Benchmark Executives Receive Education Awards
International Association of Conference Centers
HOUSTON, TX, April 12. 2006. Benchmark Hospitality International has formally announced that two of its executives were honored with education awards at the Annual Conference of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC), held recently at the company's Cheyenne Mountain Resort.
Honored were Ellen Sinclair, vice president, who received the Pyramid Award - IACC's highest education award. Sean McLaughlin, general manager of Benchmark's Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center, was presented with IACC's Excellence in Education Award. Jeff Farina, president of IACC and Benchmark's chief development officer, presented the awards.
Nearly 450 industry professionals from around the globe convened at the resort, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the international association, of which Benchmark's Chairman & CEO Burt Cabanas, is a Founding member.
"We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of Ellen and Sean," stated Mr. Cabanas. "Each received well-deserved recognition for their active participation in strengthening the association by making it a more educationally focused organization. Current and future IACC members will benefit significantly from their contributions."
The Pyramid Award is the highest education honor given by IACC. Ms. Sinclair was honored for her work in strengthening the association's educational programming. "Ellen significantly raised the bar on the quality of IACC's educational offering," said IACC President Jeff Farina. "She helped overhaul IACC's core competency course and created a user-friendly, updated curriculum for several of the association's course offerings."
Sean McLaughlin, general manager of Benchmark's Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center, was presented with the Excellence in Education Award.
McLaughlin was nominated based on his active involvement with the association, including serving on the Board of Directors, the Quality Committee, as Chair of the Communications Task Force and Co-Chair of the IACC Learning Network. Under his leadership the organization instituted the position of Director of Training & Development and increased regional educational programming tenfold.
Celebrating its Silver Anniversary, the International Association of Conference Centers, founded in 1981, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting understanding and awareness of the conference center industry. Active members meet a stringent set of Universal Criteria and agree to a Code of Ethics. Currently, the association includes approximately 400 members from the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, France, England, The Netherlands, Germany and Japan. For more information, visit the website at www.iacconline.org.
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