Members That Made An Impact
DAVID H. KRECH
DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING TASK FORCE
David H Krech, has been a Director of Sales and Marketing in Florida and the Caribbean for the last 23 years, holding positions with Wyndham and Starwood as well as a couple of independent Luxury Resorts in the Caribbean. Dave lived through hurricanes Irma and Maria two years ago in the Virgin Islands and knows well the helpless and despair these catastrophic storms cause. After leading recovery efforts and a successful fund raising drive for St. Thomas as a SITE Board member two years ago, it was natural for him to father and Chair the SITE / MPI Grand Bahama and Abacos Disaster Recover Fund.
As a past Board Member and continuing member of SITE, David says “…aside from SITE’s obvious benefits of networking and education, SITE organization’s dedication to challenging our thought leaders to embrace our sustainability and humanitarian causes is second to none. I am also proud of our mentoring and scholarship programs for the young professionals in our industry.”
Email: capt.krech@gmail.com
LONISE CAREY
CO-FOUNDER, ISLAND DESTINATION SERVICES
Lonise Carey was born in Nassau, Bahamas and on the 40th Independence Anniversary of The Bahamas was honored to be a “40 under 40” award recipient for her contribution to the hospitality industry. Lonise graduated with a BBA in Marketing from Howard University, Washington, DC and with a Master of Science Degree in Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). In 2001, Lonise began her career in hospitality in Food and Beverage management at the Capitol Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC. In 2005, Lonise co-founded Island Destination Services (IDS), which is now a four-time World Travel Award winning destination management and special events company and a member of the DMC Network. To date, IDS has executed major national and internationally recognized events such as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Miss Universe Cultural Village, The Best of Best International Sailing Regatta, the Grand Opening of the $400M Lynden Pindling International Airport and numerous extraordinary MICE events.
As a SITE Florida & Caribbean Board Member Lonise says, “Being a board member has given me an opportunity to listen to the voices in our industry on a regional and global level and make a substantial impact by developing educational opportunities and special events that keep our industry connected and informed. Our ongoing hurricane relief efforts for the Abacos and Grand Bahama has also been an uplifting and purposeful experience. As a community, SITE and MPI have been able to bring hope and support to my homeland, a destination that’s well known for extraordinary incentive experiences.”
Email: lonise@islanddmc.com
MAXINE LOCKHART, CMP, CMM, CIS
SUPERIOR INCENTIVES MANAGEMENT
Maxine is an executive corporate, meetings, events, incentives and sales strategist delivering strong P&L performance, with experience in coordinating all aspects of go-to-market strategy, sales management and meetings & incentives planning leadership.
Email: max@superiorhsgroups.com
TODD M. MICKEY
CO-FOUNDER, PRINCIPLE AND COO
APPLIED MEETINGS & HOSPITALITY SOLUTIONS
Todd has made an impact to the SITE Florida & Caribbean chapter because he places great value on relationships and is known as a passionately driven hospitality professional. His tenacity and drive for excellence combined with his hands-on hotel operations and sales experience, creates his recipe for success and are the foundation to his established reputation for outstanding customer service and quality deliverables.
Email: tmickey@amhsolutions.com
BENOIT SAUVAGE, DMCP, CMP, CIS
PRESIDENT
The SITE 2018 Member of the Year Award is presented to a volunteer who has left an indelible mark on SITE throughout the year.
Benoit Sauvage, DMCP, CMP, CIS, works year-round to grow and promote SITE while concurrently working as the CEO of Connect DMC, located in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, with offices in Punta Cana, Santo Domingo and Los Cabos.
Winner of an IMEX Green Award, President of the SITE Florida & Caribbean Chapter and Member of the SITE Global and Events Industry Council Sustainability Committees, Benoit is also a certified Sustainable Event Professional.
Email: ben@ctsdr.com
JANE SCALETTA, DMCP, CIS
PRESIDENT
You could say Jane Scaletta had the travel bug at a very young age. Born in Jamaica she went to boarding school in her teens in England then moved to Florida in 1976 where she attended the University of Florida studying Animal Science planning on being a veterinarian.
“A car accident kept me out of school so I signed up for an online travel course, got my travel agent certification and started working in a travel agency in 1981. I worked for the 4th largest travel agency at the time—Morris Travel– in their incentive department and after the first incentive program we did for one of our clients, I was hooked.”
Email: jane@dolfindestinations.com
MAURA ZHANG, CIS, CITP
PRESIDENT
Maura is an island girl born in the Dominican Republic and resides in Miami since 1989. She has a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management from Florida International University and is an industry leader with 20+ years in luxury-tier hospitality sales and marketing, hotel operations and travel industry sales. Maura’s hotel experience includes the top luxury hotel companies such as The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, The Biltmore Coral Gables, Noble House Hotels, Kimpton Hotels and Benchmark Hospitality, where she earned awards such as Chairman’s Club, Platinum Club and Attitude & Determination Awards.
In 2017, Maura joined Patricia Sahin and launched Synergy-Connect; a collaboration by a team of seasoned hospitality professionals, with a shared a passion for unconventional travel and emerging Destinations. Maura and Patricia met at the SITE Global Conference in Orlando in 2013. They put together their diverse backgrounds and individual skill-sets, to represent, consult, and connect providers of unique and memorable experiences, with MICE buyers in North America. They currently represent Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB and Pacific World DMC and will add new clients to the list this year.
Email: maura@synergy-connect.us
MILLIE EVANS
PRESIDENT & CEO
ALLIANCE & INCENTIVE MEETINGS, LLC
Site Membership has been invaluable to Millie for Education and Networking. When she lived in Kansas City, she did not have a local opportunity to learn about incentives. Around 1977, Millie went to Site University in New York where she met other Planners and Suppliers. Ever since then, Millie has found SITE to be very valuable. “I have been a member for about 40 years. I am fortunate to meet wonderful vendors, other planners and of course, my clients”.
Millie’s reason for starting in travel incentive industry, was when she was teaching preschool after her third daughter was born, had trouble finding baby sitters. When she finally did, she went to work with her brother’s travel company, Travel Management and Invest -N- travel. Here she was exposed to incentive travel. Once she got a taste of incentive travel, she wanted more!
After getting a divorce, what was part time, became her full time vocation. She loved meeting corporate executives and the opportunity to assist them in using Incentive travel as a marketing tool. Not only was finding the right destination part of this, but helping them structure a return on their investment with promotional campaign to excite their employees or customers.
Defining the Incentive & Travel Industry
Incentive travel is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. Our research and data prove the ROI business case for incentive travel, which is a powerful management tool that strengthens employee retention, improves performance, and fosters a culture of thoughtful motivation and success.
Over the last 40 years, SITE has grown to over 2,000 members in 90 countries with 29 local and regional chapters. We are a global home for it professionals who deliver with style on the incentive travel promise: meaningful, motivational, memorable. it Works!