Forum - April 2011

ABOVE&BEYOND

Promotions and Changes

Alexander J. Barton is
now president and CEO
of Barton & Barton Ltd.,
a Park Ridge, Ill.-based
consulting firm special-
izing in marketing services
and sales assistance for associations.

Previously, Barton was vice president.

Dick Barton, founder and former president, is now chief operating officer.

business. The new position, convention development director, will be occupied by Bill Adams, who most recently was director of sales for the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Convention & Visitors Bureau in Annapolis, Md. Adams will be based in Washington, D.C., where his primary focus will be regional and national business from the D.C. and Chicago markets.

Convention center man-
agement company SMG
has hired Claude Molinari
as assistant general man-
ager of the Cobo Center in
Detroit. Previously, Molinari
was assistant general manager of the
David L. Lawrence Convention Center in
Pittsburgh, Pa. In his new position, he will
be responsible for overseeing day-to-day
operations and business development at
Cobo Center, where he also will adminis-
ter green practices, negotiate with trade
unions, develop contingency plans, over-
see safety and emergency planning, and
execute annual budget goals.

The Hilton Orrington
Hotel in Evanston, Ill.,
has hired Mike McCahon
as director of sales and
marketing. Most recently,
McCahon was director of
sales and marketing for the Batterymarch
Conference Center in downtown Boston.
He relocated to Chicago last summer and
will be in charge of all rooms and cater-
ing revenues at the downtown Evanston
hotel.

The Traverse City
Convention & Visitors
Bureau in Traverse City,
Mich., has hired Terese
M. McInnis as group sales
account executive. Most
recently, McInnis was vice president of
sales and marketing, as well as general
manager, at the Lansing Clarion Hotel/
Waterford Estates Lodge in Lansing,
Mich. Based in Lansing, she will represent
Traverse City as a meeting and conven-
tion destination to corporate, university,
government and association groups that
are based in Michigan’s capital city.

A Salute to the New CAEs

Associated Luxury Hotels
International has named
André Valk, CMP, direc-
tor of sales for its Midwest
Region. Previously, Valk was
vice president of sales at
Chicago-based hinton+grusich, which was
acquired by ALHI earlier this year. Notably,
Valk — originally from Germany — is the
first German to ever receive the CMP des-
ignation, which he earned in 1995.

Lyn Acocella-Bagley,
CMP, CEM, has joined the
Charlotte Regional Visitors
Authority in Charlotte,
N.C., as a national sales
manager for Visit Charlotte,
CRVA’s destination marketing office.

Based in Chicago, Acocella-Bagley will work to book meetings and conventions in Charlotte, facilitate sales account management, and serve as a liaison between clients and Visit Charlotte for the Chicago market. Previously, she was senior account executive for Marriott International.

The Syracuse Convention
& Visitors Bureau and the
Onecenter — the major
downtown event venue in
Syracuse, N. Y. — have col-
laborated in order to create
a brand-new sales position in charge of
generating new multi-property convention

Mission Point Resort in
Mackinac Island, Mich.,
has appointed Deborah
Denyer as sales manager,
based in the resort’s south-
east Michigan offices. Most
recently, Denyer worked at
Destination Michigan, where she provided
cooperative marketing services to suppli-
ers and meeting planner services to cor-
porate and association groups.

The Association Forum of Chicagoland is proud to announce that six of its members passed the December 2010 Certified Association Executive exam and were awarded the CAE designation, joining more than 3,900 industry leaders worldwide.

The CAE designation is administered by ASAE and recognizes those who demonstrate knowledge essential to the practice of association management.

The Association Forum offers study groups at downtown and suburban locations to help association professionals prepare for the exam. Facilitated by current CAEs, the small, interactive groups meet weekly for a structured case-study series based on the 10 domain areas.