Association Executives Council (AEC)
Who We Are
The Association Executives Council is an “association within an association.” Its members are the professional executive staff of PHCC’s local, state and regional associations. They are where the rubber meets the road on membership, meetings and managing the impact of government rules and regulations on local contractors across the country.
What We Do
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote that U.S. states were “laboratories of democracy” where ideas were tried and tested, allowing states (and the Federal government) to learn from one another. Similarly, AEC members direct the PHCC laboratories of effectively meeting the needs of the increasingly diverse plumbing, heating and cooling industry.
Local, state and regional PHCC executive staff manage literally hundreds of apprenticeship programs, board meetings, contractor dinners, membership drives, conventions, trade shows, golf tournaments, turkey shoots, poker tournaments, continuing education classes and fundraising auctions each year.
AEC members, either directly or through lobbyists, are the eyes, ears and voice of PHCC members in state Capitol buildings, and at county and city commissions, boards and councils, across the country. It is here where most licensing, continuing education, apprenticeship, building codes, labor laws, and other issues are debated and implemented. Even global pandemic mitigation rules are primarily proposed and promulgated at the state and local level.
AEC members are in direct communication with PHCC members -- often face-to-face -- on a daily basis.
How We Help
AEC members work collectively to help one another establish best practices for managing a PHCC association. They train one another. They mentor new members. They network together to share ideas with each other about what is working (or not working) in their respective local, state or regional chapters. Together, AEC members have multiple hundreds of years of experience managing trade associations. And they are never shy about sharing their experience with others.
AEC members generally meet four times annually, twice virtually and twice in person. They meet at Connect, when all of PHCC gathers together. They also have their own annual “Spectrum” conference. It is part boot camp, part summer camp, part therapy session, and part graduate school – but it is always all about lifting up one another with high quality presentations on how to remain on the cutting edge of membership growth and management, building non-dues income streams, and providing new and better services to our industry. They even talk about how to manage volunteer boards.
Finally, AEC members also review one another’s work products, annually awarding recognition to those who excel.
Where we fit in
AEC members serve on National PHCC boards and committees, acting as the collective voice of regional, state and local associations executive staff. AEC’s President, elected annually, serves on the National PHCC Board. The Immediate Past President serves on the National PHCC Foundation Board. AEC members also serve on numerous state and local plumbing boards, CTE commissions and other similar bodies where the voice of contractors needs to be heard.
AEC is funded through membership dues and sponsorship funding during our Spectrum conference.