Michael Payne Email Address

Executive Vice President

SmithBucklin is the association management and services company more organizations turn to than any other.

As executive vice president of SmithBucklin, I work with select client organizations in Washington D.C. and St. Louis to help them achieve their missions. I also serve as the President and CEO of the International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores, a position I have held since 1991, providing strategic and operational leadership to the association’s tradeshows and advocacy programs. In addition, I serve as a liaison to the United Soybean Board. Our client organizations benefit from our substantial resources, depth of knowledge and proven practices. With more than 30 years of government relations and association management experience, I join a team of professionals in providing service excellence, strategic oversight, thought leadership, technical expertise and regulatory knowledge across a wide range of services including government relations and advocacy, membership recruitment and retention, event management, sponsorship sales, education program management and marketing. I also actively represent SmithBucklin and our client organizations within the hospitality industry and convention management associations. I joined SmithBucklin in 1981 and was initially tasked with developing our government relations outreach group, which provides counsel and support for client organizations’ legislative and regulatory issues. Once the government relations program was thriving, I began serving in a strategic advisory role to a number of clients in the manufacturing, healthcare and event services fields. Prior to joining SmithBucklin, I held positions within the U.S. government, including deputy to the assistant secretary for Congressional Affairs of the U.S. Department of Commerce. SmithBucklin is the association management and services company more organizations turn to than any other. The company’s mission is to achieve the missions of the client organizations it serves and provide uncompromised stewardship for their long-term prosperity.