Meeting News - March 23, 2009 - (Page 6)

People Making News Marriott Now an ‘Icon’ to Cornell Univ. J. W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International, will receive the ﬁrst Icon of the Industry Award from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, at a ceremony at the Marriott Marquis in New York City in June. Marriott will be honored for his lifelong leadership in the hospitality industry and for his extraordinary civic and philanthropic contributions. Under his lead, Marriott International has grown from a family restaurant business to a global lodging company with more than 3,100 properties in 66 countries and territories. Known for its commitment to diversity, social responsibility, and community engagement, the ﬁrm is consistently recognized among the most admired companies. Bill Marriott has also worked to compile a family of 18 lodging brands that range from limited-service to full-service luxury hotels. The company manages and franchises hotels and resorts under the Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Bulgari, Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, and Fairﬁeld Inn brand names. It also operates Marriott Executive Apartments, (which provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division), operates conference centers, and manages golf courses. “Bill Marriott has led an exemplary life founded on service to others,” said Michael Johnson, dean and E. M. Statler Professor of Hotel Administration at Cornell. “We look forward to recognizing him for his remarkable personal and professional achievements.” Marriott is an honorary member of the Cornell Hotel Society, and the school’s Executive Education Center bears the Marriott name. and a director of group sales with the Westin Long Beach. She received her bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management, with a minor in business administration, from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Forney joined the CVB in 2001 as membership director and was promoted to director of marketing in 2005 before attaining his current position as VP of marketing. In addition to his experience in successfully promoting Long Beach as a destination for meetings and leisure travel, he has an extensive background in group packaging and incentive sales. Forney has been involved in travel and tourism for more than 18 years, and he has helped plan many of Long Beach’s most successful special events, including the 2004 Olympic Team trials for swimming, the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race, and the Royal Rendezvous between the Queen Mary and Queen Mary 2. tion and the integration of those properties and personnel into the company. Most recently, Smythe realized his vision for the Peak 2 Peak Gondola—the longest unsupported span for a lift of its kind in the world. The gondola ofﬁcially opened this past December. Shout Outs I Lynda Hayes joined Scottsdale-based Hospitality Performance Network as regional VP of national accounts. She will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with large corporate and association accounts, and expanding HPN throughout the U.S. Prior to joining HPN, Hayes spent over 25 years with Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts. Most recently, she served as global account director for Starwood, where she was responsible for managing top-producing accounts in both corporate and association markets. Hayes is a member of Meeting Professionals International, the American Society of Association Executives, and the Professional Convention Management Association. I Jason Jordan is now regional director for Twinsburg, OH-based Experient Sales Network, which has more than 50 independent sales professionals, and where he will supervise the western U.S. region. The network is a division of Experient Inc. Jordan has more than 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has been a strategic account manager with Experient since 2005, out of the company’s St. Louis ofﬁce. His previous experience includes sales, marketing, and management positions with Holiday Inn, Marriott, and Renaissance. Jordan graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1992 with a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing. “Jason is an established professional with a record of success in sales and account management,” said Andy Smith, VP of Experient’s independent channel. “His direction and support will undoubtedly help advance the Experient Sales Network.” H Smythe Retires from Intrawest Resorts This month, Hugh Smythe retired as senior vice president of Canadian company Intrawest Mountain Resorts. A 43-year veteran of the ski resort industry, Smythe had been with Intrawest since 1986 in several key leadership roles, including 20 years as president of resort operations. Throughout his tenure, Smythe was instrumental in the growth of Intrawest from a single-resort operation to one of the leaders in the destination resort industry. It was his vision that led to the original development of Blackcomb Mountain in British Columbia in 1980 and the ultimate success of Whistler Blackcomb, which today is consistently ranked as a premiere mountain resort and which will be a site of the 2012 Winter Olympics. With Intrawest’s entry into the ski resort industry in 1986, Smythe became deeply involved in each successive resort acquisi- Long Beach CVB Names Two VPs Allison Lesser has been appointed VP of sales and Jeffrey J. Forney VP of marketing for the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau. Prior to joining the CVB, Lesser was director of sales and marketing with W Hotel and Sheraton Suites in San Diego E-mail your personnel announcements in the meetings and hospitality industries to Terri Hardin, Editor-In-Chief, at terri.hardin@nielsen.com, or mail them to MeetingNews, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. 6 MeetingNews March 23, 2009 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - March 23, 2009 Contents What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Meetings Mean Business As 'Meeting Matter' Marriott Unveils Promo Columbus, OH, Addresses Convention Hotel Issues People Making News Orlando Strives for Cost Transparency Is Biz-Class Air Travel Dead? Greenest Planner Awards Mid America Insider Report: Conference Centers Destination Insider: Mississippi Gulf Coast Las Vegas Destination Insider: Cleveland Ad Index Live from the Forum

Meeting News - March 23, 2009

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