Since early 2020, Nicole Blankenship has led the American Osteopathic Association’s efforts to enhance and support affiliate relations as Senior Vice President of Affiliate Relations. She focuses her efforts on strategic direction, relationship building and support for the AOA’s 88 state, specialty college, and non-practice affiliates. She also leads the organization’s annual convention, OMED, which stands for osteopathic medical education conference.
Nicole’s extensive, 30 year background in association management includes more than 2 decades with the American Academy of Pediatrics, where she directed the AAP’s Division of Chapter and District Relations, consisting of 66 chapters and 10 districts. Among many other responsibilities, she also directed the AAP’s Annual Leadership Forum.
A Certified Association Executive (CAE), Nicole earned her MBA from Roosevelt University and holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Administration from Northern Illinois University. Nicole is a member of the Association Forum of Chicagoland, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and the American Association of Medical Society Executives (AAMSE), membership societies for medical association management professionals. She has also served on the Board of Directors of her local homeowners association and chaired the Governance Committee for a local soccer club in her community and served on the club's Board of Directors. Currently, Nicole serves on the Board of Directors at Well Child Center, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to improve the lives of children and families in her local community of Kane County.
On a personal level, Nicole and her family earned their black belts in Kyuki-do, a Korean martial art, a journey which they did together and which took them over 6 years to achieve. Nicole is married to Ray Blankenship, a residential home builder, and they reside in St. Charles, Illinois. They have two daughters – Lauren (23) a graduate of Augustana College and Emma (20) a junior at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.