Leadership Summit 2024

1,050 executive directors, board chairs, and senior staff registered for the 2024 Leadership Summit at NANA's Washington conference center, a record turnout at the time. General sessions ran in the main ballroom; breakouts split across governance, membership, advocacy, and digital tracks over three full days.

CEO Walter Abernathy opened the Summit with an assessment of where the sector stood heading into the second half of 2024, and closed it three days later with what members had told the policy team in hallway conversations and session Q&As. In between, Board Chair Gordon Ashcombe led a session on board self-assessment drawn from his own board's practice at the Society of Rural Hospital Administrators, and Director of Meetings and Events Rosalind Kettering, who has run every NANA Summit since 2014, closed with a preview of 2025.

Research findings anchored the second day: Director of Research Inês Carvalho-Reyes previewed early numbers from the State of Associations 2024 survey, then in progress across 690 organizations. CFO Lorraine Petrakis led a finance-track session on reserve policy, and Director of Learning and Credentialing Theo Nakashima-Ward walked members through what the CAE credential actually signals to a hiring board.

Julian Achterberg, NANA's Director of Membership and Chapter Relations, brought member-growth case studies from across the six chapters. Elena Marsh, five months into her term as Greater Boston's chapter chair, led a chapter-leadership roundtable on what she'd learned running roundtables in three New England cities. Director of Digital Renée Okafor closed the digital track with a session on where NANA's own systems stood — a year before the portal RFP that would follow in 2025.

The conference center sits ten minutes from Reagan National by Metro. Registration included all general sessions, breakouts, and two included meals each full day; a group rate of 15% off applied to any organization sending five or more attendees.