Five minutes with Mark Franklin

I’ve been a member of AuSAE since…

1978. I joined as soon as I heard it existed and became a member of the Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) board the following year.

The most valuable thing about my membership is…

It provides formal recognition that association management is a profession in its own right, but more importantly it helps to uphold the principles of the freedom of association, which is one of the great underlying foundations for a free and democratic society.

Before I was an association executive I was…

A financial analyst. I believe that anyone working in any role within the not-for-profit (NFP) sector should have some commercial experience to ensure that they understand the priority of quality and prompt customer service.

If I wasn’t an association executive I would be…

Playing the contrabassoon.

The thing that gets me out of bed every morning is…

This assumes that I go to bed.

My career highlight would have to be…

I should say being President of AuSAE in 1992/93 but actually it’s yet to come.

I love working with the NFP sector because…

Its prime purpose is service to stakeholders not dividends to shareholders. There’s nothing wrong with the latter, indeed it’s essential, but there are other things that keep the world going round.

The trouble with some associations is…

They stop seeing themselves as associations. That is, they fail to recognise they are a membership-based organisation. Some have gone from multi-million dollar annual growth to substantial losses when this happens.

As a manager it’s important to…

Be seen and be available to staff, the board and members to enhance what they are thinking about or working on.

The relationship between a CEO and board is…

Is there supposed to be one? No-one ever told me.

I am inspired by…

Australia’s successful multicultural community. If there is one thing that could be described as a defining Australian characteristic it’s multiculturalism.

When I am not working, you can find me…

Surfing, bush walking, motorbike- riding, giving guest lectures in quantum mechanics at the local pub – anything that lets me experience the wide variety of Australian cultural and natural environments.