HollandParlette: Our History 

In the 1980s, non-profit organizations were thriving and the profession of association management was booming. The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), the national organization that represents non-profit executive directors and their staff members, was experiencing unprecedented membership growth. It was in 1985 that ASAE sought to further expand its footprint and to do so, hired Carol Holland Parlette to staff a western regional office covering 13 western states.

Carol had been one of the first women to be awarded a Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from ASAE (1978). She had been serving as Executive Director for the California Society of Internal Medicine (CSIM) and was ready to try something new, so she seized the opportunity to represent ASAE in the West.  Simultaneously, with support of her husband Nicholas Parlette, she set up Holland-Parlette Associates (the company’s original name) and it was one of the first Association Management Companies (AMCs) to open its doors in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company name was a combination of her maiden name and married name.

Through her agreement with ASAE, Carol took on leadership of the Western Conference of Association Executives (WCAE), an annual conference that rotated among ASAE’s western allied associations up until 2000. Outside of her agreement with ASAE, Holland-Parlette Associates formed agreements for management of other clients too, such as the Kite Trade Association, Western Occupational & Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA), and Medical Marketing Association (MMA).

In 1988, the Northern California Society of Association Executives (NCSAE) chose Holland-Parlette to provide management and for the role of NCSAE’s Executive Vice President, Carol hired Kerry Parker. In 1990, Kerry became her business partner and the company was incorporated in the State of California. Parker also became a Certified Association Executive (CAE) in 1991.

Parlette and Parker enjoyed nearly a decade as business partners until 1999 when Parlette retired from the business. At the time, Holland-Parlette Associates had become one of the largest AMCs west of the Mississippi. Parlette sold her shares in the company to Kent Lindeman who became Parker’s new partner in 1999.  In 2005, Parker and Lindeman expanded Holland-Parlette Associates by opening its first office outside the Bay Area - in Indianapolis.

Parker and Lindeman had a successful 20-year partnership during which time the company name became “HollandParlette” and it employed a staff of 30 providing full-service management to over 20 non-profit trade and professional associations representing over 25,000 members collectively. In 2019, Parker sold her company shares to Lindeman and retired to Santa Barbara. Now owned solely by Kent Lindeman, HollandParlette continues to build on its 35+ year track record of successfully providing management services to non-profit membership associations from its West Coast and Midwest locations.