FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Samantha Kilgore
Phone: 706-845-9085
email: skilgore@asginfo.net
LaGrange, GA — The American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) has selected Association Services Group (ASG) for full service management, effective August 1. The AAEA is a 450+ membership organization dedicated to the professional improvement of all communicators across Ag media.
The selection came after a fast-paced, four-month executive search process led by the AAEA Executive Search Committee with the guidance of Steve Drake of the SCD Group. Current AAEA Executive Director Den Gardner announced in February he would retire from the position effective July 31, 2016.
“We are really excited about this selection and about working with ASG to help our organization as it moves toward our 100th anniversary,” said Holly Martin, the AAEA Search Committee chair and editor of High Plains Journal.
Samantha Kilgore will serve as the AAEA executive director. Kilgore holds a bachelor’s of science degree in agricultural communications from the University of Georgia. She joined ASG in 2011 as an intern and currently serves executive director of the Georgia Watermelon Association and the Georgia Self-Storage Association. “As an agricultural communications graduate from the University of Georgia, I couldn’t be more excited that ASG has been selected to serve as the management partner for the AAEA,” Kilgore said. “I am looking forward to working alongside this board and membership of ag communicators.”
The search process resulted in proposals from 21 management firms. The committee reviewed and analyzed 10 semifinalists and individually ranked the firms as their 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th choices. Using this ranking system, the committee developed their top 3 candidates. Each of the top 3 were invited to meet with the search committee on June 14-15. Following those interviews, the committee unanimously recommended ASG to the AAEA board. In a special AAEA board conference call June 16, the board unanimously approved the selection of ASG as their new management firm.
“AAEA deeply values the long relationship it has had with Den Gardner and the Gardner & Gardner team who has done so much to help AAEA over the last 16 years. We are truly grateful to their work,” said Elaine Shein, AAEA president and DTN/Progressive Farmer associate managing editor. “And, yet, we are excited and looking forward to the work of Samantha and the incoming ASG team.”
About the Association Services Group, LLC
ASG is a Georgia-based association management company that Charles Hall founded 21 years ago. ASG provides professional management services to trade associations, membership societies and not-for-profit organizations. ASG is one of only 81 ANSI/AMC Institute accredited management firms in the country and is located in LaGrange, Georgia. Of their 12 association partners/clients, five are national/international; one is a multi-state regional; and six are Georgia state organization. Some 40 percent of their clients are agriculturally based. For more information: www.associationservicesgroup.net
About American Agricultural Editors’ Association
AAEA is a nearly 100-year old organization committed to professional improvement and networking for communicators across the entire spectrum of agricultural media. Members include editors, writers, photojournalists, designers and public relations professionals. As an organization driven by its membership, AAEA delivers the kind of professional improvement and networking the marketplace demands, including the Agricultural Media Summit, regional workshops, international meetings and The ByLine, AAEA’s monthly newsletter. The organization and its members operate under a strict code of ethics, guiding members to deliver timey and relevant content to North America’s farmers and ranchers. For more information: www.ageditors.com.
