When Melissa Hockstad was hired in January 2025 as CEO of the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), one of her first actions was to reach out to CEOs from the association’s membership to ask what was going well and what needed to change. Their feedback? Members and the board were pleased with CBA’s direction and momentum, but wanted the group to do more in advocacy and communications. The association’s budget, however, couldn’t support additional efforts in these areas.So after an intensive strategic review and running multiple scenarios, Hockstad and a task force of members asked the board to approve a plan to double membership dues. The last time the organization had a… Read More