February 19, 2024 • 25 mins
Vicki R. Deal-Williams
Vicki R. Deal-Williams, MA, CCC-SLP, CAE, assumed the role of ASHA Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2022, with more than 35 years’ experience, and a proven track record of success in guiding staff and members through change, exemplifying integrity and accountability, and fostering an inclusive culture. Vicki is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and an ASHA Fellow; she received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University. She is also a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
She began her career as a speech-language pathologist at the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center, where she also supervised graduate student clinicians from Case Western Reserve University. She came to work at the ASHA National Office in 1984 to direct a federal grant held jointly by ASHA and the U.S. Department of Education; she then served as Assistant Director of ASHA’s Office of Minority Concerns. After a 5-year hiatus as a corporate trainer for Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association)—where she developed and implemented corporate diversity training and professional development programming related to leadership and management—Vicki returned to the ASHA National Office as ASHA’s first Chief Staff Officer for Multicultural Affairs. In that capacity, she also served as a management liaison to ASHA’s Continuing Education, Professional Development, and Convention and Meetings units and was instrumental in establishing ASHA’s customized strategic planning system, facilitating the process to establish an integrated working relationship between National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) and ASHA, and establishing the Minority Student Leadership Program as a primary source of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) leaders from diverse backgrounds.
Vicki has received numerous awards for her contributions, including the Honors of NSSLHA, the Diversity Incentive Award from the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD), ASHA’s Outstanding Service Award, the M. Eugene Wiggins Leadership and Scholar Mentor Awards from the National Black Association for Speech-Language and Hearing (NBASLH), and the Professional Performance Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Her expertise and thought leadership include strategically advancing and leveraging diversity; developing leaders; targeting and retaining underrepresented populations; institutionalizing organizational responsibility for diversity, equity, and inclusion; facilitating group process; managing conflict; and evaluating and enhancing organizational performance. She has contributed to strategic conversations within the association industry about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in associations and nonprofit management; she has served as Chair of ASAE’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and as a member of the ASAE Board of Directors. She has also served as facilitator and content leader for ASAE’s kickoff course for professionals seeking the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential and for their Association Management Week program. In addition, she was appointed to the National Institute of Health’s National Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Advisory Council.
Vicki R. Deal-Williams, MA, CCC-SLP, CAE, assumed the role of ASHA Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2022, with more than 35 years’ experience, and a proven track record of success in guiding staff and members through change, exemplifying integrity and accountability, and fostering an inclusive culture. Vicki is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and an ASHA Fellow; she received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University. She is also a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
She began her career as a speech-language pathologist at the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center, where she also supervised graduate student clinicians from Case Western Reserve University. She came to work at the ASHA National Office in 1984 to direct a federal grant held jointly by ASHA and the U.S. Department of Education; she then served as Assistant Director of ASHA’s Office of Minority Concerns. After a 5-year hiatus as a corporate trainer for Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association)—where she developed and implemented corporate diversity training and professional development programming related to leadership and management—Vicki returned to the ASHA National Office as ASHA’s first Chief Staff Officer for Multicultural Affairs. In that capacity, she also served as a management liaison to ASHA’s Continuing Education, Professional Development, and Convention and Meetings units and was instrumental in establishing ASHA’s customized strategic planning system, facilitating the process to establish an integrated working relationship between National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) and ASHA, and establishing the Minority Student Leadership Program as a primary source of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) leaders from diverse backgrounds.
Vicki has received numerous awards for her contributions, including the Honors of NSSLHA, the Diversity Incentive Award from the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD), ASHA’s Outstanding Service Award, the M. Eugene Wiggins Leadership and Scholar Mentor Awards from the National Black Association for Speech-Language and Hearing (NBASLH), and the Professional Performance Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Her expertise and thought leadership include strategically advancing and leveraging diversity; developing leaders; targeting and retaining underrepresented populations; institutionalizing organizational responsibility for diversity, equity, and inclusion; facilitating group process; managing conflict; and evaluating and enhancing organizational performance. She has contributed to strategic conversations within the association industry about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in associations and nonprofit management; she has served as Chair of ASAE’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and as a member of the ASAE Board of Directors. She has also served as facilitator and content leader for ASAE’s kickoff course for professionals seeking the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential and for their Association Management Week program. In addition, she was appointed to the National Institute of Health’s National Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Advisory Council.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs YouShould Know, powered by Hartley Shot in
celebration of Black History Month. Let'smeet Vicky Dial Williams. She is the
CEO for the American Speech Language HearingAssociation, also known as ASHA. Before
we talk more about Vicki's nonprofit,I first asked her to talk a little
bit about herself, where she's from, and her origin story. I was
(00:25):
a shy, compliant little girl witha lot of questions who was shaped by
myriad experiences growing up in and aroundCleveland, Ohio in the nineteen sixties and
early nineteen seventies. I went toschool at Northwestern University in Chicago. I
(00:50):
was trained there as a speech languagepathologist, which was kind of a fallback
for me. I started off wantingto be the black Barbara Walters. That
position has now been taken by OprahWinfrey, but she wasn't there when I
thought about it. I also thoughtabout being a pediatrician at some point,
(01:15):
but decided that I did not wantto well. I could not afford to
go to medical school, and whenI happened upon speech language pathology, I
realized that I could work in healthcarerelated settings and still work with children and
(01:38):
help, so that my primary goalwas to help, and I thought that
was the best way for me topursue that. I had a work study
job at the same time I wentto UH. As I mentioned I went
to Northwestern, I had a workstudy job in the Grad School of Management
(01:59):
in the Organization Behavior Department. Readall of the articles that I had to
make copies of, and spent alot of time talking with the professors there.
