Kristi Donovan, M.S., CAE

Practice Director

she/her kdonovan@mckinley-advisors.com 202.650.0790

Kristi has a lifelong passion for getting to know the people behind the purpose and helping associations maximize their impact.

As a practice director on the Strategy and Innovation team, Kristi applies a creative and collaborative approach to help clients solve their most unique challenges. Kristi joined McKinley with more than 20 years of experience working in professional and trade associations. During her association career, she worked across a spectrum of functions, including member engagement, organizational strategy, professional development, communications, volunteer management, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). This broad exposure cultivated a personal mission that Kristi applies with clients today: to help associations achieve deep and lasting positive change for the benefit of both industry and society.

Kristi earned her Certified Association Executive credential in 2007 and has served as a facilitator for the CAE Immersion Program. She is a frequent author and speaker, including publishing a chapter on knowledge management for ASAE’s second edition of Core Competencies in Association Professional Development and contributing to ASAE’s Journal of Association Leadership. Her volunteer leader experience includes serving as a member of ASAE’s Diversity and Professional Development Committees and as a former leader of ASAE’s Emerging Leaders’ community. Her journey through the association industry was profiled in a student text, Career Opportunities in Health Care Management, to illustrate alternative options to traditional career paths in the field.

Kristi is a Maryland native who crossed the river and now resides in Virginia. She has a master’s degree in organization development and strategic human resources from Johns Hopkins University and undergraduate degrees in business administration and healthcare management from Towson University. In her free time, she satisfies her appetite for learning through exploration of yoga, spirituality, art, history and feminism. She is a mom raising two strong young women alongside her husband, Ryan.