Alyson meets with US Senator Chris Van Hollen and colleagues on Capitol Hill
The following are testimonials submitted by Alyson’s colleagues and associates. If you would like to share your experience, you can submit a testimonial.
I had the pleasure of working with Alyson while I served as Chair of the LSA’s Public Relations Committee. Her experience as a former journalist and communications professional made my job that much easier. Alyson is an effective collaborator, helping linguists (including me) to translate and adapt complex theoretical research findings into everyday language that the news media can understand. But more than that, she is knowledgeable about what kinds of news stories will appeal to journalists and how to frame those stories for maximum impact.
John McWhorter, Columnist, The New York Times and Associate Professor of Linguistics, Columbia University
I have had the good fortune to know, and work with, Alyson Reed for many years and in various contexts. During her time as the Executive Director of the Linguistic Society of America, my interactions with her were mostly related to my scientific and administrative experience. Of particular relevance were roles that I served in at Haskins Laboratories, the National Science Foundation, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Working with Alyson has always been a delight. Her knowledge, experience, and ability to get things done are remarkable. She makes things happen and brings people together in a most effective manner. Her mastery of academia, the political scene in Washington, D.C., policy, and connecting to people, has made her an enormously effective advocate for linguistics and science in general. Her administrative and business skills are excellent.
Philip Rubin, Ph.D., President, Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Alyson is a talented fundraiser, Board member, and volunteer extraordinaire. I worked with her closely in all three capacities while serving as the Executive Director of the Anacostia Watershed Society. Alyson was instrumental in supporting the work of our Development Director to greatly expand our corporate and foundation grants program, conducting extensive prospect research and following up with letters of inquiry and drafting proposals. She did all of this work as an unpaid volunteer and then transitioned into a role as a Board member when she found a new job as Executive Director of another organization. While on the Board, she was instrumental in advocating for the organization’s first ever Strategic Plan, and was an active participant throughout that process. Alyson would be a tremendous asset to any nonprofit needing assistance with governance, fundraising or strategic planning.
Jim Connolly, former Executive Director and current Board member, Anacostia Watershed Society
In the five years I have known Alyson, we collaborated on two grant applications to the National Endowment for the Humanities, both of which were successful. These were for seasons of the linguistics-themed podcast, Subtitle, co-produced by the Linguistic Society of America and my LLC. As director of the NEH-funded projects, Alyson oversaw their administration and budget. I was especially impressed by her indefatigable dedication to navigating federal bureaucracy and ensuring that our projects were always in compliance.
Patrick Cox, Producer, Subtitle Podcast
Alyson is a whip-smart, reliable, no-nonsense administrator—and also a very funny person. I thank my lucky stars that I got to work with her.
Alyson served as Executive Director of the NPA for five years, including the two years I served as Chairman. Throughout her tenure, Alyson displayed remarkable professionalism, ingenuity, and determination during a very fragile period in our organization’s development. Alyson’s accomplishments are remarkable, given the limited budget, miniscule staff, and ambitious goals set by a board whose members worked all over the country. It was always a pleasure to work with Alyson, and though I was her supervisor, she taught me more about running an organization than I could ever thank her for.
Keith Micoli, Assistant Dean, Postdoctoral Affairs at New York University School of Medicine
Alyson has succeeded as a CEO because of her collegiality, exceptional intellect, good humor, and executive management expertise. What sets Alyson apart is her drive and curiosity. She is well read and consults with her ever expanding network for the latest developments, innovations, and emerging issues that may impact the association she leads. She seeks varying perspectives for a well-rounded understanding of solutions available to the association to succeed. She is a respected leader among her peers, who look to her for guidance on a range of optimal practices for association and non-profit advancement.
Jane M. LaBarbera, CAE, Former Managing Director, Association of American Law Schools; Principal, JML Associates; Board Chair, Prometheus Consortium for Senior Association Executives
Alyson is a valued colleague who embraces peer-to-peer mentoring and professional development. Her knowledge of the challenges facing small associations and creativity in addressing those issues is wide-ranging. As a fellow Executive Director representing her organization within the ACLS, Alyson was both a thought leader and a generous contributor to our listserv and to conferences/workshops held over the past 14 years. Most importantly, she brings a wealth of experience and wisdom in nonprofit management that is critical to those working in the field.
