Privacy policy

Privacy Policy

Terms of Data Use including Cookies & Collected Information

Last updated as of September 30, 2026

Privacy Notice

The American Association for Physician Leadership (“AAPL”) respects the privacy of its members and other visitors to its website and is committed to the protection of your personal information. In this Privacy Policy, we use the words “Personal Data” to describe such personal information that is about you and which identifies you. AAPL strongly believes that if electronic commerce and online activities are to flourish, consumers must be assured that information provided online is used responsibly and appropriately. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, share and safeguard Personal Data about you as part of our business activities. Before you use our website, you should carefully review this Privacy Policy and provide any personal information once you’ve done so. Any questions regarding AAPL’s privacy practices should be directed to privacy@physicianleaders.org.

Most data AAPL collects is used only to help us better serve our members. It is our general policy to collect and store only personal information that our members and visitors knowingly provide. This Policy describes who is responsible for the Personal Data that we collect about you, what type of Personal Data we collect, how we may use such Personal Data, who we may disclose it to, and your rights and choices in relation to your Personal Data.

AAPL reserves the right to amend the terms of this Privacy Policy from time to time at its absolute discretion. Any material changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted on this page and will take effect and be binding on you as soon as it has been updated. You should check this Privacy Policy link on a regular basis to see if there have been any changes.

For purposes of data protection law, AAPL is deemed to be the data controller in respect of the Personal Data that you provide to us and we collect and use as part of our business activities, because AAPL determines the purpose for which your Personal Data is used and how we use your personal information.

What Information Does AAPL Collect?

While some of the information collected is required for membership or business engagement purposes, other information is voluntarily provided by the individual. AAPL collects information when you provide it to us, such as using the “Contact Us” feature on the website or otherwise communicating with us (such as through e-mail or on AAPL social media pages).

If at any time you want to review, confirm, correct, delete or change any Personal Data AAPL may have file for you, you can visit your account information on physicianleaders.org or by e-mailing customerservice@physicianleaders.org or by calling 800-562-8088.

From General Users

When you browse physicianleaders.org, we and our advertising and analytics partners automatically collect certain information about your device and your activity on our site, including your IP address, browser and device type, operating system, referring URL, the pages you view, and identifiers stored on your device such as cookie IDs, device IDs, and advertising identifiers.

Under many privacy laws, this information is treated as personal information even where it does not include your name. We use it to operate and improve our website, to measure the performance of our content and advertising, and to deliver advertising that is relevant to you. See the sections on “How Does AAPL Use Cookies and Similar Technologies” and “Online Behavioral Advertising” below for more detail, and for your choices.

From AAPL's Members, Conference or Course Registrants, and Other Customers

To gain access to members-only resources and personalization features on physicianleaders.org or any of our subdomains (e.g. shop.physicianleaders.org), members and other users are asked to register and provide some limited information. This information is submitted voluntarily. The type of Personal Data that AAPL may ask users to provide could include, but is not limited to, the following: their full names, mailing address, business and mobile phone numbers, and information about their employment, including organization names or affiliations and business email address(es). Similar information may be submitted to AAPL through membership applications, conference or course registrations, publication orders, subscriptions, and content submissions. Some more sensitive information (such as demographic information or race/ethnic origin or gender identification) may be requested on a voluntary basis and are not required to be provided. We do not use this sensitive information for advertising purposes and do not provide it to our advertising partners.

If you are providing Personal Data to AAPL relating to a third party, you should confirm that: (i) you have the consent of the third party or another legal basis to share such Personal Data with us; (ii) you have the consent of the third party or another legal basis for us to use their Personal Data in accordance with this Privacy Policy; and (iii) that you have made the information in this Privacy Policy available to that third party.

Additionally, for some emails sent in HTML format by AAPL to its members through its email servers and electronic newsletters, we will collect specific information regarding what the recipient does with that email. For those emails, AAPL will monitor whether a recipient subsequently clicks through to links provided in the message. Other information collected through this tracking feature includes the email address of a user, the date and time of the user's “click,” a message number, name of the list from which the message was sent, tracking URL number, and destination page. This tracking uses web beacons, which are covered by the section on cookies and similar technologies below. AAPL only uses this information to enhance its products and distribution of those products to its members and contacts.

AAPL may collect certain information automatically when you use the website, such as the IP addresses, the type of device used to access the website, and domain names of visitors, browser type, history of pages viewed and other usage information about your use of the website. We collect this information for site administration purposes, such as analyzing this data for trends and statistics. We may share statistical or aggregated information about our users with advertisers, business partners, sponsors and other third parties. This data is used to customize our website content and advertising to deliver a better experience to our users. Please see the section below on cookies and similar technologies for more information.

AAPL may also share statistical or demographic information in aggregate and anonymized manner about our users with advertisers, business partners, sponsors and other third parties. This data is used to customize our website content and advertising and/or for research purposes, to deliver a better experience to our users. Please see the section below on cookies and similar technologies for more information. This aggregate data will not contain any information that personally identifies you.

