Hospitality industry leader to present Shugart lecture
Friday, March 28th, 2008
Deborah Sexton, one of the most influential people in the American meeting and convention industry, will present the 34th Annual Grace M. Shugart Lecture on Friday, April 11, at Kansas State University.
The lecture starts at 1:30 p.m. in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. It is free and open to the public.
Sexton will speak on “Attracting Success: You and the Future of Hospitality.” She is president and chief executive officer of Professional Convention Management Association and its foundation in Chicago. She’s the first woman president in the organization’s history.
“We have more than 500 students in our hospitality and dietetics programs. The Shugart Lecture helps connect them with the latest trends and events in their fields,” said Deborah Canter, head of the Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management and Dietetics in the College of Human Ecology.
The department has been training professionals for the dietetics and hospitality industries since 1923.
The speaker has served as president of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau; a principal of Sexton Hospitality Services, a sales and marketing consulting firm for hotel management companies; and vice president for sales and marketing for the Coastal Hotel Group.
Sexton currently serves on the Convention Industry Council’s Housing Panel and the Foundation Board of Trustees of the International Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
She has received many industry awards, including being named one of the “Meeting News” 25 most influential people in the meetings industry in 2007, 2005 and 2004 and the 2007 MPI Chicago Area Chapter’s (MPI-CAC) highest award. Sexton was one of the 2006 New York Society of Association Women Executives Meeting Industry Stars, and received the MPI-CAC Presidents Award in 1990. Sexton was also recognized as the Chicago Hospitality Community’s Hotel Woman of the Year in 1988 and with the Chicago Society of Association Executives (now the Association Forum of Chicagoland) Distinguished Service Award in 1986.
She attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
The Grace M. Shugart Lecture Series brings foodservice and hospitality experts to K-State for the enrichment of student curricula and to provide continuing education for practitioners in the field. Established in 1975, the lecture series honors the late Shugart, former department head and co-author of “Food for Fifty” and “Food Service for Institutions.” Shugart helped build the profession of dietetics and institutional management throughout the United States, serving as president of the American Dietetic Association.
This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 and is filed under Dean's Blog.