Margery B. Daniels, Executive Director, International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR)
Alyson was a valued colleague of mine while we were both on staff at ACNM over 20 years ago, and we have stayed in touch ever since. When it comes to health policy, particularly in the area of women’s health, Alyson is a tremendous resource. Her knowledge of health policy is comprehensive and her skills in translating that knowledge into action are impressive.
Lisa Summers, Health Policy Educator & President, Healing Politics
I have known Alyson Reed since she became Executive Director of the LSA and have admired her effective leadership, both administrative and representational. She is highly skilled at pursuing relationships with other organizations that have allied missions. At LSA, she analyzed the landscape of public and private agencies that were potential collaborators, and she cultivated those relationships. She worked hard and effectively to broaden LSA’s impact both internally and externally, forming partnerships where appropriate and supporting the members and leadership of the society in working with other groups. As a member of LSA, I admired Alyson’s ability to undertake strategic thinking to help us move ahead with our mission. As the director of a language-related organization, I appreciated her proactive approach to collaboration.
Donna Christian, Senior Fellow, Center for Applied Linguistics
Alyson is tremendously effective in her many roles. I got to know her shortly after she started her long tenure as Executive Director of the LSA. At the time, I was the nominee to serve as the incoming Vice President of the LSA, while also concluding my five-year appointment as the Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation, leading its Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate from 2005-2009. In both roles and subsequently as Publications Advisor to the LSA, I had the opportunity to partner with Alyson on many strategic priorities for both the Society and for the social science community more broadly. Alyson is highly skilled at building consensus around proactively addressing contentious and complex issues, whether they be external policy challenges or internal structural concerns. She was particularly effective in leading the LSA’s transition as the publisher of a single subscription journal to a suite of well-regarded open access publications, including sub-field journals, conference proceedings and archives of scholarly materials.
David Lightfoot, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University
I had the good fortune to work closely with Alyson while we both represented the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) on the Science and Human Rights Coalition for the American Association for the Advancement of the Sciences (AAAS). In our work for the Coalition, I found Alyson to be a committed advocate for human rights, especially for those who would most benefit from support provided by US scientists and scholars. In my own work advocating for linguistic rights, I found Alyson to be particularly supporting as we worked together on the needs of communities who have been systematically excluded and disadvantaged by language barriers due to colonial and neo-colonial history, as in my native Haiti. Overall, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Alyson at the LSA and AAAS and to have engaged together in the struggle for equity on linguistic and educational terms. Thank you so much, Alyson! Mèsi anpil !
Michel DeGraff, Professor of Linguistics and Director of the MIT-Haiti Initiative
I got to know Alyson mainly through my role as the Delegate of the Dictionary Society of North America to the American Council of Learned Societies. Over the years, it became obvious to me that she is a leader among her association CEO peers and colleagues. She is an enthusiastic source of advice, wisdom and guidance in tackling a broad range of issues affecting professional associations and scholarly societies
Ed Finegan, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Law, University of Southern California
As executive director of a much smaller academic society, I very much benefitted from working with Alyson. She was a valued source of support for both me and my organization throughout her time at LSA. Alyson knows her stuff and is a generous colleague and mentor. She is personable, professional, caring, and passionate. I envy those lucky enough to work with her in the future.
Julie Roberts, Executive Director, American Dialect Society and Professor Emerita, Linguistics, University of Vermont
Alyson is a consummate turn-around artist. She took the LSA from a struggling organization with declining membership that was mired in debt and high staff turnover, and transformed it within a few years to a thriving and vibrant association. She did this in partnership with a staff she ably managed, and through effective collaborations with the LSA’s Board and committee leadership. Alyson is a talented and creative executive who is also highly productive and meets challenges with good humor and aplomb.
Sarah Thomason, Past President, Linguistic Society of America and Bernard Bloch Distinguished Professor Emerita of Linguistics, University of Michigan
Alyson brings a deep knowledge of all areas of non-profit management to the table. She is experienced in areas as diverse (and central to a non-profit organization) as media relations, advocacy, and government relations. She is an excellent manager, who motivates her team, and works successfully towards organizational development. Alyson’s career (both at the LSA and in her previous positions) has exemplified a commitment to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. She has collaborated with a wide range of historically marginalized communities to ensure their full participation in the society’s activities, and she is a tireless advocate for promoting these values at all levels of the organization.
Andries Coetzee, Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan; Editor of Language, a journal of the LSA
I worked with Alyson Reed for four years while serving as Secretary-Treasurer of the Linguistic Society of America. Alyson managed the budget with careful attention, and we worked especially closely in developing and implementing a 5-year strategic plan for the Society, identifying goals and our collective vision for the LSA.
