ON THE MOVE
Planners
Barrett moves up at Technology Training Corp.
Bradford Barrett, CMP, has been promoted from manager of U.S. events to director of events for U.S. and international programs at the Technology Training Corp., an aerospace and defense-training seminar and conference company based in El Segundo, Calif.
Hartley takes helm at NAMSS
Stephen Hartley has joined SmithBucklin as executive director of the National Association Medical Staff Services, which provides career development and credentialing for the health-care industry. Hartley is based in SmithBucklin’s Washington, D.C., office.
Suppliers
Patti DeWitt has joined the 640-room Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix as director of catering and conference services.
Mont Handley has been appointed national sales director, East Coast, for the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Howard Munves has joined the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority as national sales manager for the Washington, D.C., area.
Wendi Ooten is the new association account executive at the Greater Lansing (Mich.) Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Thomas R. Parke has been named director of sales and marketing for the 373-room Hilton Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Beach Resort, which will open this summer.
James Peggins Jr., CMP, is now director of event management at the 1,421-room San Francisco Marriott Downtown.
Francis Purvey has been named director of sales for the 358-room Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino in Aruba, as well as for the 253-room Radisson St. Martin Resort & Spa in St. Martin, which will open this December. He is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Alan Sims has joined the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau as convention sales director.
Planners have not been scared
off from going to Cancun, where two of my properties were
damaged.
Barbara Schmaelzle is the Orlando-based
market director of group sales for Marriott and Renaissance’s
Caribbean and Mexico resorts (www.paradisebymarriott.com). The division has eight
properties, including the 481-room Frenchman’s Reef & Morning
Star Marriott Beach Resort in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She manages
a sales staff of 21.
How did you get into the hotel
business? My father owned a travel agency in Connecticut,
and my first role at Marriott, my only employer, was on the
operations side. I was asked to do some marketing due to my travel
agency experience, and that is how I got into sales. When I got
married, I moved to Florida and worked through Marriott to my
present position.
Do you have a central
office? No, I work from home, and my staff is scattered
throughout the country; I bring them together twice a year.
Marriott’s internal organization and individual business maturity
allows this noncentralized system to work. The key is
communication.
Did last year’s hurricanes
affect you? Three of our properties two in Aruba, one in
Curaçao are outside the hurricane belt. Planners have not been
scared off from going to Cancun, where two of my properties were
damaged, but I tell them they need to partner with us and the hotel
in question to formulate joint solutions to prepare for such
eventualities.
How do you relax? I
recently took up tennis and joined a league. I bring my racket with
me on business trips.