to reach out to a younger demographic, while the relatively new AES@NAMM is working to connect the society to the massively attended and entertaining Winter NAMM show that happens in late January.
David Scheirman, AES President for the 2017-2018 term of office, explained the society’s thinking with the Harper appointment. “Our Executive Committee’s challenge has been to find an individual with deep and broad organizational management, direct prior experience within professional membership organizations, and a unique skill set that combines operational expertise, marketing skills and team leadership capabilities,” he said in a released statement. “The Society’s Executive Director Search Team has selected Colleen Harper from a field of exceptionally well-qualified candidates. Our entire AES Board of Governors looks forward to working closely with Colleen from day one in her new position at the Society’s world headquarters office in New York City.”
As Executive Director of the Society, Harper will report to the Executive Committee of the AES Board of Governors.
Scheirman handed over the reins of the AES Presidency to Nadja Wallaszkovits, Chief Audio Engineer for the Austrian Academy of Science’s Phongrammarchiv in Vienna, on January 1, 2019. Wallaszkovits laid out expectations by saying, “With the addition of Colleen’s proven record of leadership, we expect 2019 to be a banner year for the Society. Education is AES’s primary mission, training and cultivating the next generation of audio professionals and members. That’s accomplished in part through our vibrant event schedule – international conventions and conferences, regional events and local section meetings – which will continue to be a focus for the Society, including further development of our presence on the west coast of the U.S. Our membership is our greatest asset, and we look forward to further improvements in our service and benefit to both our individual and sustaining membership, alongside our focus on advancing our strong relationships with our industry partners.”
Harper’s professional portfolio also also includes serving the National Investor Relations Institute as Director, Professional Development; as Association Manager for the global meeting and association management firm Meeting Expectations; as Assistant Manager of Membership for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers; and as the Director of Membership and Organizational Relations for the Geoprofessional Business Association. She holds a BA from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Public Administration, Nonprofit Management degree from Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. She has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 2012.
No doubt, Harper is aware of the challenges in front of her. If she can help the established-in-1948 AES to be seen once again as a dynamic source of professional development with a pioneering spirit – as opposed to a largely uninspiring collective that’s just trying to hold it together – this new Executive Director will represent a smart new signal path.
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