Lenore Grenoble, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago
Alyson is an extraordinary administrator: organized, efficient, and multi-tasks under high pressure. Comments from colleagues in her annual reviews consistently noted that she is dedicated to the mission of the Society, keeping it running smoothly, with attention to day-to-day details, intermediate and long-term goals, taking initiative as needed. Alyson is outstanding at keeping things running, and highly professional.
I have worked with Alyson Reed of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) for 15 years in various ways pertaining to my several roles with the Society (e.g. in my service as editor, as committee chair, and as LSA President, among others). Moreover, I can also compare her to other LSA Executive Directors (EDs) with whom I worked. I can say without the slightest hesitation that she was by far the most able, the most knowledgeable, and the most dedicated of any of the EDs I have known. Her command of the range of issues facing the Society was most impressive and I marveled at her ability to see the different facets of these issues and to come up with creative but practical solutions to problems. She is smart, hard-working, and sharp on budgetary matters. In short, she is simply terrific at what she does and would make a fine manager in any walk of life!
Brian D. Joseph, Distinguished University Professor of Linguistics, The Ohio State University
Alyson Reed was an extraordinary Executive Director of the Linguistic Society of America during the several years I served both on the executive committee and as President of the society. She was always available to bring important issues to our attention, comment in our discussions and on our proposed actions, and see all of this effectively realized despite the many responsibilities placed on her. Her exceptional abilities and excellent judgment gave me a particular sense of security, especially as the society had gone through some difficult times. She transformed and modernized the LSA into the effective society that it currently is. During all the time I have known Alyson, I have been continuously impressed with her effectiveness as a collaborative partner to me as President, to my colleagues on the executive committee, to the regular members, and to everyone else she came in contact with in her role as Executive Director. The LSA as an institution and those of us within the LSA who are so dedicated to it owe much to Alyson Reed. We have been fortunate to have such a gifted leader and partner in conducting our important mission in support of language in the United States (and beyond).
Larry M. Hyman, Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School (Linguistics) at UC Berkeley and Director, France-Berkeley Fund
I have known Alyson for about 12 years and have interacted with her in a number of capacities when I was a co-chair of the LSA Program Committee, a member of the Executive Committee, and other leadership roles. Throughout the years and as circumstance brought us into the same room, I’ve always appreciated her deep intelligence, thoroughness, expertise and competence and genuine dedication to the Society. She came to every meeting extremely well-prepared to answer all questions from the committee members, consistently demonstrating through her responses the deep knowledge she had, and her detailed memory of past actions and relevant materials. Our discussions consistently guided us to the best resolutions. Alyson is extremely competent, knowledgeable and dependable. In sum, she is a genuine leader.
Marlyse Baptista, Presidential Nominee, Linguistic Society of America, and Uriel Weinreich Collegiate Professor Linguistics, University of Michigan
I worked with Alyson in multiple capacities while she was at the LSA, including as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, as the Chair of the Audit Committee, and as a co-presenter at a workshop on advocacy and public policy issues held at our Linguistic Institute. In all of our collaborations, Alyson was thoroughly engaged in partnering to enable the most effective outcomes and facilitating our work to ensure the maximum impact.
Bill Ladusaw, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, UC Santa Cruz
I worked alongside Alyson Reed, serving in several organizational roles in our professional society while she was executive director. She is one of the most confidence-inspiring people I have ever met; embodying responsibility, trustworthiness, competence and foresight. She shepherded our society through some very challenging moments, and we are in a much better position today because of her commitment and ability.
Heidi Harley, Professor of Linguistics, University of Arizona
Having been on the LSA Executive Committee when Alyson was hired, I know what bad shape the organization was in at the time. She did a masterful job of not only rebuilding it, but moving it into the 21st century.
Tom Wasow, Academic Secretary to the University, Stanford University
I have had the good fortune to know Alyson Reed since she first began as the Executive Director of the LSA, of which I am a member. I worked with her in many capacities, but probably most intensively with respect to the committee which was until recently known as COSWL (Committee on the Status of Women in Linguistics) but is now called COGEL (Committee on Gender Equity in Linguistics). I always found Alyson to be helpful, supportive, and constructive with respect to the many issues that we raised. Importantly, she was always able to take a big picture view and advise us strategically in ways that we sometimes had not thought about. I really respect her abilities as a leader, and am very grateful to her for the improvements that she brought to all aspects of the society.
