The eight cities that make up the Palm Springs Desert Resorts—Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage—are investing a total of more than $1 billion in new hotels and upgrades to existing ones. Some of the projects began last year and are finishing up while others are looking to be completed by 2010.

Among the completed projects is a renovation of Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage. The project included a new porte cochere and lobby area, enhanced guest rooms, a new pool complex and a refurbished spa. New additions in Indian Wells include new luxury villas and Lantana restaurant at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Villas & Spa; a new ballroom and event lawn at the Miramonte Resort & Spa; and a refurbished lobby bar and Cava restaurant at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa. Desert Springs, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa, in Palm Desert, renovated its spa and lobby; the Hilton Palm Springs Resort refurbished its spa; and the Holiday Inn/Palm Springs has also completed a renovation.

New hotels include the Embassy Suites La Quinta Hotel & Spa and the Homewood Suites by Hilton in La Quinta, located across from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. In Rancho Mirage, the Agua Caliente Casino & Hotel has opened and the Ritz-Carlton is scheduled to open in the fall. In Palm Springs, the Riviera Resort & Spa will reopen in October following an extensive renovation.

Upcoming projects include a Hard Rock Hotel and Mondrian Hotel in Palm Springs; the Delfino Resort and Larkspur Hotel in Palm Desert; and a Sheraton Hotel in Cathedral City.

• The Association Forum of Chicagoland recognized nearly 30 association community leaders at its 2007–2008 Leader Recognition Day on March 27 at the University Club of Chicago.

Members honored for their work with the organization included Pon Angara; Louis G. Apostol, CAE; Scott Ball; Anna Belyaev; Brian Bernardoni; Demetrius Brown; Carol Buseman; Joanne V. Ciatto; Patty Coen; Mary Feeley, CAE; Carla De Florio, CAE; Barbara Higgens; Marilyn Jansen; Rita Kaufman, CAE; Margaret Knell; Bonnie Koenig; Stephen Lamb, CAE; Tera Lavick; Edina Lessack; Alissa Lew; Angela McKay; Patrick Melvin; William O’Brien; Minal Patel; M. Bernadette Patton, CAE; James Pavletich; Jeanne Schehl; Jeanne Sheehy; Susan C. Smith; Stephen P. Stahr, CAE; Tancy Stanbery, CAE; Evan Williams; Zachary Wilson; and Gail Wiseman, CAE.

The group also announced its new board of directors at the event. Officers include Patricia Blake, CAE, as chairperson; Ed Salek, CAE, as chairperson-elect; H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, as secretary-treasurer; and Janet L. Jackson, as immediate past-chair. Board members include Kay Granath, CAE; Joe Kissinger; C. Scott Litch, CAE; Robin Menes, CAE; Kevin G. Ordonez; Ron Pietrzak; Elaine Weiss; and Oliver P. Yandle, CAE.

For more information on upcoming events, call (312) 924-7031 or visit www.associationforum.org.

• The Texas Society of Association Executives recently helped Sean Aiken—a young man with a business degree who didn’t know what he wanted to do in life— learn more about the world of associations by spending a week in its offices.

The Texas SAE’s executive director, Beth Brooks, heard about Aiken’s quest to try 52 jobs in 52 weeks and suggested that since every job he had held was represented by an association, he should “come to Austin and learn about the association world.” To read about Aiken’s thoughts on associations, check out his blog, www.oneweekjob.com.

• Rob Beadel has been named director of forestry education for the Arkansas Forestry Association. Beadel has been working as an ecologist in the Water Division of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. He is president-elect of the Arkansas Environmental Education Association.

Trump International Hotel & Towers has opened hotel properties with meeting space in Chicago and Las Vegas. Trump International Hotel & Tower/Chicago, located downtown on the Chicago River, occupies the 14th through 27th floors of a 92-story residential tower. It has 339 guest rooms and meeting space that includes five conference rooms; two boardrooms; the Grand Ballroom, which can host up to 299 guests; and the Skyline Room, available for up to 175 guests. The 64-story Trump International Hotel & Tower/Las Vegas is located on the Strip and features 1,232 guest rooms, a spa and 2,460 square feet of meeting space with catering services.

The 32-story InterContinental/San Francisco has opened in the city’s South of Market district with 550 guest rooms, a restaurant, bar, spa and 43,000 square feet of meeting and function space. The 32-story hotel is next door to the Moscone West Convention Center. The hotel is part of an expansion plan underway at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, which is seeking to grow its presence in the Western United States. InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa is slated to open ion Paradise Valley, Arizona, this fall, and the 208-room InterContinental The Clement Monterey is scheduled to open this month in Monterey, California, next to the town’s famous aquarium. It is the first hotel to be built in Monterey since the late 1980s and offers 15,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor event space.

The new Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa has opened in Carlsbad, California, next to Legoland. The hotel offers 250 guest rooms and 12 meeting rooms for a total of 25,000 square feet of space. Additional guest rooms will be added over the next two years.

The Renaissance/Boston Waterfront has opened in the South Boston Waterfront’s Seaport District with 471 guest rooms and more than 21,000 square feet of meeting space. The 21-story hotel’s design was inspired by ship sails billowing in the wind, with interiors that reflect the seaport setting.