So when I finished my undergrad oras I was finishing undergrad, I
applied to both the Grad School ofManagement and to Speech Language Pathology. I
(02:21):
ended up deferring my admission to theBusiness school and pursuing my degree in SLP
because I was racking up significant studentdebt and I needed to get out of
school as fast as possible, soI was able to finish my master's degree
in five quarters. I came backto Cleveland, Ohio and began working at
(02:44):
the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center inwhat was then called outside Center Services.
So I spent time in my cargoing from head start to daycare center to
healthcare center all around Cleveland where wehad contracted to provide screenings and to identify
(03:06):
individual children who might have a speechlanguage or a hearing problem, and then
to refer them to the Cleveland Hearingand Speech Center, which was affiliated with
Case Western Reserve University. So Ispent a good deal of time there,
and someone from ASHA, the AmericanSpeech Language Hearing Association, was working with
(03:30):
my boss at the time to tryto figure out how we could work with
the children there in Cleveland, mostof whom were Black children who were speaking
at the time Black English or aBonics, and those kids were being identified
(03:53):
as disordered, and my boss atthe time was aware of the research that
indicated that those children were speaking differently, but they weren't really disordered. So
the person from ASHA was actually thenthe director of the Office of Minority Concerns.
(04:13):
So I ended up working with herto actually screen a number of these
children as a part of some postdoctoralwork that she was doing. And I
tell people that she discovered me there. It was so she saw what I
did. She asked me if i'dbe interested in applying for a job at
(04:34):
ASHA. I thought, Ash's thiscredentialing body in the sky, this ethereal
group. How am I going toapply for a job? Nobody really works
at ASHA? But it turns outno, it was a brick and mortar
building with real people who were workingthere. So I did apply for the
(04:55):
job and started directing a grant projectthat had with the Department of Education to
train audiologists and speech language pathologists towork with minority and bilingual kids. Well,
that is one of my best originstories that I've ever got from one
of our guests. That's a lovelydissertation of what you've done. And we
(05:16):
have a lot to talk about whenit comes to Ashaw. But because you've
lived in three different markets in Clevelandand Chicago and now here in the DMV,
I'm a sports guard. Does thatmake you a Browns of Bears or
a Commander's fan? It makes mea Browns fan who's on sabbatical right now.
Good call. But you know whatyou were around during the Jim Brown
(05:38):
years? I was. Yeah.As a matter of fact, I went
to school with Jim Brown's twins.Well, you had a twin daughter and
son who went to high school withme. How about that? He was
one of the best of all timeand we lost him recently, but boy,
he was one of the best.At what a treat that you were
in the same city and being ableto be a Browns fan. But I
(06:00):
get it while you're on hiatus nowtoo, so understand completely well. Listen,
we are here, VICKI to talka lot about the American Speech Language
Sharing Association, or better known asyou say, as ASHA. You've been
to CEO for almost two years.In this series, we talked to so
many entrepreneurs and leaders and CEOs aboutthe transition, whether they're with a company
(06:23):
for a short time or long time. As you have been on and off
with ASHA for thirty five plus years, but lately the last couple of years
as CEO, tell us how thathappened, why you wanted to attain that,
and how it's going so far thelast couple of years. Well,
I actually I have. I grewup at ASHA. I came in very
(06:45):
young, very early in my career, learned a great deal about working for
an association, and an association thatwas my professional home. I left the
association after that training grant and decidedthat I could convince someone at Fanny May
(07:11):
that I could be a corporate trainer. So I went to Fanny May,
worked in training and development, learnedto facilitate, to manage, to lead,
and then came back to ASHA.Asha underwent restructure and a friend called
me and said, you know,there's a job at Asher you really need
(07:32):
to look at, and it wasthe chief staff officer for Multicultural Affairs.
