Mary Byers, CAE, is co-author of "Race for Relevance: Five Radical Changes for Associations" and "Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations." She’s the former director of communications and member services for the Illinois State Dental Society and served in that capacity for nine years prior to starting her consulting business in 1998. Mary specializes in working with volunteer association leaders and chief staff executives to help define their roles and clarify their vision through leadership conference programming, facilitating strategic planning retreats and coaching. Mary is a certified association executive and a member of the National Speakers Association. She is also the author of seven books.

s an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor.^[3][4][5] Gates is the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, the world's largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen.

He is consistently ranked in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people^[6] and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009—excluding 2008, when he was ranked third;^[1] in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the world's second wealthiest person.^[7][8] According to the Bloomberg Billionaires List, Gates became the world's richest person again in May 2013, a position that he last held on the list in 2007. He held the position until Carlos Slim reclaimed it in July 2014.^[8][9] As of September 2014, he is the second richest person in the world.^[1]