Overcoming Obsolete Leadership
Why Yesterday’s Lessons Won’t Drive Tomorrow’s Success
by Lindsay Currie, Christina Lewellen, and Tara Puckey
In late summer 2021, four association executives, worn down by eighteen months of crisis management, climbed into a minivan for a long drive to an industry event in North Carolina. Somewhere between the snack stops and the traffic jams, they realized that the leadership playbooks they had relied on for years no longer worked, and that no one had written new ones. That conversation became a years-long search for a new kind of leadership: more inclusive, more honest about failure, and built on the support of peers rather than the old “good ole’ boys’ network.”
Edited by Lindsay Currie, Christina Lewellen and Tara Puckey, Overcoming Obsolete Leadership is organized as a road trip of ten “Miles.” It gathers candid, first-person takes from women leading associations across the country on making room for quiet voices, leading without a manual, the loneliness of the top job, breaking big goals into manageable pieces, and recovering from mistakes. It has no single formula and doesn’t pretend to. It offers instead the hard-won perspective of leaders doing the work, for women who lead or aspire to lead associations and nonprofit membership organizations, and for the boards who support them.
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About the Authors
Lindsay Currie, CAE, is the Executive Officer of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), where she leads strategic initiatives that elevate undergraduate research and strengthen the impact of the broader higher education ecosystem. She brings two decades of experience in association management, with a focus on innovation, community-building, and long-term sustainability. She serves on the Governing Board of NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement, the Board of the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), and the ASAE Executive Management Committee, and is a Senior Fellow with the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. Lindsay is co-author of several publications, including Triage, Transition, and Transformation: How the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Adapted and Evolved in a COVID-19 World, and is a frequent speaker on leadership sustainability, executive foresight, and sector transformation.
Christina Lewellen, MBA, FASAE, CAE, is President and CEO of the Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS), the only national organization devoted solely to the technology and innovation practices of independent schools. Under her leadership, ATLIS has become a trusted voice on how schools can leverage AI, data, and digital strategy to strengthen teaching and learning, as well as the business of running K-12 schools. She travels coast to coast speaking at conferences and visiting schools, where she facilitates workshops on AI adoption, cybersecurity readiness, digital governance, and the evolving role of technology leadership in education. She was named an ASAE Fellow in 2025, an honor bestowed on fewer than one percent of association executives, and she holds an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Tara Puckey, MBA, FASAE, CAE, CMP, is the President and CEO of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), where she leads strategic initiatives to advance the organization’s mission of supporting and advocating for electronic journalists. Under her leadership, RTDNA has enhanced its programs, expanded professional development opportunities, and increased its impact within the journalism community. She has held senior leadership roles at both RTDNA and the Society of Professional Journalists, and has trained more than 3,000 journalists and nonprofit professionals in effective leadership. Recognized as one of Association Forum’s Forty Under 40 and an Obama Leader for 2025-2026, she is a Certified Association Executive, a Certified Meeting Professional, and a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives.