About Chris Vaughan, Ph.D.
Chris Vaughan, PhD
- Sequence Consulting
- About Sequence
- About Chris Vaughan, PhD
Consultant to Association Leaders Navigating Growth, Risk, and Change
Chris Vaughan helps association leaders navigate the moments when growth slows, revenue risk rises, and the path forward is no longer obvious. He works with CEOs, boards, and senior teams to clarify priorities, make better strategic choices, and move forward with confidence.
He also advises strong, growing associations that want to stay ahead of emerging risks, rethink long-term growth models, or make deliberate strategic choices before performance slips.
For more than 25 years, he has advised hundreds of associations, including more than half of the top twenty organizations, on membership growth, revenue strategy, and high-stakes strategic decisions. His focus is on moments that matter: when leaders need clarity quickly, when disagreement stalls progress, or when the organization senses that its model no longer fits the environment.
His work has helped associations triple growth, build new revenue engines, and rethink the models behind long-term relevance.
Chris is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Sequence Consulting, a firm founded in 2001 to work exclusively with associations.
Chris is usually brought in after leaders have already tried the obvious fixes.
In most stalled-strategy situations, the problem is not effort or commitment. It is that leaders are solving the wrong problem, often for longer than they realize.
What they are really asking for in these moments is not another initiative. It is a clearer understanding of what is actually limiting growth and which decisions matter most now.
That work often includes:
In many engagements, the work is as much about preventing future constraints as it is about addressing current ones.
Across different engagements, similar patterns tend to emerge. Most growth problems aren’t marketing problems. They’re decision problems.
In some organizations, growth returns after leaders stop treating symptoms and address the underlying constraint. In others, retention improves once early member experience is redesigned rather than endlessly reinforced. In still others, revenue stabilizes after long‑standing assumptions about meetings, dues, or pricing are reconsidered.
In one engagement, the turning point wasn’t a new initiative. It was a board conversation that finally named the tradeoffs everyone had been avoiding.
Across many engagements, this work has produced results such as:
The American Medical Association revised its growth strategy and tripled the rate of membership growth in one year, reversing long-term stagnation and significantly increasing relevance among emerging physicians.
SAE International expanded beyond dues and event revenue with a new business model that increased non-dues revenue tenfold in three years, reshaping long-term financial stability.
AARP launched a $43 million new business within three years, turning market insights into a major revenue engine that supports its mission and diversifies income.
Through a focused strategic planning process with the APA, membership and revenue both surged 25% and internal alignment was restored, demonstrating that clarity of priorities drives both growth and organizational cohesion.
Sustainable growth rarely comes from doing more. It comes from deciding more clearly.
Chris works directly with CEOs, boards, and senior leadership teams.
His clients include professional and trade organizations of all types and sizes, including twelve of the top twenty, such as AARP, IEEE, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, SAE International, and the American Chemical Society.
He has also advised select Global 500 companies, including Google, IBM, and Allstate, on membership and community‑based growth models.
Before founding Sequence Consulting, Chris was a senior strategy, technology, and marketing consultant to Global 1000 companies, advising organizations such as Microsoft, Novell, and American Airlines.
He holds a PhD in philosophy. That training informs his work not as theory, but as disciplined thinking: questioning assumptions, clarifying tradeoffs, and helping leaders focus on what truly matters when decisions carry real consequences.
He also contributes to the association community through service on the Board of the Association Forum and the ASAE Key Consultants and Foundation Research Committees.
Chris regularly writes and speaks about association growth, membership value, and strategic decision‑making.
He is the author of the influential bi-weekly newsletter On Associations. His work appears regularly in Associations Now, FORUM Magazine, Sidecar, Associations Evolve, and other industry publications.
He speaks frequently for ASAE, DigitalNow, Association Forum, and prominent association industry podcasts on topics including:
Founded in 2001, Sequence Consulting works exclusively with associations that want stronger membership, more resilient revenue, and clearer strategic direction.
The firm is known for its candid perspective, rigorous analysis, and focus on decisions that lead to real change.
If you are exploring Chris’s work through an article, a talk, or a referral, you can find additional insights, research, and case examples throughout the site.
For leaders facing growth pressure or strategic uncertainty, Chris welcomes thoughtful conversations about what may be holding the organization back and what could realistically move it forward.