Company Profile
Association Headquarters
Company Overview
With more than 30 years of experience and 160 association management professionals on staff, AH is one of the most prominent association management companies in the world.
We are Leaders in the Industry
AH senior leaders are leaders in the association management industry. Bill MacMillan, our founding owner and CEO, has received numerous industry awards and has served on the boards of industry associations such as the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Association Management Company Institute (AMCi). Bob Waller, President and COO, has served as President of the New Jersey Society of Association Executives, which is now part of the Mid-Atlantic Society of Association Executives (MASAE). Bob also serves as an instructor for the Villanova University Institute for Organization Management. Other AH senior leaders regularly serve in leadership positions in ASAE and AMCi, and are frequent presenters at the annual meetings of ASAE, AMCi, and MASAE.
What’s Important to Us?
From the beginning, AH has always focused on two important principles: invest in staff development and form partnerships with our clients. We try to cultivate an environment that provides growth opportunities for staff and promotes honesty, fairness, and responsibility to each other and our clients.
AH devotes nearly 5,000 hours annually to staff development and training. AH has been named among the Philadelphia area’s “Best Places to Work” by the Philadelphia Business Journal four times in the past six years.
In a recent anonymous survey of our staff, 85 percent of respondents said they feel trusted and empowered by AH management to share their opinions and interact with our clients.
AH believes in cultivating the same type of relationship with our client partners. Almost half of our full-service clients have been with AH for more than five years, and several have been client partners for more than 10 years. Our clients regularly cite our professionalism, expertise, breadth of services and integrity as reasons for selecting us to manage their organization.
Company History
Association Headquarters started in a one-bedroom apartment in Moorestown, N.J., in 1978, the culmination of dream of Bill MacMillan to one day start his own company. Bill had long known about association management companies (AMCs), having watched his father work in the industry for many years. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Bill decided to pursue a career in association management.
In the early 1970s, he was a partner at a local AMC and after several years, left the partnership to start AH. At the start, the company had only five employees and only a few associations to manage. The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) and the Pencil Makers Association (PMA), which eventually merged with the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA), were among the early client partners. Over the next decade AH grew slowly but steadily, adding a few association client partners, but mostly through the organic growth of its original clients.
In 1987, Bob Waller joined AH; he worked closely with Bill over the next 10 years and in 1998 became president of AH. Having traditionally worked with trade associations, in 2000 AH acquired the medical association management division of Slack Inc. because Bill and Bob decided to add to the mix of their client portfolio. The acquisition brought on several medical associations, and with the entrance into a new client category, AH embarked on its greatest and fastest period of growth.
From 2000 to 2005, AH expanded at a spectacular rate, adding clients, adding staff and outgrowing several office spaces. In 2006, AH was reaccredited by the AMC Institute (formerly the International Association of Association Management Companies) and the American Society of Association Executives. This accreditation distinguishes AH as a leader in the field of association management companies. Recognition as a professionally accredited AMC ensures AH houses expert staff and best practice systems uniquely qualified to propel client partners forward. The company expanded to its current 31,000 square-foot location in 2007 and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2008.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
Best Place to Work in the Philadelphia / South Jersey Area.