The American Library Association (ALA) has announced key changes to its leadership team as the new fiscal year begins.
Interim Senior Associate Executive Director Mary Mackay will retire from ALA on September 1, after nearly 18 years of service in various ALA leadership capacities. In her most recent post, she oversaw the ALA Publishing Department, Conference Services, Continuing Education, and the implementation of ALA’s enterprise-wide cross-functional teams. Since joining ALA in 2005 as marketing director for the publishing unit, Mackay has held several management roles across the Association. Her 35 years working in publishing and other areas of nonprofit organizations, including ProLiteracy, have centered on developing collaborations to help extend the reach of quality content to wider audiences and generating revenue to fund mission-based work.
Upon Mackay’s retirement, Melissa Walling will step into the role of Interim Senior Associate Executive Director. Walling joined ALA in June 2019 as Director of Member Relations & Services and was promoted to Associate Executive Director of ALA Offices and Member Relations in 2022. Since joining the ALA team, Walling has worked to improve the ALA membership experience and support AOMR directors in rebuilding staff capacity and succession planning. In this interim role, she will prioritize strategies to improve staff resources and continue to work as a member of the AED team to meet our goals of structuring for efficiency and building mechanisms and messaging to increase member and public engagement. Walling looks forward to onboarding a new Director of Membership this new fiscal year. Until then, she will work to ensure that ALA’s new membership model and public engagement strategies remain on track.
Walling brings 20 years of association management experience working in membership, customer service, chapter relations, and education into her new role. She currently serves on ASAE’s CAE Commission. Prior to her work at associations, she was a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, West Africa.
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