Tara Puckey, MBA, CAE, CMP

Tara Puckey, MBA, FASAE, CAE, CMP is the Executive Director at the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and the RTDNA Foundation. Prior to her position at RTDNA, she served as the Society of Professional Journalists’ (SPJ) Interim Executive Director, Associate Executive Director and Membership Strategist. Throughout her career, Tara has trained more than 3,000 journalists and nonprofit professionals in effective leadership and worked with countless associations and journalism organizations to build strategic plans for a successful future.

In 2018, she was named to Association Forum’s Forty Under 40 for her work with a variety of associations and involvement in state and national association organizations and, in 2020, she received ASAE’s Certified Association Designation (CAE) and was named an ASAE Fellow in 2025. She has a journalism degree from Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!), as well as an MBA, and resides in Indianapolis with her husband and two daughters. Aside from associations and journalism, she loves craft beer, great pens and true crime podcasts.