MPI New England Chapter News

June 2019

Special Features In This Issue

President's Corner by Bryan Lavin, President

June Annual Awards Dinner at The Harvard Club Boston

Announcing Our Annual Award Nominees

Member Corner, Welcome to our New Members

Volunteer Member Spotlight: Katie Butler, The Liberty Hotel

Upcoming Chapter Events

President's Corner

By Bryan Lavin, MBA, CHE

President

As the sun sets on another MPI New England year (our Chapter Operates on the July – June Fiscal Calendar), your leadership team takes some time to reflect on the year and begin planning for the future. As such, I could not be more excited to share with you all that MPI New England has never been in better position in our 40 year history for continued growth.

Our incoming Board of Directors, whom you’ll meet on June 26 ^th at our Annual Meeting and Gala at the Harvard Club, recently met at Foxwoods Resort and Casino for 2 days of facilitated business planning for the 2019-2020 year, and man, we have a great year in store! Heading into the new year our chapter is in solid financial standing, has a dynamic Board at the helm and a bunch of passionate volunteers. We’ve created partnerships to secure venues and meeting opportunities through the first half of the year and are actively working on new and exciting ways for you, our members to get involved!

As I wind down my Presidential year I keep circling back to a core tenant that has followed me throughout my MPI Chapter Leadership journey – Leave the Chapter better than you found it. Back in 2008 when I first joined the Board, this Chapter was in a much different and less optimistic place (shout to all my Past Presidents who have helped right the ship – crawl, walk, run – Am I right Michelle Johnson?).

Thanks to the years of hard work by a ton of awesome people, I can say with 100% confidence that I will be leaving this chapter (although I’m not really leaving) MUCH better than when I found it. This column is far too short to thank everyone for this transition, but I’d like to thank every sponsor, venue partner, volunteer leader, committee volunteer, members at large, and our chapter administration – or, in other words, our COMMUNITY – for all of your contributions over the years.

You all ARE the chapter.

If you are reading this and would like to leave the chapter better than when you found it, please reach out! I’d love to help you do just that: bryan.lavin@jwu.edu

Annual Awards Dinner & Board Induction

For more than 100 years, many famous and influential people have walked the elegant halls of the Harvard Club of Boston and the evening of June 26th will be no exception. The Club will graciously open its doors for our MPI New England Annual Awards Dinner and Board Induction Ceremony.

Come join us to celebrate our Ruby anniversary, the accomplishments of our Annual Award winners and meet the 2019-2020 Board of Directors as they take the Oath of Service.

Y2Y Harvard Square is our Community Service partner for this special event. Y2Y Harvard Square is a student-run overnight shelter that employs a youth-to-youth model to provide a safe and affirming environment for young adults experiencing homelessness.

Donations of home care cleaning products such as paper towels, sponges, rubber gloves, etc. will be collected during the event. Y2Y Harvard Square will also gladly accept gift cards to stores where they can purchase these items directly. Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

Agenda:

5:30 – 6:30 – Registration, cocktail networking reception

6:30 – 9:00 - Sit down dinner and award ceremony

Location:

Harvard Club of Boston

374 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02115

EVENT REGISTRATION

We would like to extend a giant thank you to all of our generous event partners:

The Harvard Club Boston

Bloomington

David Fox Photography

DesignLight

Entertainment Specialists

Party Rental Ltd

Your Love In Lights

Announcing our Annual Awards Nominees

Congratulations to all of our nominees. We truly appreciate all of your ongoing contributions to our chapter. Awards will presented live at our Annual Awards Celebration Dinner on June 26 ^th .

Megan Berninger

Kelly Cronan

Tom Kura

Jennifer Logan

Becky McDougal

Sandy Mulrey

Terry Mulryan-Toomey

Corie Rand

Linda Rindos

Kimberley Salvato

Deb Stark

Amanda Wilmouth

Michele Yebba

When You Buy MPI , So Do Our Members!

To connect with Jenn Allard, our Advertising Sales Representative , on marketing opportunities through MPI New England, click HERE .

Member Corner

Welcome to these Members who joined in May!

Sara Ghezzi, University of Southern Maine

Yolanda Gonzalez, Discover Puerto Rico

Beth-Anne Grassa, Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

Rebecca Heanue, The Cliff House Resort & Spa

Jessica Parlon, Massachusetts Teachers Association

Ron Procopio, Shepard Exposition Services

Melanie Shapiro, Recipe For Success LLC

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Volunteer Member Spotlight

Katie Butler is the Group Sales Manager at The Liberty Hotel in Boston. In this interview, she talks about her career, why she loves volunteering with MPI, and the importance of trying new things.

MPI: When and why did you start volunteering for MPI?

KB: I started volunteering with MPI a few years ago because I felt like I wasn’t getting enough out of my membership. I came to the realization that you get out of it what you put into it. Through volunteering I have been able to meet more members and feel like I know almost everyone now when I walk into the monthly meeting.

MPI: What would you say if someone asked you why they should volunteer with MPI?

KB : I would say that if you come to the monthly meetings regularly and don’t really feel like you are getting everything you can out of it, or worse you feel like it is a chore, try and volunteer. Once you do, you will realize that a lot of the people in our chapter will become your friends and then the meetings become something to look forward to. I also think it is a great way to try out a skill set that you may not use in your day to day life to see how you like it.