How Does AAPL Use Collected Data?

AAPL complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) guidelines when using information voluntarily submitted by members and customers in the following ways and for the following purposes:

AAPL Member Services and Products

Generally, AAPL and its direct subsidiaries use data collected to improve its own web content; to respond to visitors' interests, needs, and preferences; and to develop new products and services. AAPL also collects Personal Data to determine membership eligibility and to offer enrollment as a member of AAPL. Personal Data is also collected and used to register you for AAPL events, such as annual meetings, online educational courses and programs and to offer member benefits, products and services that you may have requested.

Credit Card Account Information

AAPL does not disclose credit card account information provided by its members and customers to process payments for services and products. When members and customers choose to pay using their credit cards, AAPL submits the information needed to obtain payment to the appropriate clearinghouse.

“Contact Us” Responses

AAPL may also collect Personal Data to communicate with you and to respond to questions you have raised with AAPL through e-mail or other online requests.

Online Behavioral Advertising

AAPL engages in Online Behavioral Advertising in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Digital Advertising Alliance. We and our advertising partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information on your viewing activity on physicianleaders.org, and third-party advertising networks use the information to serve ads to you on other sites throughout the Internet.

The information used for this purpose may include identifiers such as cookie IDs, device identifiers, and IP address, and information about your interaction with our site and our advertisements. Where you have provided it to us and where permitted by law, it may also include contact information such as your email address, which we convert into a scrambled code (“hash”) before sharing so that it is not readable as an email address. Our advertising partners use this code to recognize you across your devices.

Our advertising partners may use this information for their own purposes, including delivering and measuring advertising. Under California law and the laws of certain other states, this activity may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. However, AAPL does not receive monetary payment in exchange for this information.

We do not use information you have provided about your race or ethnic origin, gender identity, health, or other sensitive categories for advertising purposes, and we do not provide that information to our advertising partners.

Your choices. You may opt out of online behavioral advertising at any time. See “Your Advertising Choices” below.

Disclosures to Third Parties

AAPL may need to share Personal Data with third parties engaged to assist AAPL in providing services to you or to carry out one or more of the purposes described above. These service providers are prohibited from using your Personal Data for any purpose other than to provide this specific assistance and are contractually required to protect Personal Data disclosed by AAPL and to comply with law and the general privacy principles described in this Privacy Policy.

We may share your information with those service providers and contractors to help us provide the AAPL website, as well as the variety of products, events and services offered by AAPL. For example, we may use a service provider to process payment information, provide a platform for our events, provide analytics or use third party software to manage our customer relationship management (CRM) system.

The restrictions described above apply to service providers acting on our behalf. They do not apply to our advertising partners, who receive certain information for their own advertising purposes as described in “Online Behavioral Advertising” above. A list of the third parties with whom we share personal information for advertising purposes is available here.

AAPL also makes member contact information available through AAPL membership directory to other members using its website and to those who register for its conferences or courses, including sharing member contact information with AAPL’s sponsors who may contact you with information about the sponsor’s activities, services and products. In addition, AAPL may incorporate information that users provide into hard copies of the membership directory that it provides to members and conference participants and sponsors. On occasion, AAPL may also provide limited data to third parties that offer products and services. This limited data includes names, job titles, companies, and business addresses, but does not include business phone numbers, business fax numbers, or email addresses. Users may contact AAPL at customerservice@physicianleaders.org or 800-562-8088 to express their preferences to “opt out” of the sharing of their information if they determine later that they do not wish to have the information shared.

AAPL also reserves the right to disclose and/or transfer Personal Data to a third party if AAPL has reason to believe that disclosing the Personal Data is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property, other website users or anyone else who could be harmed by such activities. Additionally, AAPL may disclose Personal Data in response to a subpoena, warrant or other court order, or when we believe in good faith that a law, regulation, subpoena, warrant or other court order requires it – or authorizes us to do so – or to respond to an emergency situation.

AAPL reserves the right to disclose and/or transfer Personal Data to a third party in the event of a proposed or actual purchase, sale (including a liquidation, realization, foreclosure or repossession), lease, merger, amalgamation or any other type of acquisition, disposal, transfer, conveyance or financing of all or any portion of AAPL, or of any of the business of AAPL, in order for you to continue to receive the same products and services from the third party. Accordingly, we may share your information with professional advisors, such as accountants and lawyers who assist us in carrying out our business activities.

Your State Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information; to obtain a portable copy; to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and of targeted advertising; and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

Categories of personal information we share for advertising. In the past 12 months, we have shared the following categories with advertising partners for cross-context behavioral advertising, described as Online Behavioral Advertising above: identifiers (including cookie IDs, device identifiers, IP address, and your email address in the scrambled form described above) and internet or other electronic network activity information (including pages viewed and interactions with our site and advertisements).

Categories of recipients. Advertising networks and demand-side advertising platforms.

We do not sell or share the personal information of individuals we know to be under 16.

To exercise any of these rights, open the Storage Preferences panel from the cookie preferences link in our website footer and use the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” control, or email privacy@physicianleaders.org, or call 800-562-8088. We will verify your request before acting on it and will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. You may designate an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf.

