Randi Sumner
Biography
Randi Sumner has over twenty years of experience shepherding associations towards success. She has worked for a wide range of non-profit organizations, ranging from those with almost no budget and staff to those with a $400 million budget and over 1,000 employees. Sumner has led a wide variety of strategic programs at IEEE servicing over 430,000 members of both IEEE and it’s more than 50 Technical Communities since 2007.
Throughout her over 20-year career, Sumner has successfully envisioned and initiated new, uncharted and profit-driven “bootstrap startup” projects within a wide variety of mission driven organizations. The impact of her role in several projects helped to transform business models as well as drive energy into stagnant organizations..
Currently she holds the position of Senior Director, Strategy & Entrepreneurship for the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional society where she spearheaded the launch of IEEE’s Entrepreneurship initiative. This first-of-its-kind IEEE initiative inspires a global community for technology founders, engineers working in startups, as well as the vendors and funders helping to scale these businesses. Her efforts have brought the IEEE’s global resources to technology entrepreneurs while inspiring new style events, virtual communities, and a video channel dedicated to startups.
Sumner brings to her leadership perspective, the knowledge and wisdom acquired as the Chief Staff Executive of the New Jersey Society of Association Executives, an organization that serviced Association Professionals in New Jersey before it’s 2010 merger into the Mid-Atlantic Society of Association Executives. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the New Jersey Apartment Association. During that tenure, the association doubled in both staff and budget. In addition to her executive skills, she has been a strategy consultant, career and presentation coach and a professional speaker..
Sumner is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and a graduate of Brandeis University.