Current Newsletter

ifec newsletter
january 2012
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President's Place
by Megan McKenna, National Mango Board

Happy New Year! We are only a few weeks into 2012 but there is so much going on at IFEC. To get up-to-date information on the Professional Development Awards, scholarships for foodservice communication students, our brand new Publicists Mart , and so much more, visit IFEC’s website.

Although it may be months away the Board and Committees are diving right into the upcoming Music City conference . Building from some of the great additions in Washington (Who didn’t love the Learning Stations?), the Board is working on big changes to this year’s conference in Nashville. One of the highlights is a new addition to the Betty Award program. This year we will be presenting an up-and-coming Betty Award, an award for an IFEC Rising Star. More details on nominations for this award to come, but we do need help naming the new award. Please send me your ideas (mmckenna@mango.org) and I will be sure to announce the name in the February newsletter. I can’t wait to see all the creative ideas!

If you have any other suggestions for ways to improve IFEC as an organization, the NRA reception, our annual conference or anything else IFEC, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me (mmckenna@mango.org).

I am very excited to help steer IFEC through 2012 and hope to make the organization even more valuable to its members.
-- Megan
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Welcome new members
During the last half of 2011, 42 new members joined our ranks and we had the pleasure of welcoming many of them in person at the conference.  For those who weren’t able to be in Washington, a warm welcome goes out now to:

Brad Belletto, President, Hospitality Consulting & Design, Inc., Dallas
Ed Brown, Senior Vice President, Food & Beverage, Restaurant Associates, New York, NY
Sarah Hada, Director, Corporate Communications, Compass Group North America, Charlotte, NC
Jill Kase, Assistant Account Executive, Edelman Public Relations, Chicago
Peter Wiltjer, Principal, Peter Wiltjer Marketing Group, Inc., Aurora, IL
Christopher Wolf, Director, Consumer Insights & Innovation, Tyson Foods, Inc., Springdale, AR

And a big New Year’s shout out goes to our first new member of 2012:

Stephan Hengst, Director of Communications, The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY.

Check out a list of all of our new members since July.
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In case you missed it
At the D.C. conference, we held a “Peoples’ Choice Awards” contest for the “bests & mosts” among the products showcased there. Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine and California Endive were among the top scorers. Lots of other products were well-received,

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News from and about members
Congratulations to Pam Parseghian on her new post as contributing editor covering food for FoodService Director.  You may contact her at pparseghian@gmail.com .

Kudos to IFEC President Megan McKenna on her promotion to Director of Marketing for the National Mango Board.  Megan joined NMB as Marketing Specialist in 2007 and moved up to Marketing Manager in 2009.  Last year she was recognized by Produce Business as a “40 Under Forty” honoree.

Satisfied customer: Ann Segerstrom (Segerstrom Communications) was one of the first IFECers to use Publicists Mart. “Just want to let you know that I received excellent (and very gratifying) response from my inquiry on the IFEC Publicists Mart,” Ann wrote us.  “Once it clicked in my head to use it, it proved the ideal vehicle for reaching out to my colleagues. Thanks for instituting it!”

Newly-minted (and yet, re-tread) board member Alexei Rudolf (Foodservice Connections, LLC) will be scouting the 2012 conference site in Nashville while moderating a panel on behalf of client Barilla America at the NACUFS Southern Regional Conference, which is being hosted by Vanderbilt University. The panel will cover "Marketing Healthy in Campus Dining: From Back to Front" showcasing best practices from C&U operators in the region and current research and trend information into millennial attitudes about healthy eating.

Linda Duke announces that Duke Marketing has been chosen as an agency of record for Rita’s Franchise Company, concept owner of Rita’s Italian Ice, the nation’s largest Italian Ice concept with more than 550 locations in 18 states.

Registration is open for the May 4-6 session of Camp Blogaway, the boot camp for food and recipe writers who would be bloggers. Food pro and former IFEC board member Patti Londre operates the camp in Angelus Oaks, in the Southern California mountains. (campblogaway.com)

School Nutrition Editor Patty Fitzgerald and Assistant Editor Cecily Walters are excited about the unveiling of their new digital edition, www.schoolnutrition.org/snmagazinecurrent.
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IFEC 2012 Calendar

Save the dates for these IFEC events. Details to come.

Monday, May 7
4:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Annual Reception during the NRA Show, Chicago

November 5 – 7
Annual Conference
Sheraton Music City Hotel, Nashville
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Do you have news to share? Please send it to ifec@aol.com.
Executive Director & Newsletter Editor Carol Lally
845-229-6973 / ifec@aol.com / www.ifeconline.com