Memories that Last a Lifetime, My ESCA Family

" ESCA's THE BESTCA"

In 2010, the ESCA Summer Educational Conference was at lovely Lake Tahoe, and was the 5th conference I attended. 2010 was a rough year for me personally, however that conference was one of the highlights of my year, and will stand to be one of the fondest memories I carry with me down the road.

The entertainment for the Closing Reception and Awards Dinner that year was Tom Deluca, "The Corporate Hypnotist". As luck would have it I was selected to be an on-stage volunteer. For an hour or so, Tom and his participants on stage, had the crowd howling with laughter and everyone loved the performance. As it turns out I was highly susceptible to hypnotism, who knew?! Out of the depths of my psyche, the truth came out on that stage as I coined the phrase "ESCA's the Besca!" over and over and over! To this day when I see folks that were in attendance that evening, I am usually greeted with "ESCA's the Bestca!".

That's just one of the great memories from the Summer Educational Conferences over the years. Tom Deluca did such a great job that he was back at last year's SEC in Coeur D'Alene and once again he provided great entertainment, but also a buzz afterwards that caused everyone to stay at the venue later than normal just to relive the night's memories. While the entertainment has been great at the SEC; the educational sessions, the town hall meetings, golf outings and networking nights provide a great balance and serve to forge lifelong relationships. The ESCA board, and full-time staff, are truly engaged and proactive in gathering feedback and putting actions in place to make each SEC better than the last.

"Chose a job you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life" -Confucious

The same applies to this business, as it is evident by the friends and colleagues we see at industry events. It truly is a blessing to work in an industry with such passionate people, who are dedicated about the same thing--- Service, providing a great experience, and creating a great work environment for clients, employees, union trades, and industry partners. The past 25 years for me have been filled with exciting changes, challenges and best of all, relationships that have evolved into friendships and truly my "family."

ESCA is a big part of my industry family and the Summer Educational Conference has been a main venue where these relationships have developed. I am truly grateful for the experiences and the mentoring I have been privileged to be a part of, and extremely grateful for the blessing of having worked with some amazing people. As we look to develop future leaders in our own organizations, it is important that we all continue to give back as we have been fortunate enough to receive, and by attending and being involved, then we can continue to grow our "family." ESCA is a great organization that helps promote best practices, education, safety and security, ultimately - relationships. These relationships turn into business partners, industry partners, friendships and family. We hope that you will continue to join us this year at the SEC (and future years) and be a part of the memories that last a lifetime. ESCA really is the BESCA!

Lenny Servedio

ESCA Immediate Past President

Finance Director

Freeman