FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brittany Carter
Phone: (240) 235-0270
Email: bcarter@columbiabooks.com

BETHESDA, MD (November 13, 2014). - John Engler President, Business Roundtable, Washington, is the TRENDS 2015 Association Executive of the Year. “Governor Engler is an example of the best that can be achieved when a top figure from the world of politics embraces the very different but no less challenging world of association leadership and this honor is endorsed by his Board members, colleagues and members at all three of the major associations which he has led. His work and leadership over the years at the National Governors Association and the National Association of Manufacturers, as well as his current leadership of the Business Roundtable makes him a worthy successor to the association leaders who have been honored since James Low was first recognized as TRENDS Association Executive of the Year in 1980," TRENDS Publisher Joel Poznansky said. 

 A former three-term governor of Michigan, Engler assumed leadership of Business Roundtable in January 2011 after serving six years as president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.

As BRT president, Engler brings CEO expertise and insights to bear on major challenges facing the United States, including global competitiveness, innovation, economic growth and job creation. BRT member CEOs lead global companies that invest $158 billion annually in research and development – equal to 62 percent of private U.S. R&D spending. In addition, they pay more than $200 billion in dividends to shareholders and generate more than $540 billion in sales for small and medium-sized businesses annually.

Throughout his leadership at both the NAM and Business Roundtable, Engler has been heavily engaged in education and workforce issues, identifying the pressing shortage of skilled employees as a growing threat to American competitiveness in the 21st century’s high-tech global economy.

Engler serves on the board of directors for Universal Forest Products, K12 Inc. and the Annie E. Casey Foundation and is a past chairman of the National Governors Association. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has named him a member of the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. Born in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan in 1948, Engler graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor of science in agricultural economics. Later, he earned a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. He and his wife, Michelle, are parents of triplet daughters born in 1994 – Margaret, Hannah and Madeleine – and live in Virginia. 

Engler will be honored at the TRENDS 2015 Salute to Association Excellence, February 6 at the Capital Hilton in Washington. Details: www.AssociationTRENDS.com/salute. Also to be honored at the TRENDS Salute will be the 2015 Association Partner of the Year, Andy Steggles, Higher Logic; the 2014 Young and Aspiring Association Professionals; and the winners of the 2014 TRENDS All Media Contest, the most watched and respected competition for association communications in the country. For more information on the Salute, visit www.AssociationTRENDS.com/salute. 

For a complete biography, go to www.AssociationTRENDS.com/salute/honorees. 

About Association TRENDS: TRENDS has provided "seriously useful news & information for association leaders" in print and online since 1973. TRENDS is a division of Columbia Books & Information Services, which also publishes AssociationExecs.com, The Original U.S. Congress Handbook and Lobbyists.info, among other important resources.