While I was at Fannie May,they had launched their diversity program. I
ended up leading the diversity training sothat Fanny May's Office of Diversity became my
primary customer. So I worked witha number of consultants that they had hired
(07:59):
to provide diversity training. Came backto ASHA and was able to blend the
passion and expertise that I had forthe professions with the management and leadership expertise
that I had gained at Fanny May. ASHA was one of the first associations
(08:20):
to focus on diversity related issues,in part because language was our middle name.
That notion that individuals who speak adifferent language or a different variety of
the same language needed to be evaluatedin a way that took into account what
(08:46):
they were trying to accomplish in termsof communication and help them to accomplish what
they needed and wanted, and notjust set this standard for everybody needs to
talk the same way you move aroundour country. You see that's not the
case. So as a result,our Office of well what would be our
(09:09):
Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is actually now called the Office
of Multicultural Affairs. It used tobe minority concerns. I think in its
early years it was urban and ethnicaffairs. But the Office of Multicultural Affairs
has been in existence for over fiftyyears at ASHA, and that's not something
(09:31):
that you hear on a regular basiswithin associations. So most of my leadership
was in leading the association and advancingthose issues within the discipline as well as
within the association industry. I wasable to move into the CEO role a
(09:54):
couple of years ago when my predecessorretired in part because I grew up at
ASHA, because I knew the organizationextremely well. I knew the kinds of
things that had been done, thathad been tried, the things that work,
I knew the people. I hadgained some credibility within the membership.
(10:20):
So for me, it was reallyjust becoming that go to person for our
members, that go to person forour staff, for our volunteer leaders,
the individuals within the membership who havetaken on leadership roles with our board of
Directors on our committee's boards and councils, and that all stemmed back to me
(10:46):
being that little girl with all thosequestions, because I still have all those
questions. I told the Board ofDirectors when I interviewed for the CEO position
a couple of years ago that ifthey were looking for somebody with all the
answers, I wasn't that person.But if they were looking for somebody who
(11:07):
could pull people together to find answers, then I was their girl. Basically,
I've learned that so much of whatwe do as leaders is facilitation.
It's bringing people together, it's findingthe people with the expertise. I don't
need to know a lot of whathappens within our association and within our discipline
(11:28):
because there's so many people who havethat expertise who I can call on and
get them to rally and do someof that work. Well. It's a
great story, and I hope everybodywas intently listening to Vicky, because first
of all, nobody has all theanswers, and if anybody did that in
an interview with me, they're notgoing to be hired. That's number one.
(11:52):
Number two. Vicky also talked aboutlistening and learning and knowing ash as
long as she did. I betthat interview went very well. Glad you
shared that because there's a lot ofentrepreneurs and CEOs and future leaders out there,
VICKI that think they might know itall, but you don't play all
your cards and go down a roadthat way when you're interviewing, especially for
a CEO role. So I'm gladthat you shared that. All right,
(12:15):
let's do this because we have somuch to talk about Ashaw. Why don't
we talk about the mission statement first? What is that Asha's mission statement is
to empower and support speech language pathologistsand audiologists. But the reality is that
our vision is making effective communication,which we believe to be a human right,
(12:39):
accessible and achievable for all. Inorder to do that, we need
to make sure that our members haveall of the resources at their disposal.
So we develop a lot of thoseresources, we point them to them,
we make sure that they have theinformation they need, and we're advocating for
(13:00):
them on a regular basis. We'realso advancing science. We are fostering excellence
and professional practice and setting standards toassure that the services that are provided are
quality services. And we're also advocatingfor the individuals who have speech, language
and hearing disorders. All right,VICKI, if you and I were to
(13:22):
bumping each other on the street andI didn't know anything about Asha, and
I said, hey, I gotto go get coffee in about forty seconds,
tell me what you do forty secondsis really tough because we're representing both
audiologists and speech language pathologists. Butspeech language pathologists are those individuals who are
(13:46):
available to help individuals who have speechor language difficulty. That difficulty can be
the result of a stroke, itcan be the result of somebody who stutters.
It can be the result of somebodywho has difficulty putting words together,
who's having difficulty remembering words at adifferent point at a given point in time.
(14:09):
Audiologists, on the other hand,are individuals who are evaluating and diagnosing
hearing disorders and assuring that individuals havethe right mechanisms at their disposal, including
(14:30):
hearing aids, but not just hearingaids, to assure that they're able to
make use of the sounds that they'rehearing. They've worked with individuals from cradle
to grave, so they're making surethat individuals that babies are hearing that children
are learning speech in language the waythat they should and are able to effectively
(14:54):
communicate their needs to their families,all the way up through individuals who are
at the end of life and mayhave difficulties swallowing or have some balance issues.
So a combination of things and areally broad spectrum of scopes of practice
(15:16):
for the professions understood. Thanks forsharing all that. So I think a
lot of our listeners and myself weresaying, well, I wonder what the
criteria. So how is the criteriaand are you only working with people yourself
in the DMV or is this anationwide effort? Tell us about that.
