Member Spotlight: Nathan Chamberlain, CAE
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Nathan Chamberlain, CAEDirector of Membership, American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology
How did you come to the association industry?
I owe my association career to an internship with the Society for American Baseball Research and my oldest brother Ryan, who wore many hats there as the Communications/Media Relations/Programming Manager in the early 2000s. I was completing an undergrad in International Studies and wrote member spotlights of their international members, among other things.
I knew I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector, but I didn’t quite know how or where. After briefly working for a few charities, I landed a role as a membership assistant in a small state-wide association. My boss and mentor there formally introduced me to associations as a professional industry with diverse career paths. I leaned into technology and automation to supplement or replace manual work, and I have carried those themes throughout my career since.
Overall, I’ve worked in associations for about 20 years, with a 2-year stint in the Peace Corps in the middle.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I’m a big believer that none of us is as smart as all of us. My favorite part of my job is facilitating and participating in cross-functional groups to solve big (and small) problems using our unique skills and talents. Each day affords me opportunities to facilitate and foster a culture that thrives on innovation and where colleagues support each other across the organization.
I’m a big believer that none of us is as smart as all of us. My favorite part of my job is facilitating and participating in cross-functional groups to solve big (and small) problems using our unique skills and talents. Each day affords me opportunities to facilitate and foster a culture that thrives on innovation and where colleagues support each other across the organization.
Tell us about a time that your involvement in this community had an impact on your career or life.
Participating in the CAE Study Group while pursuing my CAE certification was truly transformative for me. It was in those sessions that I cemented my commitment to the profession. Not only did I learn more about how associations function from the source material, but I got to peek inside quite a few associations through exercises with my colleagues in the room. Soon after, I enthusiastically joined the professional practices committee and have been facilitating the study group sessions on Domain 4 (operations) since.
Participating in the CAE Study Group while pursuing my CAE certification was truly transformative for me. It was in those sessions that I cemented my commitment to the profession. Not only did I learn more about how associations function from the source material, but I got to peek inside quite a few associations through exercises with my colleagues in the room. Soon after, I enthusiastically joined the professional practices committee and have been facilitating the study group sessions on Domain 4 (operations) since.
Tell us something about you that we wouldn’t find on your LinkedIn profile.
My first paid job was sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms in the funeral home I grew up in. Until I was 11, my two brothers and I were like a combination of Vada Sultenfuss in “My Girl” and the Fisher family of “Six Feet Under.” There was never a dull moment.
My favorite memory from that time was that my dad traded a funeral for a camper. It smelled funny and had flat tires, but it also had a screened-in porch, and electricity, and it was surrounded by a canopy of trees. We called it our summer home for about 15 years, spending many days getting lost in the woods without a care and roasting marshmallows by night. My dad sure got a good deal because we got a lot of life out of that musty old trailer.
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