AASA, The School Superintendents Association, has named Lori Vines the 2024 recipient of the Friend of AASA Award. Vines is a soon-to-retire employee of AASA who has spent more than 40 years with the organization in a variety of roles, including her current post as director of membership and affiliate services.
She will be publicly announced as the recipient on Feb. 16 at the 2nd General Session of AASA’s National Conference on Education in San Diego, Calif., and receive the award following the conference.
This award is given by AASA’s executive director to a non-educator, school district-based person or group/organization that has consistently supported the mission of AASA and has given his or her time and effort to help the association accomplish its goals to advocate on behalf of public education and assist with the professional development of its members.
Vines came to work at AASA in 1980 as a word processor in the support services unit where she transposed handwritten materials into electronic files. In 1982, when the association introduced its first onsite computer, she was assigned with computer system administrator duties, managing the day-to-day operations of AASA’s computer systems and the membership database. Over the years, she has been involved in a series of system upgrades and, at one point, received then-Executive Director Paul Houston’s Risk Taker Award for converting the association’s major data systems to iMIS. She became a member of the informational technology team.
“Lori Vines is truly a champion who takes immense pride in her work at AASA,” said David R. Schuler, executive director, AASA. “She is well respected by her colleagues as well as the thousands of superintendents she serves. For Lori, it is always about the AASA family, the members and the relationships she built throughout her time with the organization.”
Vines retires on March 15.