Constance Wrigley-Thomas, CAE, DES – Owner/CEO
Constance commenced her association career in February 1990 after a career in the hospitality and event sector. With a degree in English from St. Francis Xavier University, she spent the next 15 years working for national and provincial, professional and trade associations, primarily in the area of marketing and communications and government relations. Her proudest accomplishment is establishing Smart Serve, the training program used by all beverage alcohol servers in Ontario.
Constance founded Essentient Association Management in 2005 and with her team, has provided association management and event support to dozens of associations.
Constance is the co-founder of the AMC Institute Canadian Chapter and sat on both the Canadian and international Board of Directors. She is also a founding partner of Mentorship Rocket, a cloud-based platform that supports association mentorship programs and is widely used by associations throughout North America and the UK.
She achieved the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation in September 2007.
In 2009 she was presented with the CSAE Trillium Association’s President’s Award in recognition of significant volunteer contribution and commitment in support of the Association. In February 2011, was recognized by NAIOP – the Commercial Real Estate Development Association – for Outstanding Contribution by an Association Executive in recognition of her initiatives that took the Greater Toronto Association from 8th largest to 2nd largest out of 52 North American chapters, is a member of the Meetings & Incentive Travel “Hall of Fame” and in 2021 was awarded the CSAE Trillium Service Excellence Award in recognition of her significant contributions to association management. She is an active volunteer with the AMC Institute Canadian Chapter, the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) and is past president of both associations.
In 2023, Constance was honoured with the AMC Institute’s prestigious Excellence in Leadership Award.