AMERICAN BAKERS ASSOCIATION (ABA)

About The Organization

Join the only national trade association dedicated exclusively to the voice of the wholesale baking industry. Representing businesses from large global conglomerates to multi-generational family bakeries and innovative startups, ABA is committed to advancing the industry through powerful advocacy, cutting-edge consumer research, and world-class networking. ABA is a $12M organization with 18 staff in a phase of significant growth and entrepreneurial leadership.

Why This Role Matters

As the Vice President of Membership & Growth, you will serve first and foremost as the organization’s chief relationship cultivator — safeguarding the deep, trust-based bonds with ABA’s ~350 members while simultaneously acting as a strategic ‘business grower’ who balances consultative sales and authentic relationship cultivation with the science of high-level business development.

In this high-impact executive role, you will work in lockstep with the President & CEO, and cross-functionally with staff, to translate the association’s diverse portfolio of industry-leading resources into tailored member value to both members and prospects.

Acting as a strategic lead, you will coalesce expertise from across the organization to proactively attract new growth opportunities, including membership recruitment, inorganic growth, and allied partnerships, ensuring the organization’s unique value proposition is promoted and protected.

What You’ll Do

• Lead Strategic Membership Growth: Oversee the entire membership function, focusing on the retention of current members (60% of the role) and the recruitment of high-impact wholesale bakeries and allied suppliers (20% of the role).

• Drive Business Development: Act as the lead “attractor” for new business opportunities (remaining 20% of the role.) Partner with outside consultants, the VP of Finance and Operations, and the VP of Events and Programming to evaluate potential growth and partnership opportunities, serving as the primary relationship lead in the acquisition process.

• Cultivate High-Touch Relationships: Serve as an ambassador for ABA, building authentic relationships with industry leaders by visiting member sites and attending industry trade shows. As this is a relationship-driven industry, members expect deeply personal, proactive engagement — not just transactional contact.

• Champion Member Value: Continuously assess and promote ABA’s value proposition. Work cross-functionally with Advocacy, Communications, Research, and Events teams to translate high-impact industry resources into compelling, segment-specific value for members.

• Ensure Operational Excellence: Oversee the deployment and adoption of a recently rolled out Association Management System (re:Members); build the engagement scoring framework; and convert it into a true prospecting dashboard.

Who You’ll Supervise

You will provide leadership to a growing department, currently overseeing a Membership Manager focused on retention. After assessing needs, you will move quickly to hire a second membership professional focused on sales support and pipeline development, freeing you to maximize time on member relationships, prospecting, and travel.

What You Bring

• Membership / Business Development Expertise: Progressively responsible leadership roles in trade association membership acquisition and business development with a focus on revenue strategy, and cross-functional, value-based growth.

• Strategic Entrepreneurialism: The ability to match the entrepreneurialism of the CEO while maintaining the strategic discipline to ensure every initiative is operationally vetted before launch.

• A Bias for Action: The drive to consistently prospect, follow up, and push the pipeline forward — combined with the patience for long sales cycles in a relationship-first industry.

• Analytical and Strategic Skills: Experience in identifying market trends, analyzing metrics, and developing potential growth models.

• Authentic Relationship Building: Natural ability to engage multi-generational, family-owned business owners, building genuine, human-first relationships.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: A genuine, proactive collaborator who brings in colleagues from Events, Government Relations, Communications, and Finance — not just to close deals, but to build strategy and deliver member value cross-functionally.

• Operational Agility: Comfort operating as both a senior strategist and a hands-on contributor in a lean team environment — willing to do what it takes to execute, not just direct.

• Project Management: Ability to oversee project logistics, ensuring every milestone is tracked and priorities are executed with precision.

• Willingness to Travel: Availability for frequent domestic travel (up to 25-30%) to engage with members and prospects onsite, and represent ABA at major industry events.

Salary

$220,000 – $240,000 + competitive benefits + bonus (Note: Bonus is distributed to all staff based on organizational performance. It is not individual commission since sales and growth are interdependently achieved.)

Location | Work-Life

We offer a hybrid schedule with three days in the Washington, DC Navy Yard office. Our CEO intentionally models work-life balance.

Culture

As a lean, entrepreneurial team, our VPs are both strategic leaders and hands-on contributors — this is a roll-up-your-sleeves environment where leaders lead by example.

Our overall culture is a high-energy, family-friendly environment that values collaboration, flexibility, and professional growth.

How to Apply

This is a retained search. Please send a thoughtfully tailored cover letter and resume to Shira Lotzar at Purposeful Hire: shira@purposefulhire.com