Debbie Trueblood, a Senior Consultant with AMC’s Consulting team, has 20 years of progressive leadership experience in association management. She has served as Executive Director for several health care associations, including Illinois HomeCare & Hospice Council (Interim), Academy for Eating Disorders, and Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
Additionally, she has served as Executive Director for the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the Illinois Park and Recreation Association. Under her leadership, her former association engaged in a multi-faceted diversity, equity, and inclusion program incorporating research, education, networking, awards, mentoring, scholarships, a resource library, etc. anchored by a program to initiate "safe space" conversations with members around topics of racism, LGBTQ+, Latinx, etc. This program was later rolled out nationally. Debbie was granted the association’s Diversity Icon Award in 2019.
Debbie is an experienced association leader in crisis/turnaround environments, frequently presenting on the topic for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and Association Forum and featured in national publications. She is a regular speaker on a variety of topics, including association ethics, glass ceiling issues, job hunting, and designing mentoring programs.
Debbie is a skilled facilitator, leading discussions both in-person and virtually. Recently, she facilitated and executed a strategic plan for an organization requiring an extensive turnaround, as well as co-designing an emergency plan during the COVID era. She has partnered with other strategic planning consultants to design plans, including one deemed “a revolutionary plan.” Debbie also has experience facilitating sessions resulting in the design of new product lines.
During her leadership, her former association was honored with national awards for a leadership development program, a mentoring program, and a member engagement campaign, as well as being a finalist for a public relations campaign.
She has lobbied for home care and hospice as well as for osteopathic physicians, performing extensive research and analysis, to draft legislation, talking points, fiscal notes, etc. Debbie is currently Vice-Chair for the National Association of Park Foundations and Vice-Chair of the Association Forum’s Welcoming Environment Committee. In 2018-2019, she served as Chair of the ASAE Ethics Committee and led the team in publishing a national ethics toolkit for associations. She was a recipient of the Association Forum’s “Forty Under Forty” award and has a master’s in social work from the University of Illinois at Chicago.