Tara Puckey

Tara Puckey is the chief staff officer at the Radio Television Digital News Association and Radio Television Digital News Foundation. Her duties include cultivating and managing business partnerships, procuring grants, and creating new development initiatives and other strategic endeavors, along with management of association and foundation business.

Previously, Puckey served as the Society of Professional Journalists’ interim executive director, associate executive director and membership strategist.

Throughout her career, Puckey has trained more than 1,200 journalists in effective leadership and worked with countless associations and journalism organizations to build strategic plans for a successful future. 

In 2018, Puckey was named to Association Forum’s Forty Under 40 for her work with a variety of associations and involvement in state and national association organizations. In 2020, she received ASAE’s Certified Association Designation, the marker of a committed association professional who has demonstrated the wide range of knowledge essential to manage an association in today’s challenging environment.

She has a journalism degree and master’s of business administration degree from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. She resides in Indianapolis with her husband and two daughters. Aside from associations and journalism, she loves craft beer, really good pens and true crime podcasts.