With an annual operating budget of $2 million, a national office staff of 13, and the anticipated 2004 retirement of veteran and beloved administrative director Ellen Fertig, APsaA stood in need of a highly experienced professional organizational director. New Yorker Dean K. Stein, formerly deputy executive director of the charitable Dyson Foundation and previously executive director of Chamber Music America, a national, membership-based arts organization, was selected by the search committee. The Council approved his hire in June 2003, and he arrived for work in November.
Stein's tenure at Chamber Music America featured the impressive feats of increasing the organization's earned income tenfold and its individual membership by a factor of six.
In the months just before Stein's arrival, APsaA's electronic and paper communications pathways were replete with references to “we'll wait for Dean Stein to help decide this …,” testifying to the eagerness with which his arrival was anticipated. Issues that awaited him include a major overhaul of our organizational website, assisting the American Psychoanalytic Foundation with problems of staffing, organization, and fundraising, and less reliance on consultants in various areas.
TAP interviewed Stein in the weeks just before he began work at the organization:
Q. When you first noticed the job posting, what was your reaction when you saw it was a psychoanalytic organization? Had you much of a preconception about psychoanalysis or psychoanalysts?
My first reaction was: (a) this is a professional membership association and I've had a great deal of experience leading similar kinds of organizations; (b) the membership is comprised of people who are committed to helping other people—that sounds like a group I would want to devote my energy and expertise to; and (c) from my limited knowledge of this field, it appears that there is important work to be done and that seems like a valuable challenge. I have a number of close friends who have gone through analysis and it was always a fascinating process.
I've always placed a high priority on working with interesting and interested people and the Association certainly seems to fit the bill.
Q. What will be your first priorities when you arrive, besides getting oriented and getting to know people?
I don't think getting oriented and getting to know the people should be minimized. This is an organization with a long and distinguished history. It is also an organization defined by an extraordinarily involved membership. I see my first priority as making sure I understand the history and getting to know as many members as possible. A membership organization like APsaA must reflect the interests and concerns of its members. I can only be effective to the degree that I understand those interests and can work to realize them. Having said that, it seems clear that a top priority will be working with the volunteer leadership to help move the Association back into legal compliance regarding its governance and use that process as an opportunity to determine the best operational structure for the organization. Beyond that, I would hope that my experience of leading other membership associations will allow me to free up the hundreds of APsaA members from the organizational/administrative work they've been doing on behalf of APsaA and allow them to concentrate on the truly important issues facing the field and the Association.
Q. What do you see as our biggest problem(s) organizationally?
From my limited interaction with Association leadership so far (and as I alluded to above), working with the leadership to move the organization to a place where it is in compliance with not-for-profit law appears to be an issue that needs addressing immediately. In doing so, I would hope that the various membership interests will feel well represented, while at the same time the Association will function more smoothly.
Q. What has impressed you most about our group; what are our assets from your perspective, looking at us from the outside as someone with a great deal of experience in non-profits?
There have been many things that impressed me about the Association. First, the members appear to be an incredibly committed group; they care deeply about their profession, about helping people, about the future of the field, and about the health and strength of their membership association. Second, the members of APsaA are all highly educated and thoughtful people—that allows for an extremely high level of discussion to take place.
At the Steering Committee meeting in October, several people commented that the move to an executive director versus an administrative director reflected the ongoing development of the organization. Skills in development (fundraising) and technology development are, for example, more commonly expected of an executive director as opposed to an administrator
—Prudy Gourguechon