ALA welcomes new YALSA Executive Director Tammy Dillard-Steels

CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) welcomes Tammy Dillard-Steels as executive director, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of ALA. Her first day at ALA will be Tuesday, April 23.

She brings to ALA experience as executive director of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), as well as extensive experience at the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), where she served as Regional Director, leading the Chapter Performance Excellence Team and managing the “CEO Circle” of products, benefits, membership and budget. In that role, she managed and assessed 62 chapters’ annual Statement of Financial Position and Statement Activities.

Other positions have included Director, Constituent Services, Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) and Executive Director, Urban Sustainability Authority (Urban Sustain). At the AGD she was appointed by the Board of Directors to restructure the Leadership Development Forum.

Tammy Dillard-Steels has an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a Certified Association Executive, through the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and a Scholar from ASAE’s Diversity Executive Leader Program, as well as Association Forum of Chicagoland’s Diversity Workforce Initiative.

She is active professionally as chair of the Professional Practice Committee (Association Forum of Chicagoland) and member of the Foundation and Development Committee (ASAE). She is an Alumni Council Member at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a Division of the American Library Association, has a mission to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens—especially those with the greatest needs – on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For additional information about YALSA’s role, key stakeholders, research and programs see: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/aboutyalsa