We are a national organization. Ourmembers practice not just here in the States
(15:41):
but around the world. So thereare speech language pathologists, some of whom
are our members, who are workingnot just here in the US, but
also in other countries. There area number of organizations like ASHET. There's
an international organization, there's a Brazilianorganization, there's a Chinese organization. So
(16:04):
we collaborate and work with a lotof those organizations to advance the discipline.
There are no real criteria. Oftenindividuals who need a speech language pathologists or
audiologists aren't thinking I need this personto help me. They're thinking I'm not
(16:26):
able to do this, or I'mnot hearing what everybody else is hearing.
I'm not able to communicate effectively.My child's not speaking like their brother or
sister did as they were developing.Those are the times where calling ASHA or
(16:47):
looking on our website and finding aprofessional are key to get services as early
as possible. Understood. I knowyou probably have so many great stories,
and in just a moment, Iwould like you to maybe share one that's
memory to you. Or you gotup one day and you and your team
made a difference, So let's puta pin in that just for a second.
But I always like to talk tononprofits, especially leaders, about challenges.
(17:10):
It's not always unicorns and rainbows allthe time, even though there are
some amazing stories out there of helpingfamilies and individuals. But what are the
current challenges that are happening right nowfor ASHA? I think the biggest challenges
are that ASHA members are often notrecognized for the value they provide until after
(17:36):
you've worked with one. So somewherethere's this gap between I've got a problem
or I've got a situation where aspeech to language pathologists or an audiologists might
be able to help, and oh, you're the person who can help me.
And that person they identify an audiologistor a speech language pathologists and they
(18:00):
wow, if I only had known. But if you are experiencing any kind
of communication difficulty, it's better toask the question. And often they ask
a pediatrician, or they'll ask andyour nose and throat doctor, as opposed
(18:21):
to seeking someone who is trained specificallyto work on the communication aspect of what
they're dealing with. All right,let's talk about a great story. I
know there are probably thousands of greatstories that you've experienced over the thirty five
plus years of being associated with ASHA. But is there something maybe lately that
has happened with an individual, afamily, or a doctor or a situation
(18:42):
where he said, you know what, that's why we get up every morning.
We made a difference that day.Can you share something with us?
I'm probably not the right person toanswer that question because those are typically the
kinds of days that our members haveon a regular basis, But I can
share that we have spent some timeworking with the American Academy of Pediatrics the
(19:11):
AAP came out with a set ofdevelopmental milestones that didn't include information that we
thought needed to be included about what'shappening with a child's speech, language and
hearing. So we reached out tothem. We've been working on pulling together
new information that is evidence based thatsays here's when you can expect these kinds
(19:37):
of things for your child if theyare learning English, and when you might
expect them. We are also goingto be adding to that what you might
expect if your child is learning twolanguages. Because bilingualism, we know has
some major advantages for individuals, butwe need to make sure that folks have
(20:06):
access to accurate information. So manytimes bilingual families are told no, just
speak English. And the reality iswe want this richness that we gain and
the facility that you gain in beingbilingual has some major advantages for you.
(20:26):
So we want as many individuals tobe bilingual as possible. We don't want
that to be seen as a drawback. Well, I got to tell you
Vicky, thank good as you guyswere there to fill in the gaps,
and I think that's really huge andI thought you a very big deal.
I'm glad to share that as well. All right, as we wrap up
our conversation, Vicky, the flooris yours. There's going to be a
(20:48):
lot of people that are listening toour interview that we're enjoying so much in
the education of Asha. But ifyou were to maybe have our listeners maybe
with one or two takeaways when itcomes to Asha, what would they be.
I think anyone who's listening who isexperiencing a communication difficulty or who has
a loved one who is My advicewould be to seek treatment right away.
(21:18):
Don't wait. If you get toa professional who says you can afford some
time, great, But you don'twant to be in that situation where you
know, you hear Oh, ifyou had only come a few months before,
we might have been able to stopthis hearing loss. Or you know,
if you had come earlier, wemight have been able to do something
(21:40):
different. So you can find acertified audiologist or speech language pathologist by going
to our website www dot Asha dotorg. There's a button or a blue
bar that says says a number ofthings, but on far right it says
the public. If you click onthat button, it'll take you to consumer
(22:03):
information that has information on a varietyof disorders that you might be experiencing.
But it also has a button thatsays find a professional that will help you
find a certified audiologist through speech languagepathologists. All right, and speaking of
buttons, there's a giant dont nowbutton. And also on the nabbar there
are ways to give individual donors,organizational donors, and corporate sponsors. That's
(22:29):
really important stuff. Let's spend acouple of minutes before we say goodbyes on
that, because I know when itcomes to nonprofits the money coming in,
VICKI really important tell people just alittle bit about those three categories. Well,
most of our funding comes from acombination of member dues, So members,
dues and fees provide probably sixty percentor so of our funds. But
(22:55):
we also seek nonduse revenue for sponsorshipand partnership. The thing that I would
suggest that your listeners do if they'reinterested in contributing, is to look at
our foundation, the American Speech LanguageHearing Foundation, which is ASH foundation.
