Trade Associations & Professional Bodies

Faced with such diverse operational objectives, associations and professional bodies usually have very specific requirements in terms of the skills, assets and experience they seek in potential candidates for senior leadership roles. They need to recruit executives who can balance competing interests within their organisations, who can manage technological change, and who can seamlessly switch from member engagement to political lobbying. They need passionate advocates with outstanding communication skills, well-honed commercial acumen and a pragmatic approach to achieving objectives.

Our membership body executive search work combines an understanding of how these organisations are governed and funded with the knowledge held across Stone Executive’s sector practices, which work closely with the industries and professions that members come from. We identify and appoint leaders who can bring positive change for their members and for the broader sector they represent.

Trade association and professional body leaders we appoint

Our executive recruitment for membership bodies covers the chief executive or director general who represents the membership to government, regulators and the media, and the directors responsible for policy, membership, standards and commercial income. These roles all bring together representation, governance and the commercial management of an organisation funded by its members.

Chief executive and director general

In many trade bodies, the chief executive is called director general. The role reports to an elected council or board and speaks for the full membership in public. A professional body chief executive also carries accountability for the standards the profession sets for itself. These searches draw on the same methodology as our wider chief executive appointments, adapted to the governance of a member-led organisation.

Director of policy and public affairs

Advocacy is central to the purpose of most trade associations. The director of policy and public affairs assembles the evidence, handles relationships with government departments and parliamentarians, and brings the views of a diverse membership together into a single position. We appoint policy, public affairs and communications directors who are credible with ministers and officials and trusted by members.

Membership and commercial directors

Income seldom comes from subscriptions alone, as events, training, qualifications, publications and sponsorship often pay for a large part of the organisation’s work, and membership and commercial directors are responsible for growing that income while keeping members engaged and renewing their subscriptions.

Director of standards, education and qualifications

For professional bodies, the director of standards oversees entry requirements, examinations, continuing professional development and how conduct matters are handled. This role needs technical authority in the profession, and the judgement to safeguard the reputation of the qualification.

Trade associations and professional bodies: what is different

A trade association represents the companies in a single industry. A professional body represents the individuals who practise one profession, and it normally sets the standards for entry and conduct. Both have to answer to their members, and that shapes how their leaders are appointed, how they are governed and how they earn their income.

Governance is the principal feature that sets these organisations apart. An association usually has an elected president or chair at the top, along with a council or board made up of members. The chief executive is therefore accountable to elected volunteers who are also the organisation’s members and customers. Appointments to the board itself run through our president, chair and non-executive appointments work.

Some professional bodies hold a Royal Charter. The Privy Council Office states that a body seeking a Charter should exist primarily to advance the public interest, as well as the interests of its members. The chief executive of a chartered body therefore answers for public confidence in the profession, alongside services to members.

Trade associations generally reinvest any surplus in their services and representation, although HMRC guidance confirms that trade associations are within the charge to Corporation Tax.

Our work in this area sits within our wider public sector executive search practice, which also covers charities, government bodies and arts organisations.

Recruiting from the industries members work in

Members look to their chief executive to understand the commercial pressures they face, so knowledge of the industry an association represents can carry significant weight when a shortlist is drawn up. Stone Executive’s sector practices give us direct access to senior leaders in those industries.

A large proportion of Stone Executive’s searches are for statutory and non-statutory company directors across many sectors. That work draws on networks among the directors and managing directors of the businesses that make up a trade body’s membership, from our Construction practice to our work in insurance leadership and manufacturing. For a professional body, the equivalent pool is senior practitioners who have held leadership roles within the profession.

In trade association recruitment at this level, we assess every candidate from industry on how well they would adapt to a member-led organisation. That means working with an elected council, building consensus among competing members and speaking for them in public on policy matters.

Our trade association executive search process

Our trade association executive search process is a retained, partner-led search in four stages, built around the governance of a member-led organisation. A typical search runs for four to eight weeks from briefing to offer acceptance, and council approval, the availability of elected officers and notice periods can each add time.

Brief. We work with the president, chair, nominations committee or council responsible for the appointment to settle the role, the priorities of the membership, and the balance between advocacy, member services and commercial income.

Market mapping. We look for candidates in the relevant industry or profession, in other trade associations and professional bodies, and in adjacent public and not-for-profit organisations.

Discreet approach. As a rule, senior leaders are already in post and not actively looking. We approach each one personally and in confidence, with a clear account of the organisation and the opportunity.

Shortlist and appointment. We put forward a shortlist with a detailed written profile for each candidate, run interviews with panels, which in member-led organisations may include elected members, and stay involved in the appointment until the candidate starts.

FAQs

To discuss a trade association or professional body appointment, please contact our team on 0333 800 1560.