PSDA recently announced that it has reached an agreement with professional association management firm SmithBucklin to manage the organization. In announcing the change to members, Association President George Crump said, "By adopting this new business model, we will be able to utilize shared resources, reduce operating expenses and equip our membership with the training, education and tools they will require not just to compete, but to lead in our vastly changing industry. Partnering with SmithBucklin does not compromise the PSDA brand, turn over control of our assets or change the role of your Board of Directors." The organization posted frequently asked questions to address potential member concerns.

"We had been looking at various options for the future of the Association," said Crump, "and SmithBucklin was one of those. PSDA happened to have a meeting in Dallas at the same time and in the same location as Dscoop (also managed by SmithBucklin), and several members of our Executive Committee took the opportunity to experience parts of Dscoop as one aspect of our due diligence process. What caught our attention was the energy that the SmithBucklin Dscoop staff displayed and the resources they brought to the table. We were very impressed with the amount of training that Dscoop was delivering to its members."

Crump stresses that he has made it a hallmark of his presidency to restore PSDA's prestigious training program. "If you didn't work for a major, we were the place to come to be successful in the industry," he says. "I believe that we need to step up our game in order to be competitive and relevant, and training and education, especially for our customer-facing people in this industry, are critical, as is networking. SmithBucklin seemed to have all of the resources PSDA needed to achieve those goals and more."