(23:18):
That foundation supports science and scholarship inthe disciplines or in the discipline, and
there are ways that you can fundscholarships. There are ways that you can
fund science that's occurring that helps toserve as the basis for the practice of
(23:41):
our professions. I privately fund anonymouslyan emergency fund through an organization for students
who end up in situations like Iwas, who are about to get kicked
out of school and you've done everythingyou possibly can to stay in school to
become a speech language pathologists or audiologists, and we have major shortages, especially
(24:04):
on the speech side. So manyof our members work in schools, so
we want to make sure that wehave as many of these individuals who have
this kind of expertise in training tohelp individuals with communication difficulties. I'm standing,
VICKI thank you for sharing all that. Let's give that website one more
time. It is www dot ashadot org. And you're also on some
(24:27):
social media channels too, correct weare. We are on Facebook and Instagram.
I believe we are at ASHAWB andwe are also on LinkedIn as the
American Speech Language Area Association. Wellfantastic. I can tell you how much
I appreciate your time. I haven'ttalked to somebody that's been on and off
(24:49):
with an organization for as long asyou have, so testament to you too.
Just it really is an incredible storythat this is. You know your
life, and you put some muchinto it, and now you're leading everybody
for the next wave of what ASHis going to do over the next ten,
twenty and fifty years. I hadsuch an incredible story. I feel
(25:10):
so grateful that we had a chanceto visit with you, and I'm glad
that our listeners got to know youa little bit. And then I hope
they check out the website donate ifthey can, and see all the great
things that you, your team andthe doctors and all the different researchers are
doing. It really is remarkable.Vicky, thank you so much for joining
us today. Continue success, andwe really appreciate you joining us on CEOs.
You should know, thanks for havingme. Our community partner, M
(25:30):
and T Bank supports CEOs. Youshould know is part of their ongoing commitment
to building strong communities, and thatstarts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, Mand T believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrivebecause when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs YouShould Know, powered by Hartley Shot in
celebration of Black History Month. Let'smeet Vicky Dial Williams. She is the
CEO for the American Speech Language HearingAssociation, also known as ASHA. Before
we talk more about Vicki's nonprofit,I first asked her to talk a little
bit about herself, where she's from, and her origin story. I was
(00:25):
a shy, compliant little girl witha lot of questions who was shaped by
myriad experiences growing up in and aroundCleveland, Ohio in the nineteen sixties and
early nineteen seventies. I went toschool at Northwestern University in Chicago. I
(00:50):
was trained there as a speech languagepathologist, which was kind of a fallback
for me. I started off wantingto be the black Barbara Walters. That
position has now been taken by OprahWinfrey, but she wasn't there when I
thought about it. I also thoughtabout being a pediatrician at some point,
(01:15):
but decided that I did not wantto well. I could not afford to
go to medical school, and whenI happened upon speech language pathology, I
realized that I could work in healthcarerelated settings and still work with children and
(01:38):
help, so that my primary goalwas to help, and I thought that
was the best way for me topursue that. I had a work study
job at the same time I wentto UH. As I mentioned I went
to Northwestern, I had a workstudy job in the Grad School of Management
(01:59):
in the Organization Behavior Department. Readall of the articles that I had to
make copies of, and spent alot of time talking with the professors there.
So when I finished my undergrad oras I was finishing undergrad, I
applied to both the Grad School ofManagement and to Speech Language Pathology. I
(02:21):
ended up deferring my admission to theBusiness school and pursuing my degree in SLP
because I was racking up significant studentdebt and I needed to get out of
school as fast as possible, soI was able to finish my master's degree
in five quarters. I came backto Cleveland, Ohio and began working at
(02:44):
the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center inwhat was then called outside Center Services.
So I spent time in my cargoing from head start to daycare center to
healthcare center all around Cleveland where wehad contracted to provide screenings and to identify
(03:06):
individual children who might have a speechlanguage or a hearing problem, and then
to refer them to the Cleveland Hearingand Speech Center, which was affiliated with
Case Western Reserve University. So Ispent a good deal of time there,
and someone from ASHA, the AmericanSpeech Language Hearing Association, was working with
(03:30):
my boss at the time to tryto figure out how we could work with
the children there in Cleveland, mostof whom were Black children who were speaking
at the time Black English or aBonics, and those kids were being identified
(03:53):
as disordered, and my boss atthe time was aware of the research that
indicated that those children were speaking differently, but they weren't really disordered. So
the person from ASHA was actually thenthe director of the Office of Minority Concerns.
