The Association Account Manager Academy — Advanced Track
Turn seasoned account managers into strategic advisors.
The foundational track builds command of the work. The advanced track builds judgment — strategy, sustainability, and the counsel that gets an account manager invited into the room where decisions are made.
Competence keeps an account. Counsel grows one.
Why the advanced track
The foundation is set. Now build the strategists.
A trained account manager can run the membership year, support a board, and keep volunteers moving. That's the foundational track — and it's the floor, not the ceiling.
The account managers an association can't afford to lose do something more: they shape strategy, build revenue beyond dues, and advise clients instead of just serving them.
The advanced track teaches that shift — three courses that turn competence into counsel, for the managers ready to lead the work, not just deliver it.
The advanced track
Three courses. From competent to indispensable.
For experienced account managers who've mastered the fundamentals — each course builds strategic judgment on solid ground. Eight modules apiece, with facilitator decks and a participant workbook.
The direction-setter
Strategic Planning for Associations
Facilitating a plan a board will actually follow — from choosing what not to do, to real priorities, honest KPIs, and a roadmap that outlives the retreat. The account manager as facilitator, not author.
The sustainability engine
Association Business Model & Non-Dues Revenue
Where the money really comes from — dues, sponsorship, programs, and pricing — and how to build revenue that funds the mission instead of chasing it. Diagnose an over-reliance on dues before it becomes a crisis.
The capstone
Consulting Skills for Account Managers
The shift from order-taker to trusted advisor — diagnose before prescribing, deliver hard advice without losing the relationship, and become the first call, not the last resort. The skill that ties the whole academy together.
However it fits you
Run it live, self-paced, or blended.
Cohort
Live intensive
Delivered to your senior team over several weeks, with real cases and facilitated discussion.
Evergreen
Self-paced
A standing curriculum experienced managers work through as they step up.
Best of both
Blended
A self-paced core paired with live coaching clinics on live client work.
For AMCs
White-label
Extend the advanced track to your client associations as a strategic value-add.
Who it's for
Built for the managers ready to lead.
Experienced account managers ready to advise, not just execute
Senior AMC staff moving into strategic client relationships
Team leads who set the standard everyone else follows
AMCs differentiating on strategic value, not just service
Associations investing in the people who guide their biggest decisions
Graduates of the foundational track ready for what's next
Who's behind it
Built by someone who's done the job.
This academy comes out of 20+ years in association management across healthcare, grants, and professional-development organizations — years spent on the strategy, the boards, and the revenue decisions that determine whether an association grows.
The advanced track is the training I wish every senior account manager had — the judgment that turns a competent manager into a client's trusted advisor, distilled into something a team can actually run.
The series keeps growing.
A few courses are in the works to round out the path — deepening the fundamentals and extending into the functions account managers grow into next.
Deepens Course 02
Membership Growth & Retention Strategy
The senior follow-on to Membership Fundamentals: segmentation, lifecycle strategy, and turning retention into a repeatable system.
New function
Marketing & Communications
Member communications, campaigns, and brand — the voice that carries membership, events, and everything else.
New function
Events & Conference Strategy
Designing convenings that serve members and sustain the association — program, sponsorship, and experience together.
Ready to build advisors, not just managers?
Tell me about your team and we'll shape an advanced program that fits — cohort, self-paced, or blended.
Start the conversation