Executive Director Update

February 27, 2008

Many thanks to those of you who have provided feedback regarding the previous updates (posted on the ASHA Web site) or suggestions for future ED updates.

This update focuses on 2007 ASHA National Office Cost Savings and Efficiencies

As mentioned in the January 4, 2008 Executive Director Update, 2007 was a busy and significant year for the Association – passage of a new governance model, implementation of a "balanced scorecard" approach to strategic planning and management, and move to a new National Office. Throughout 2007, staff at the National Office continued to look for cost savings and efficiencies...here are just a few examples:

Use of the Web and Electronic Communications

National Office units, ASHA programs and committees/boards continue to increase their use of the ASHA Web site and/or electronic communication to share information in a timely and less costly manner than postal mail, such as:

• Developed additional unit and committee/board online SharePoint collaboration sites to house documents, meeting materials, and announcements/communications – enhancing access, decreasing printing costs and reducing mailing & FedEx charges.
• Provided the Convention Exhibitor Prospectus online for a savings of approximately $5,000.
• Used blast e-mail extensively for program and product promotion – 2007 gross revenue was 13.4% higher than 2006, while 2007 marketing expenditures only increased by 8.9% over 2006.
• Updated the Continuing Education Board Manual on the Web site – saving $10,000 in shipping and printing costs...and assuring that the desired content is easily accessible "24-7".

Time Savings – Efficiencies

• ASHA Leader – replaced print bluelines with online proofs...saving about $50 per issue in shipping costs and shortening the production cycle by 2-5 days in terms of distribution to members and subscribers.
• Scholarly journals – established style sheets and used the journals compositor to convert Word documents to HTML...trimming the production schedule by 2-3 days per document, which reduces the time between receipt of an approved document and it's posting on the ASHA Web site.
• Continuing Education – revised the process for organizations to change their Continuing Education Administrator (CEA) to be more user friendly, including the availability of a Web based form – saving $1,000 in printing & mailing costs and about 75 hours staff time.
• Continuing Education also revised the "course delinquent process" to be more user friendly and more customer focused – CEAs are now notified of courses that are due soon thus avoiding late filings and the need for appeals – saving approximately $2,500 in mailing and over 150 hours in staff time.
• ASHA's travel reimbursement form is now available electronically. Once the first date of a trip is entered, the rest of the dates and the correct mileage rate are automatically filled-in; computations are also automated. As a result, there are savings from no longer printing and storing the forms – and time saving for those completing the form (no computations to perform!) as well as for Accounts Payable staff in reviewing the form.
• With the move to the new N.O., all ASHA N.O. forms are now available on the intranet – which eliminated printing costs, paper, and use of forms cabinets throughout the building.
• Business cards – since they all needed to be reprinted due to the move, a standard template was used, limiting the number of style options – which saved substantial design time, reduced the overall cost by grouping the new cards into one large print order and resulted in a more consistent "look".

Cost Savings

• Following late August 2007 notification that as a 501(c)(6) organization ASHA would no longer be eligible for Maryland Sales Tax exemption, staff in the finance unit negotiated with the state to extend our sales-tax exempt status through September for an estimated savings of over $100,000.
• Checks received at the National Office are now scanned for remote deposit – eliminating paper storage and time delays in submitting to the bank as well as the costs associated with courier service and reducing check float for an estimated savings of $25,000 annually.
• ASHA's Survey and Information Team (SIT) continues to use a low cost Web-based survey package – that has a per respondent cost of approximately $0.05 compared to a cost of more than $5.00 per paper survey respondent. The use of Survey Monkey since 2004 has saved ASHA approximately a quarter of a million dollars.
• The SIT also assisted with the instrument design and fielded the Audiology Skills Validation Study – a project that was contracted out entirety in previous years – for a savings of thousands of dollars in contract fees.
• Public Relations – ASHA's "America Tuned In" campaign received $50,000 and highly valuable in-kind support from the Consumer Electronics Association – and Califone International included campaign messages in their product packaging and actively promoted the campaign in other ways.
• ASHA's finance unit applied for and received a multi-year phone tax credit (against Unrelated Business Income Tax payable) of $14,000.
• Government Relations and Public Policy staff worked with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to include the Functional Communication Measures (FCMs) from the National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS) in their task order for the National Quality Forum (NQF) approval process – which saved ASHA approximately $500,000 in application fees had we applied on our own.
• The Professional Development team switched vendors for Web conferencing services – with an anticipated savings of 10% in 2008 on conferencing services that cost approximately $54,000 in 2007.

National Office Staff Updates

The following individual is new to the ASHA staff since December 2007:

• Rohan Mahaderan, CE Records Manager

The following staff has changed positions at ASHA:

• Jerome Abellano, Desktop/Network Application Specialist (formerly User Support Technician)
• Araceli Blancafor, Accreditation Systems Coordinator (formerly Administrative Assistant for the AACEIU Cluster)

The following individuals have left ASHA to pursue other opportunities:

• Yacine Kane, CE Registry Manager
• Hope Levy Kott, Manager, CE Provider Services
• Arthur Lynch, Budget and Pension Analyst
• Connie Maynard, Executive Assistant (Retired)
• Marialyce Sherr, Manager, CE Provider Services

Recent ASHA and ASHA National Office/Staff Awards:

• Susan Boswell, Assistant Managing Editor, has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential. The CAE is the highest professional credential in the association industry.

The Next Executive Director Update: Web & Knowledge Strategy Team