ON THE MOVE
Planners
Casey creates event-management firm in Chicago
Brian D. Casey has launched the Next Generation Event Group, LLC, an event-management company in Chicago. Previously, Casey was executive vice president at Smith, Bucklin & Associates, based at the company’s Chicago office.
Bova joins Smith, Bucklin
Steve Bova, CAE, has joined the Chicago office of Smith, Bucklin & Associates as executive director of the International Reprographic Association. With 16 years of association management experience, Bova most recently served as executive director of the Oak Brook, Ill.-based Warehousing Education & Research Council.
Suppliers
Bill Bohde has been named director of sales and marketing at the 983-room Kansas City (Mo.) Marriott Downtown. Also joining the hotel are Joani Erickson as director of sales and Renee Ginn as sales manager.
Dale Encinosa and Scott Robinson have been named national sales managers at the 600-room Westin Rio Mar Beach Resort & Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Encinosa is responsible for Washington, D.C., and the Southeast United States, while Robinson is in charge of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Steve Houser was named director of sales and marketing at the 760-room Sheraton Atlanta. Tarji Carter is the property’s new director of business travel.
Rebecca Huetter has been appointed director of sales and
marketing at the 61-suite Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, Mexico.
John R. Kiszla was named director of sales and marketing for the 329-room Pan Pacific San Francisco.
Michael Krouse has been appointed director of sales and marketing at the 683-room Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles.
Richard Rheindorf is the new regional director, U.S. and Canada, for the German Convention Bureau in New York City.
"Ignoring employees and their valuable contributions
can be an organization’s silent killer."
Christi Gibson is executive director of the Naperville,
Ill.-based National Association for Employee Recognition (www.recognition.org). Among her responsibilities, she
plans NAER’s annual convention; this year’s show will be held in
Nashville in May. Gibson lives with her family in “farm country,”
60 miles west of Chicago.
How did you arrive at the association? I owned
several businesses and employed more than 350 people before joining
NAER in 2001. So, considering my background, an association
management position seems to be a natural progression for me. I
understand the importance of recognizing employees.
What is the association’s aim? To convince
employers that the recognition of employees is instrumental in
reducing turnover, increasing productivity and creating a positive
work environment. Ignoring employees and their valuable
contributions can be an organization’s silent killer. Profits are
the fruit, employees are the trunk, and the organization is the
tree. When NAER started, it had 50 members, and when I started, it
had 320; now it has 528. There was a large increase after 9/11, but
we still are seeing an upward trend.
How do you spend your leisure time? I’ve
written two unpublished novels, and I’m working on a third; I’ve
also written several articles. One piece of writing earned an
honorable mention in a Writer's Digest competition, which received
18,000 entries. I also make handmade Christmas stockings out of
wedding dresses and antique jewelry, buttons and beads (www.handbeadedstockings.com).