Executive Director
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Tara Sheehan has served as the Executive Director of the Association since 2010. In this role, she is the Chief Operating Officer and oversees all programs, services and the strategic direction for APPAM. Her responsibilities include oversight of all meetings and conferences, including the annual Fall Research Conference, attended by more than 1,750 academics, practitioners, researchers, and students who present original research at 250-plus sessions each November. She also manages APPAM’s finances, website, publications, awards, member services and all governance functions for the 2,000 member organization. During her tenure, APPAM underwent its first ever strategic planning process, redesigned the website, established a social media presence, redesigned the logo, reduced the size of the governing board, increased the budget of the organization by 20%, increased its membership and made the organization more responsive to member needs.
Previously, Ms. Sheehan was the Director of Membership and Marketing at the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). Her responsibilities included management of the annual conference, creation of content for the website, and management of a monthly magazine. Prior to RTDNA, Ms. Sheehan was the Membership and Marketing Director for the United Motorcoach Association (UMA), a trade association in Alexandria, VA. She has served as the number two staff position at both RTDNA and UMA and has a long history of association and non-profit management experience in the Washington, DC area.
Ms. Sheehan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Politics from New York University in 1998. She received a Master of Public Policy degree, with a concentration in Transportation Policy, from George Mason University in 2005.
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Education and Conferences Director
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Tristanne M. Staudt serves as the Education and Conferences Manager for APPAM. In this role, she oversees the abstract submission, review, and speaker management processes for the organization’s various conferences and events. In addition, she works closely with APPAM leadership to ensure the conferences move in a forward, successful direction.
Ms. Staudt worked previously as APPAM’s Membership, Marketing, & Special Projects Manager from 2014-2015 before stepping into her current role. Prior to that she served as the Membership Manager of Member & Council Relations at the American Medical Group Association, managing nine large networking councils of healthcare executives and serving as a first point of contact for all members. She also has additional membership and meeting support experience from other associations in the Washington, DC area.
Ms. Staudt earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Toledo in 2009, and is currently working on a Master’s of Business Administration from Champlain College.
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Membership and Administration Manager
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Meghan Grenda serves as the Membership and Administration Manager. She is responsible for administration of all membership services, managing member recruitment and retention plans, and overseeing the tracking of membership reports and trends.
Previously, Meghan was Manager of Program Outreach and Coordination at the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where worked directly with the association’s District Councils to help implement sustainable and healthy living programs at the local level. Prior to ULI Meghan spent five years at the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) as Member Services Manager. At NALP Meghan managed all member renewal and onboarding activities, coordinated annual member invoicing, and served as the first point of contact for all member inquiries.
Meghan is originally from Michigan, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Michigan State University. Post-graduation, she relocated to Washington, DC where she earned her Master of Public Policy Degree from George Mason University. |
Communication and Marketing Manager
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Larissa Dalton Stephanoff joined APPAM as the Communcation and Marketing Manager in the fall of 2017. In this role she manages the Update newsletters, website content, event marketing, interviews and news releases, advertising, social media communities and overseas the design of event branding with an outside graphic designer.
Prior to APPAM, Larissa was the Communication and Marketing Manager at the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) where her primary function was as the in-house graphic designer and brand manager. Larissa developed all event branding, created or oversaw the design of national research reports and managed all event marketing. Larissa was the Communication Coordinator at Catholic Volunteer Netowork (CVN) before NALP as the first communication professional in CVN's history.
Larissa holds a Master's degree in International Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
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Meetings and Conferences Manager
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Samantha Oliver joined APPAM as the Meetings and Conferences Coordinator in Spring 2016. She is responsible for coordinating the logistics and providing support for all APPAM conferences and meetings. She helps ensure that all events achieve APPAM’s goals and objectives.
Samantha earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University and moved back to the DC area after graduation. She planned & executed over 300 events during her time as an event manager in Tysons, VA. These events ranged from large-scale galas to small-scale meetings and everything in-between.
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Program and Conference Coordinator
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Leslie Ofori joined APPAM in July 2017 and serves as the Program and Conference Coordinator. As part of APPAM’s new partnership with ASHEcon, American Society of Health Economists, she splits her time between both organizations. She is responsible for helping coordinate ASHEcon’s Annual Conference, managing the awards submissions process, coordinating membership and marketing efforts andassists with APPAM’s program and membership management tasks.
Previously, Leslie worked as the Development Assistant at Jobs With Justice, where she provided administrative support to the Development office and participated in all institutional advancement activities including donor and public relations, direct mail appeals, and special events coordination. Leslie moved to the District of Columbia after graduating from Loyola University in Maryland with a degree in communications. Prior to Jobs With Justice, she worked as a contractor with the Corporation for National and Community Service, the nation’s largest grantmaker, supporting grant application processing. She has also worked on campaigns to raise awareness about the impact of oil drilling in the Amazon, help immigrants navigate the judicial system and address the high school dropout crisis. |