How Does AAPL Use Cookies and Similar Technologies?

This section describes cookies, web beacons, pixels, and similar technologies, which we refer to collectively as “cookies.” Cookies are files that contain information created by a web server that can be stored on a user's hard disk for use either during a particular session (“per-session” cookie) or for future use (“persistent” cookie). AAPL uses cookies to facilitate automated activity, store and track passwords, determine appropriate solicitations, review navigation patterns, and deliver and measure advertising as described in “Online Behavioral Advertising” above.

You can also block or delete cookies using your browser settings and may be able to disable other tracking tools used in emails through the settings in your email service. Users may also be able to instruct their Internet browsers to opt out of accepting a “persistent” cookie and rather accept only a “per-session” cookie. However, you will need to login each time they visit the site to enjoy the full benefits. If the user declines the attachment of any cookie, the user may experience limited features or functionality and might not have access to the full benefits of the website. Registration enables the site to better determine members' interest areas and provide the most relevant information.

Our site uses technologies provided by advertising and analytics partners to recognize your device and understand how you use our site(s) so that we can improve our services to reflect your interests and serve you advertisements about the products and/or services that are likely to be of more interest to you. Specifically, these partners collect information about your activity on our site(s) to enable us to:

  • Measure and analyze traffic and browsing activity on our site(s)
  • Show advertisements for our products and/or services to you on third-party sites
  • Measure and analyze the performance of our advertising campaigns

A current list of these partners, together with links to their own privacy notices and opt-out tools, is available here.

Managing your Cookie choices

You can review and change which categories of cookies we use through the Storage Preferences control on our website, reachable from the link in our website footer. Categories include Essential, Targeted Advertising, Personalization, and Analytics. Essential cookies cannot be disabled because the website will not function without them.

Your Advertising Choices

You may opt out of online behavioral advertising in any of the following ways:

  1. Our opt-out page. Click the cookie preferences link in the footer of our website to open our Storage Preferences panel. Scroll to “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information,” switch the toggle on, and click Save. You can also turn off the Targeted Advertising category from the same control.
  2. Browser signals. We honor opt-out preference signals, including Global Privacy Control (GPC). If you enable GPC in your browser or browser extension, we will treat it as a valid opt-out request for that browser and device.
  3. Industry tools. The Digital Advertising Alliance offers tools covering participating companies:
  4. Directly with our partners. Our advertising partners are listed here, along with links to their own privacy notices and opt-out tools.
  5. Contact us. Email privacy@physicianleaders.org or call 800-562-8088.

When we use contact information for advertising, we exclude anyone who has opted out, and we honor opt-out request submitted through any of the methods above. Opt-outs applied through cookies are specific to the browser and device you use, and clearing your cookies will remove them. Some of our partners use technologies that browser cookie settings may not block, which is why we also offer the options above. Opting out will not stop you from seeing advertising generally, only advertising selected based on your activity.

What Privacy Issues Arise With Providing Personal Data and Accessing Links To Other Sites?

No data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% safe and/or secure. Accordingly, AAPL cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to/from our online products or services. Email messages sent to/from a website may not be secure, so accordingly no confidential information should be sent by email to AAPL. Visitors to AAPL’s website accept the risk that a third party may intercept email messages.

This website contains links to other websites. AAPL has no control over and is not responsible for the privacy policies or content of such sites. Other websites might use personal information differently than our policy permits. We strongly encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party website before providing any personal information.

Retention of Data by AAPL and Information Security

We will hold your Personal Data in our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity (e.g., during your membership term), for our legitimate business purposes or for the maximum retention period permitted by the laws of your jurisdiction.

AAPL implements reasonable security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure, or destruction of data, including Personal Data. We restrict access to Personal Data to only the employees and AAPL business partners who may need to know that Personal Data in order to operate, develop or improve our services, products and offerings. Any third party with which we share your Personal Data is also bound by confidentiality obligations. In the event of a data breach, we will notify affected individuals and regulators as required by applicable law. Notifications will include the nature of the breach, the data affected, and steps you may take to protect yourself.

AAPL Advertising Partners and Subprocessors

A list of AAPL’s current advertising partners and subprocessors is available here. The list identifies each separately: subprocessors are vendors that process personal data on AAPL’s behalf and under our instruction, while advertising partners receive certain information for their own advertising purposes. We update this list as our partners and subprocessors change. Clients with a data processing agreement with AAPL will receive notice of subprocessor changes in accordance with that agreement.

AAPL Subprocessors

As AAPL’s subprocessors change, we will provide our clients with notice by posting updates here. We recommend bookmarking this page and checking back periodically for updates. A list of AAPL’s current subprocessors is available here.

What Means of Redress Are Available For Violations of this Privacy Policy?

If any user suspects AAPL has handled its personal information in a manner that does not comply with this privacy statement, please contact us as soon as possible by emailing customerservice@physicianleaders.org or by calling 800-562-8088.