Gary LaBranche, President and CEO of NIRI National
About Gary LaBranche:
Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE, is the President & CEO of the National Investor Relations
Institute (NIRI). As CEO, LaBranche provides strategic executive leadership to advance the
NIRI’s mission and goals. He represents NIRI to regulators, lawmakers, the media and other
audiences.
Before joining NIRI in March 2017, he was CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG).
ACG serves 90,000 investors, lenders, executives and advisors to middle market companies,
including 1,000 private equity firms.
An association professional for 37+ years, LaBranche has served as CEO for three other
organizations and as a senior executive at the American Society of Association Executives
(ASAE) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining ACG, LaBranche was CEO for the
Association Forum of Chicagoland. At the Forum and ASAE he was responsible for identifying,
developing and sharing best practices, models and innovation in association management,
professional development and meeting planning. At ASAE he was responsible for the 6,000
attendee “Super Bowl of Conventions,” launch of e-learning and modernization of the
Certified Association Executive (CAE) program.
He was named an ASAE Fellow (FASAE) in 1995. He was the ASAE Key Award winner for 2007, the
highest award in the profession. ASSOCIATION TRENDS named him the 2012 Association Executive
of the Year. He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Association Committee of 100
and is past chairman of the Chamber’s Institute of Organization Management. LaBranche has
served on ASAE’s 4 governing boards and chaired the board of ASAE’s for-profit subsidiary,
ASAE Business Services, Inc. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Kogod Cybersecurity
Governance Center at American University.
He is the author of 300+ articles, podcasts and columns and the book, “The Association CEO
Succession Toolkit” published by ASAE in 2018. He authored the chapter, “Managing the
Complex Association Enterprise” in ASAE’s Handbook on Professional Practices in Association
Management, 3rd edition. He has consulted/presented to 300+ associations.
LaBranche was profiled as an innovative leader in the book, Hope: How Triumphant Leaders
Create the Future, by Andrew Razeghi. He has also been featured in Strategic Transformation:
How Boards Achieve Extraordinary Change.