(04:13):
So I ended up working with herto actually screen a number of these
children as a part of some postdoctoralwork that she was doing. And I
tell people that she discovered me there. It was so she saw what I
did. She asked me if i'dbe interested in applying for a job at
(04:34):
ASHA. I thought, Ash's thiscredentialing body in the sky, this ethereal
group. How am I going toapply for a job? Nobody really works
at ASHA? But it turns outno, it was a brick and mortar
building with real people who were workingthere. So I did apply for the
(04:55):
job and started directing a grant projectthat had with the Department of Education to
train audiologists and speech language pathologists towork with minority and bilingual kids. Well,
that is one of my best originstories that I've ever got from one
of our guests. That's a lovelydissertation of what you've done. And we
(05:16):
have a lot to talk about whenit comes to Ashaw. But because you've
lived in three different markets in Clevelandand Chicago and now here in the DMV,
I'm a sports guard. Does thatmake you a Browns of Bears or
a Commander's fan? It makes mea Browns fan who's on sabbatical right now.
Good call. But you know whatyou were around during the Jim Brown
(05:38):
years? I was. Yeah.As a matter of fact, I went
to school with Jim Brown's twins.Well, you had a twin daughter and
son who went to high school withme. How about that? He was
one of the best of all timeand we lost him recently, but boy,
he was one of the best.At what a treat that you were
in the same city and being ableto be a Browns fan. But I
(06:00):
get it while you're on hiatus nowtoo, so understand completely well. Listen,
we are here, VICKI to talka lot about the American Speech Language
Sharing Association, or better known asyou say, as ASHA. You've been
to CEO for almost two years.In this series, we talked to so
many entrepreneurs and leaders and CEOs aboutthe transition, whether they're with a company
(06:23):
for a short time or long time. As you have been on and off
with ASHA for thirty five plus years, but lately the last couple of years
as CEO, tell us how thathappened, why you wanted to attain that,
and how it's going so far thelast couple of years. Well,
I actually I have. I grewup at ASHA. I came in very
(06:45):
young, very early in my career, learned a great deal about working for
an association, and an association thatwas my professional home. I left the
association after that training grant and decidedthat I could convince someone at Fanny May
(07:11):
that I could be a corporate trainer. So I went to Fanny May,
worked in training and development, learnedto facilitate, to manage, to lead,
and then came back to ASHA.Asha underwent restructure and a friend called
me and said, you know,there's a job at Asher you really need
(07:32):
to look at, and it wasthe chief staff officer for Multicultural Affairs.
While I was at Fannie May,they had launched their diversity program. I
ended up leading the diversity training sothat Fanny May's Office of Diversity became my
primary customer. So I worked witha number of consultants that they had hired
(07:59):
to provide diversity training. Came backto ASHA and was able to blend the
passion and expertise that I had forthe professions with the management and leadership expertise
that I had gained at Fanny May. ASHA was one of the first associations
(08:20):
to focus on diversity related issues,in part because language was our middle name.
That notion that individuals who speak adifferent language or a different variety of
the same language needed to be evaluatedin a way that took into account what
(08:46):
they were trying to accomplish in termsof communication and help them to accomplish what
they needed and wanted, and notjust set this standard for everybody needs to
talk the same way you move aroundour country. You see that's not the
case. So as a result,our Office of well what would be our
(09:09):
Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is actually now called the Office
of Multicultural Affairs. It used tobe minority concerns. I think in its
early years it was urban and ethnicaffairs. But the Office of Multicultural Affairs
has been in existence for over fiftyyears at ASHA, and that's not something
(09:31):
that you hear on a regular basiswithin associations. So most of my leadership
was in leading the association and advancingthose issues within the discipline as well as
within the association industry. I wasable to move into the CEO role a
(09:54):
couple of years ago when my predecessorretired in part because I grew up at
ASHA, because I knew the organizationextremely well. I knew the kinds of
things that had been done, thathad been tried, the things that work,
I knew the people. I hadgained some credibility within the membership.
(10:20):
So for me, it was reallyjust becoming that go to person for our
members, that go to person forour staff, for our volunteer leaders,
the individuals within the membership who havetaken on leadership roles with our board of
Directors on our committee's boards and councils, and that all stemmed back to me
(10:46):
being that little girl with all thosequestions, because I still have all those
questions. I told the Board ofDirectors when I interviewed for the CEO position
a couple of years ago that ifthey were looking for somebody with all the
answers, I wasn't that person.But if they were looking for somebody who
(11:07):
could pull people together to find answers, then I was their girl. Basically,
I've learned that so much of whatwe do as leaders is facilitation.
It's bringing people together, it's findingthe people with the expertise. I don't
need to know a lot of whathappens within our association and within our discipline
(11:28):
because there's so many people who havethat expertise who I can call on and
get them to rally and do someof that work. Well. It's a
great story, and I hope everybodywas intently listening to Vicky, because first
of all, nobody has all theanswers, and if anybody did that in
an interview with me, they're notgoing to be hired. That's number one.
