The Innovation Showcase: Finalist Stories
Five association finalists will take the stage at the ASAE Great Ideas Conference in Minneapolis on Monday, October 19, 2026, to share candid accounts of how they tested new ideas, adjusted course, and learned along the way. Judges’ scores and live audience voting will determine the winner of the $1,000 prize. Read each finalist’s story below.
- Million-Dollar Micro-Credentials to Advance the Profession of School Business (CASBO)
- Rethinking Association Community: From Passive Forums to Facilitated, AI-Enabled Cohorts (AIIM)
- Barriers to Breakthroughs: Reimagining Administrator Development (PositiveAge)
- Paraeducator Bootcamp: A Statewide Workforce Stabilization & Quality Initiative (MAASE)
- From Static Standards to Dynamic Data: CSI Dynamic Standards + MasterProduct Pilot (CSI)
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL BUSINESS OFFICIALS (CASBO)
Million-Dollar Micro-Credentials to Advance the Profession of School Business
Presenter: Tracy L. Petrillo, EdD, CAE, Chief Learning Officer
School business professionals need skills that match the roles they actually hold, and traditional, one-size-fits-all training doesn’t always deliver them. CASBO set out to test a different approach: short, competency-based credentials that give learners flexible, role-specific pathways for building their skills.
The results of the pilot speak for themselves. Along the way, CASBO has built a scalable model for professional and workforce development in the field.
- 1,100+ learners reached
- ~90% completion rate
- $1 million+ in gross revenue
About the Presenter
Tracy Petrillo, EdD, CAE, serves as Chief Learning Officer for CASBO, where she leads strategic workforce innovation, professional development, and credentialing. She is a thought leader and speaker on adult learning, digital badging, certification, and leadership development. Her national recognitions include the Association Women Technology Champions (AWTC) Leadership Award and the ASAE Professional Performance Award; she is a past Chair of ASAE’s CAE Commission, a Gold Circle winner, and has served on ASAE’s Honors & Awards Committee. She earned a doctorate in educational leadership and management with a specialization in human resource development, and in 2026 became a certified civil mediator.
ASSOCIATION FOR INTELLIGENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (AIIM)
Rethinking Association Community: From Passive Forums to Facilitated, AI-Enabled Cohorts
Presenter: Tori Miller Liu, MBA, FASAE, CAE, CIP, President and CEO
Online forums promise community, but too often they become places where members read and rarely connect. AIIM is testing a different model: facilitated cohorts designed to help members build meaningful relationships and contribute around shared interests and challenges.
Artificial intelligence plays a supporting role, helping match members and spark conversation, while members and trained facilitators remain at the center of the experience. The pilot explores how technology can make community more active and human, not less.
About the Presenter
Tori Miller Liu, MBA, FASAE, CAE, CIP, is President and CEO of the Association for Intelligent Information Management. She previously served as Chief Information Officer of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). An experienced speaker and facilitator, she has presented on four continents and at events including ASAE Annual Meeting, ASAE Great Ideas, and Associations Innovate. Tori serves on ASAE’s Research Committee and was a founding board member of Association Women Technology Champions (AWTC). Her honors include the 2024 AWTC Technology Leadership Award and the 2021 Association Forum Forty Under 40 Award, and she was named an ASAE Fellow in 2023.
POSITIVEAGE, THE LEADINGAGE VIRGINIA FOUNDATION
Barriers to Breakthroughs: Reimagining Administrator Development
Presenter: Dana Parsons, JD, MA, Vice President & Legislative Counsel, LeadingAge Virginia
Aspiring long-term care administrators across Virginia face real barriers as they work through the Administrator-in-Training (AIT) process. PositiveAge responded by creating a virtual cohort program that brings emerging leaders together with experienced administrators, regulators, and peers.
Delivered virtually, the pilot is expanding access to professional development while strengthening competency, building community, and reinforcing the pipeline of future long-term care leaders in the state.
About the Presenter
Dana Parsons, JD, MA, joined LeadingAge Virginia as Vice President and Legislative Counsel in 2003. She sets the association’s public policy and advocacy direction, including all state and federal legislative and regulatory matters, and advises the President/CEO and Board of Directors. Dana serves as a spokesperson before the General Assembly, state and federal agencies, and the Virginia Congressional Delegation, and supports members with regulatory and compliance issues across the continuum of aging services. She holds a Juris Doctor and a Master of Arts in Public Policy and is a member of the Virginia State Bar.
MICHIGAN ASSOCIATION OF ADMINISTRATORS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION (MAASE)
Paraeducator Bootcamp: A Statewide Workforce Stabilization & Quality Initiative
Presenter: Cheryl-Marie Manson, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives
Paraeducators are essential to supporting students in special education, and Michigan had more than 500 documented paraeducator vacancies. MAASE responded with a statewide professional learning model to strengthen how paraeducators are prepared and supported.
What began as a single Bootcamp has since expanded into multiple learning pathways, all designed to build a stronger, more consistent paraeducator workforce across the state.
About the Presenter
Cheryl-Marie Manson is Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives for MAASE. She has served as a teacher and school administrator in both general and special education, bringing those experiences together to create meaningful professional learning for teachers and administrators. Cheryl-Marie leads statewide initiatives that strengthen educators and improve outcomes for students. A certified Full Focus Coach and U.S. Google Lead, she is passionate about building sustainable systems that help people create space, expand their impact, and focus on the work that matters most.
CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS INSTITUTE (CSI)
From Static Standards to Dynamic Data: CSI Dynamic Standards + MasterProduct Pilot
Presenter: Mark N. Dorsey, FASAE, CAE, Chief Executive Officer
For decades, CSI’s construction standards have been trusted industry references delivered as static publications. But the way professionals find and use information has changed. CSI is transforming those standards into dynamic, searchable, version-aware resources.
Through CSI Dynamic Standards and MasterProduct, the organization is testing how trusted industry information can evolve to meet changing technology and user needs, while creating a more sustainable business model for the future.
About the Presenter
Mark N. Dorsey, FASAE, CAE, is Chief Executive Officer of the Construction Specifications Institute. Founded in 1948, CSI is a national not-for-profit association of more than 6,000 built-environment professionals that advances building information management and project-team education through industry standards, professional certifications, education, and a network of local chapters. Since joining CSI in 2015, Mark has led a rebuild of the association’s governance, finances, and product strategy, including the formation of CSI’s for-profit subsidiary and the move of its standards from print editions to CSI Dynamic Standards. He previously served as CEO of PSIA-AASI, a 32,000-member education association.