Staff Spotlight: Dick Padlo

By Meredith Parker, account associate

Richard (Dick) Padlo is one of the most seasoned professionals at IMI. His career has spanned over forty years, beginning in the United States Air Force, where he climbed the ranks until serving as a Base Commander. After leaving the Air Force, he joined the for-profit business world, working with a consulting group to provide strategic planning expertise. Then, he transitioned to a role as a General Manager for Waste Management, Inc., following that position with a role as a General Manager for PMDS, LLC. In the 2010s, he began work in the non-profit world with SOFTLY International, United Way of the Greater Triangle, and since 2012 he has been with IMI Association Executives.

This varied experience gives him a unique set of tools to approach his current position as an Account Manager at IMI, specifically in the area of strategic planning.

As a young professional, I am always interested in learning from the experience of others; as such, I thought it would be interesting to ask Dick to provide some of his favorite professional resources and lessons from his decades of professional experience.

Quick Questions for Dick:

1. What is your favorite podcast?
   1. “Carry Him Shoulder High” (Mary Kate O’Flanagan), The Moth
2. Who is your favorite blogger?
   1. Meg Buckingham, who currently works at Triangle Community Foundation and writes for their blog
3. If I weren’t in association management, I’d…be teaching or working with entrepreneurs and emerging organizations to help them realize their dreams
4. Advice for aspiring Account Managers: Find something you are passionate about and do it for a living—but, maintain a balance between your personal and professional life.
5. Identify a Mistake and what you learned from it: I let passion rule the day.
   1. There are things we don’t know
   2. There is a reason for an organizational hierarchy
   3. We learn more by listening, which is hard to do when you’re dominating the conversation
6. Favorite quote: “…if you get gloomy just/ take an hour off and sit/and think how/much better this world/is than hell/of course it won t cheer/you up much if/you expect to go there” (an excerpt from “Certain Maxims of Archy” By Don Marquis from archy and mehitabel, 1927)

What advice resonates with you? Do you have a mentor who could answer these questions for you? Please feel free to share in the comments below.

Want to know more about association management? Contact us at info@imiae.com to find out more about what IMI Association Executives can do for your organization.