(11:52):
Number two. Vicky also talked aboutlistening and learning and knowing ash as
long as she did. I betthat interview went very well. Glad you
shared that because there's a lot ofentrepreneurs and CEOs and future leaders out there,
VICKI that think they might know itall, but you don't play all
your cards and go down a roadthat way when you're interviewing, especially for
a CEO role. So I'm gladthat you shared that. All right,
(12:15):
let's do this because we have somuch to talk about Ashaw. Why don't
we talk about the mission statement first? What is that Asha's mission statement is
to empower and support speech language pathologistsand audiologists. But the reality is that
our vision is making effective communication,which we believe to be a human right,
(12:39):
accessible and achievable for all. Inorder to do that, we need
to make sure that our members haveall of the resources at their disposal.
So we develop a lot of thoseresources, we point them to them,
we make sure that they have theinformation they need, and we're advocating for
(13:00):
them on a regular basis. We'realso advancing science. We are fostering excellence
and professional practice and setting standards toassure that the services that are provided are
quality services. And we're also advocatingfor the individuals who have speech, language
and hearing disorders. All right,VICKI, if you and I were to
(13:22):
bumping each other on the street andI didn't know anything about Asha, and
I said, hey, I gotto go get coffee in about forty seconds,
tell me what you do forty secondsis really tough because we're representing both
audiologists and speech language pathologists. Butspeech language pathologists are those individuals who are
(13:46):
available to help individuals who have speechor language difficulty. That difficulty can be
the result of a stroke, itcan be the result of somebody who stutters.
It can be the result of somebodywho has difficulty putting words together,
who's having difficulty remembering words at adifferent point at a given point in time.
(14:09):
Audiologists, on the other hand,are individuals who are evaluating and diagnosing
hearing disorders and assuring that individuals havethe right mechanisms at their disposal, including
(14:30):
hearing aids, but not just hearingaids, to assure that they're able to
make use of the sounds that they'rehearing. They've worked with individuals from cradle
to grave, so they're making surethat individuals that babies are hearing that children
are learning speech in language the waythat they should and are able to effectively
(14:54):
communicate their needs to their families,all the way up through individuals who are
at the end of life and mayhave difficulties swallowing or have some balance issues.
So a combination of things and areally broad spectrum of scopes of practice
(15:16):
for the professions understood. Thanks forsharing all that. So I think a
lot of our listeners and myself weresaying, well, I wonder what the
criteria. So how is the criteriaand are you only working with people yourself
in the DMV or is this anationwide effort? Tell us about that.
We are a national organization. Ourmembers practice not just here in the States
(15:41):
but around the world. So thereare speech language pathologists, some of whom
are our members, who are workingnot just here in the US, but
also in other countries. There area number of organizations like ASHET. There's
an international organization, there's a Brazilianorganization, there's a Chinese organization. So
(16:04):
we collaborate and work with a lotof those organizations to advance the discipline.
There are no real criteria. Oftenindividuals who need a speech language pathologists or
audiologists aren't thinking I need this personto help me. They're thinking I'm not
(16:26):
able to do this, or I'mnot hearing what everybody else is hearing.
I'm not able to communicate effectively.My child's not speaking like their brother or
sister did as they were developing.Those are the times where calling ASHA or
(16:47):
looking on our website and finding aprofessional are key to get services as early
as possible. Understood. I knowyou probably have so many great stories,
and in just a moment, Iwould like you to maybe share one that's
memory to you. Or you gotup one day and you and your team
made a difference, So let's puta pin in that just for a second.
But I always like to talk tononprofits, especially leaders, about challenges.
(17:10):
It's not always unicorns and rainbows allthe time, even though there are
some amazing stories out there of helpingfamilies and individuals. But what are the
current challenges that are happening right nowfor ASHA? I think the biggest challenges
are that ASHA members are often notrecognized for the value they provide until after
(17:36):
you've worked with one. So somewherethere's this gap between I've got a problem
or I've got a situation where aspeech to language pathologists or an audiologists might
be able to help, and oh, you're the person who can help me.
And that person they identify an audiologistor a speech language pathologists and they
(18:00):
wow, if I only had known. But if you are experiencing any kind
of communication difficulty, it's better toask the question. And often they ask
a pediatrician, or they'll ask andyour nose and throat doctor, as opposed
(18:21):
to seeking someone who is trained specificallyto work on the communication aspect of what
they're dealing with. All right,let's talk about a great story. I
know there are probably thousands of greatstories that you've experienced over the thirty five
plus years of being associated with ASHA. But is there something maybe lately that
has happened with an individual, afamily, or a doctor or a situation
(18:42):
where he said, you know what, that's why we get up every morning.
We made a difference that day.Can you share something with us?