Monica Macaulay, Professor of Language Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
I worked closely with Alyson as Secretary-Treasurer of the LSA and then subsequently as Publications Advisor for about 10 years. During this time period, she addressed many significant challenges and opportunities for the LSA’s publishing program, effectively transitioning from a single subscription-based journal to a diverse suite of peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings, almost all of which are open access (without any fees charged to authors or readers). She was able to ‘thread the needle’ in developing a successful business model for hybrid publishing that protected our revenue streams while enhancing access and maintaining quality.
Patrick Farrell, former Secretary-Treasurer and Publications Advisor, LSA; Professor of Linguistics Emerita, UC Davis
I worked with Alyson for many years when she served as executive director of a scholarly association. I was continually impressed at her ability to manage its activities in ways that remained true to its scholarly mission while also ensuring that concrete and assessable goals could be achieved. This required paying close attention to the intellectual and community engagement interests of the association’s members, oversight of the creation of achievable strategic plans at regular intervals, and careful maintenance of a sustainable revenue model. Alyson excelled in the role, allowing the association to maintain its historical strengths and move into new areas, while ensuring that it did not lose focus from its overall mission.
Jeff Good, Chair and Professor, Department of Linguistics, University at Buffalo
I had the pleasure of working with Alyson in many different capacities over the past 10 years. It is clear that the Linguistic Society of America is a more effective, mission-driven organization thanks to her leadership. She worked with members to formulate clear, actionable goals, and then she made sure that those goals were achieved. I have learned a great deal from watching Alyson in action working on policy and outreach goals. Her deep knowledge of how Washington works has benefited our organization in many different ways.
Colin Phillips, Director, Language Science Center, University of Maryland
Alyson combines great intelligence with great political astuteness. Highly energetic, thoroughly professional, she takes a big-picture view of the nonprofits she’s worked for. She is superb at identifying future directions and implementing change. She also understands the human dimension. At the Linguistic Society of America, she helped guide the difficult, important transition to electronic publication and open access. At the ACLS, she championed the LSA’s interests while showing an impressive engagement with its intellectual mission. It has been a real pleasure collaborating with her.
Sandra Chung, Past President, Linguistic Society of America; Distinguished Professor Emerita of Linguistics
and Fellow of Cowell College, UC Santa Cruz
I got to know Alyson when I first served as Editor of the LSA’s flagship journal, Language. In that role, I had the opportunity to collaborate with her on the various business aspects of the LSA’s publishing program as we made a transition from a paid subscription model to one that embraced elements of open access. I also observed her interactions with the LSA’s Board (Executive Committee) over many years, since I was made privy to most of their deliberations. What struck me most about Alyson is how well she managed the complexity of the Executive Director role at the LSA, how effectively she worked with people of all stripes, and with such great competence. I personally found her very responsive and enjoyable to work with. Alyson oversaw the LSA’s operations about as smoothly as possible under fast-changing circumstances. Throughout this period, she exhibited excellent communication skills and achieved exceptional productivity with very limited financial and other resources.
Greg Carlson, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Rochester
Alyson really cares about nurturing the talents of students and early career scholars. I worked with Alyson as a summer intern and then later as a paid consultant assisting with conference planning tasks. She is an excellent coach and mentor who models best practices through her management approach to bringing out the best in people.
Shane Taylor, Subject Expert Teacher, Basis Education; Former Student Intern, Linguistic Society of America
I got to know Alyson during my time as an LSA student intern. She consistently provided valuable guidance, input, and instruction. Alyson’s mentorship aligned with her overall interest in ensuring that my time at the LSA was enriching for me as a student, and that I was exposed to the professional environment and attributes of public sector work. As a mentor she was dependable, interested in receiving feedback, and provided important insights for someone beginning to explore career options.
Sonya Trawick, Ph.D. in Language Science and Linguistics, former LSA Student Intern
Alyson is one of the best professionals I have ever had the chance to work with. Her knowledge and understanding of the non-profit world and of the operations of associations is extensive. I could always rely on Alyson to broaden my understanding of not just our own organization, but professional associations generally.
She is a skilled manager of personnel and resources, and her pragmatic and conscientious outlook serve an organization well. I cannot recommend Alyson highly enough.
Mark Schaefer, Membership Coordinator, Linguistic Society of America
Institutions are listed for identification purposes only and do not imply institutional endorsement.