Paul Hartgen is the vice president of member and business services at the National Association of Manufacturers. In this role, he is focused on the NAM’s product and service offerings, especially to small and medium-sized members, to deliver more explicit value beyond policy.

Before this position, Mr. Hartgen was the vice president of board and strategic initiatives, also serving as the NAM’s corporate secretary. He started at the NAM in 2012 as the executive director of the Council of Manufacturing Associations. In this capacity, he oversaw the leadership, direction and management of more than 250 association members of the CMA. He represented the NAM to industry and association leaders, government officials, media, academia and others interested in manufacturing trade association matters, working to advance the NAM’s political impact and ability to organize and mobilize at the local, state and federal levels. In just two years, he grew the CMA membership by more than 25%.

Before joining the NAM, Mr. Hartgen was a special adviser to the National Restaurant Association, providing strategic consulting, knowledge management and new channel development to increase the organization’s membership. He worked with the NRA Educational Foundation to build strategic partnerships and grow ProStart^®, a culinary arts and management program geared toward high school juniors and seniors.

As president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, the Nevada Restaurant Association and the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association, he leveraged an expansive network of business relationships to bring consensus and effect change over the course of a decade. He is passionate about the role that associations play in addressing an industry’s future challenges today.

Mr. Hartgen served on Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Small Business Task Force, as trustee of the NRA Educational Foundation and as a board member of the NRA. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and is a board member of ASAE Business Services, the trusted source for business solutions for associations.

Mr. Hartgen holds a B.A. in political science from the University of New Hampshire. He lives with his wife, Beth, and their two daughters outside of Annapolis, Maryland.