I'm probably not the right person toanswer that question because those are typically the
kinds of days that our members haveon a regular basis, But I can
share that we have spent some timeworking with the American Academy of Pediatrics the
(19:11):
AAP came out with a set ofdevelopmental milestones that didn't include information that we
thought needed to be included about what'shappening with a child's speech, language and
hearing. So we reached out tothem. We've been working on pulling together
new information that is evidence based thatsays here's when you can expect these kinds
(19:37):
of things for your child if theyare learning English, and when you might
expect them. We are also goingto be adding to that what you might
expect if your child is learning twolanguages. Because bilingualism, we know has
some major advantages for individuals, butwe need to make sure that folks have
(20:06):
access to accurate information. So manytimes bilingual families are told no, just
speak English. And the reality iswe want this richness that we gain and
the facility that you gain in beingbilingual has some major advantages for you.
(20:26):
So we want as many individuals tobe bilingual as possible. We don't want
that to be seen as a drawback. Well, I got to tell you
Vicky, thank good as you guyswere there to fill in the gaps,
and I think that's really huge andI thought you a very big deal.
I'm glad to share that as well. All right, as we wrap up
our conversation, Vicky, the flooris yours. There's going to be a
(20:48):
lot of people that are listening toour interview that we're enjoying so much in
the education of Asha. But ifyou were to maybe have our listeners maybe
with one or two takeaways when itcomes to Asha, what would they be.
I think anyone who's listening who isexperiencing a communication difficulty or who has
a loved one who is My advicewould be to seek treatment right away.
(21:18):
Don't wait. If you get toa professional who says you can afford some
time, great, But you don'twant to be in that situation where you
know, you hear Oh, ifyou had only come a few months before,
we might have been able to stopthis hearing loss. Or you know,
if you had come earlier, wemight have been able to do something
(21:40):
different. So you can find acertified audiologist or speech language pathologist by going
to our website www dot Asha dotorg. There's a button or a blue
bar that says says a number ofthings, but on far right it says
the public. If you click onthat button, it'll take you to consumer
(22:03):
information that has information on a varietyof disorders that you might be experiencing.
But it also has a button thatsays find a professional that will help you
find a certified audiologist through speech languagepathologists. All right, and speaking of
buttons, there's a giant dont nowbutton. And also on the nabbar there
are ways to give individual donors,organizational donors, and corporate sponsors. That's
(22:29):
really important stuff. Let's spend acouple of minutes before we say goodbyes on
that, because I know when itcomes to nonprofits the money coming in,
VICKI really important tell people just alittle bit about those three categories. Well,
most of our funding comes from acombination of member dues, So members,
dues and fees provide probably sixty percentor so of our funds. But
(22:55):
we also seek nonduse revenue for sponsorshipand partnership. The thing that I would
suggest that your listeners do if they'reinterested in contributing, is to look at
our foundation, the American Speech LanguageHearing Foundation, which is ASH foundation.
(23:18):
That foundation supports science and scholarship inthe disciplines or in the discipline, and
there are ways that you can fundscholarships. There are ways that you can
fund science that's occurring that helps toserve as the basis for the practice of
(23:41):
our professions. I privately fund anonymouslyan emergency fund through an organization for students
who end up in situations like Iwas, who are about to get kicked
out of school and you've done everythingyou possibly can to stay in school to
become a speech language pathologists or audiologists, and we have major shortages, especially
(24:04):
on the speech side. So manyof our members work in schools, so
we want to make sure that wehave as many of these individuals who have
this kind of expertise in training tohelp individuals with communication difficulties. I'm standing,
VICKI thank you for sharing all that. Let's give that website one more
time. It is www dot ashadot org. And you're also on some
(24:27):
social media channels too, correct weare. We are on Facebook and Instagram.
I believe we are at ASHAWB andwe are also on LinkedIn as the
American Speech Language Area Association. Wellfantastic. I can tell you how much
I appreciate your time. I haven'ttalked to somebody that's been on and off
(24:49):
with an organization for as long asyou have, so testament to you too.
Just it really is an incredible storythat this is. You know your
life, and you put some muchinto it, and now you're leading everybody
for the next wave of what ASHis going to do over the next ten,
twenty and fifty years. I hadsuch an incredible story. I feel
(25:10):
so grateful that we had a chanceto visit with you, and I'm glad
that our listeners got to know youa little bit. And then I hope
they check out the website donate ifthey can, and see all the great
things that you, your team andthe doctors and all the different researchers are
doing. It really is remarkable.Vicky, thank you so much for joining
us today. Continue success, andwe really appreciate you joining us on CEOs.
You should know, thanks for havingme. Our community partner, M
(25:30):
and T Bank supports CEOs. Youshould know is part of their ongoing commitment
to building strong communities, and thatstarts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, Mand T believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrivebecause when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
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