Iris M. Rush, CAE joined the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in April 2011 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed as Executive Director January 1, 2015. ARVO has 12,000 members with 48% of membership outside the United States. Prior to ARVO, Mrs. Rush served as VP, Business Operations at the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS). Mrs. Rush was instrumental in taking RAPS out of multi-management in 1991 into a self-managed 501C(3), growing staff from 2 to 38 by 2011.
Mrs. Rush provided oversight in finance, HR, IT, leasing/contracts, membership, chapters, annual meeting, and managed the Regulatory Affairs Certification Program (RAC). 1989-1991, Mrs. Rush was Business Mgr. for an FDA Consulting firm, AAC Consulting (Kendle), in Washington, DC.
From 1982-1989 Mrs. Rush worked for various departments within the Office of Regulatory Resource Management at the Food and Drug Administration. Mrs. Rush is CAE certified and has various studies in Business Administration and Human Resources from the University of Maryland’s University College (UMUC). Mrs. Rush has held various volunteer leadership roles including the Chair of the Business Operations Section Council for the American Society of Association Executives. She is an active member in both ASAE and SHRM. Her dedication to non-profits reaches beyond her current position as she has served as Chair and various other volunteer committee roles to support community non-profits.