After a two-year, $400 million renovation, The Plaza in New York City plans to celebrate its grand reopening May 10. The landmark hotel now offers 282 guest rooms and suites. The lobby features a new Champagne Bar, and the 1,800-square-foot, stained-glass ceiling in the Palm Court has been restored. The hotel offers 21,000 square feet of meeting space, including the Grand Ballroom, which can host functions of up to 700 people, and the Terrace Room, which can host up to 500 people.

Bruno Brunner has been named general manager of the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. Brunner joins the hotel from Reid’s Palace Hotel in Madeira, Portugal. Brunner succeeds Ashish Verma, who resigned earlier this year.

The Resort at the Mountain, located in Welches, Oregon, near Mount Hood, has appointed Frank Casarez as its general manager and Chy Charles as sales manager. Casarez was previously general manager at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington, and Charles was previously director of sales and marketing for Corvallis Tourism in Corvallis, Oregon.

Scott Spann has been named general manager at Skamania Lodge, in Stevenson, Washington. Spann has 20 years of experience as a general manager and served most recently in that role at the Chattanoogan in Tennessee.

The Salish Lodge & Spa in Snoqualmie, Washington, has appointed Sarah Kiepe director of sales. Kiepe has more than 20 years of industry experience and was previously director of sales for the Bell Harbor International Conference Center and adjacent World Trade Center in Seattle.

Agnes Moskaluniec has been named director of national sales for Howard Johnson in Canada, where she will be responsible for 40 properties. She has more than 10 years of industry experience, working with travel companies, tourist attractions and major hotel chains.

• The Nevada Society of Association Executives and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority are hosting a luncheon on May 21 with the theme “Meet Mesquite.” Gina Mann will be presenting the town as a place to meet. The lunch will also serve as a membership drive for the Nevada SAE. For more information, visit www.nsae.net.

• The Southern California Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPISCC) held its 2008 Annual Educational & Tradeshow Conference on March 20 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. More than 150 exhibitors showcased their products at the event, which this year focused on planning environmentally friendly meetings.

Spurgeon Richardson, president and CEO of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, has announced his plans to retire at the end of the year. Richardson has led the bureau for 17 years, during which time the CVB developed a cultural tourism department, launched a Web site, began a diversity marketing program, started a charitable foundation and formed a corporate development department. Other highlights of his tenure include promotion of the 1996 Summer Olympics and the expansion of the Georgia World Congress Center.

Another executive planning to retire is Carol Lentz, of Travel Portland (formerly the Portland Oregon Visitors Association). Lentz, who has been with the organization since 1989 and intends to complete her tenure in July, is its chief financial and operations officer as well as director of its Education & Training Foundation and administrator for the region’s Visitor Development Fund.

Mark Shore has been named executive director of the Williamson County (Tennessee) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Shore has more than 22 years in the industry, most recently as head of the Charlottesville Albemarle (Virginia) Convention & Visitors Bureau. He was president of the Virginia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.

Debbie Hogan has been appointed as the new senior director of sales at the Big Island (Hawaii) Visitors Bureau. Hogan most recently worked as the director of sales for the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa on Oahu. Prior to that, she worked in sales at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island.

The Grapevine (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau has made several new appointments. Becky Gardner and Connie Ash have been named national sales managers. Both previously worked as senior global account executives for the Wyndham Hotel Group.

Steve Pierson has been named national sales manager at the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau. Pierson served as vice-president of sales at the Mobile Bay (Alabama) Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Rochester (Minnesota) Convention & Visitors Bureau has appointed Mitch Stevenson sales manager. Stevenson previously served as director of entertainment and marketing at CineMagic Theatres, a theater company that serves the states of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau has made several new appointments to its convention sales department. Bethani Blair has been appointed sales manager for the bureau’s new Southwest regional office in Dallas. Blair worked most recently for Ultimate Ventures DMC in Dallas. Mary Calvert has been will focus on the Midwest market and be based in Chicago. She previously was director of national accounts for associations for Marriott Group Sales in Chicago. And Carol Daugherty, who will be based in Alexandria, Virginia, will focus on the Eastern regional market. Daugherty worked in the convention sales department at the Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Linda DiMario, who recently retired as the head of the Arlington (Texas) CVB, has started a tourism-industry consulting company in Texas. DiMario & Associates will specialize in providing services, such as convention and tourism sales and marketing, destination branding and strategic planning, for small to mid-sized CVBs, chambers and cities.

• The Washington Society of Association Executives has scheduled its “Celebrate the Stars Annual Awards Luncheon” for May 13 at the Hotel Murano in Tacoma. For more information, call (425) 778-6162 or visit www.wsaenet.org.

The Association Executives of North Carolina has several spring events scheduled. On April 28, the group is holding its 21st annual Golf Outing at the Grandover Resort & Conference Center in Greensboro; the next morning, an Association Management Forum will cover grassroots advocacy with speaker Patrick Haggerty, a political and journalism veteran from Washington, D.C. Other events this month include a Technology Showcase on April 11 at the Pinehurst Resort and a Women’s Golf Day at the Raleigh Country Club on April 17. For more information, call (919) 821-1648 or visit www.aencnet.org.
• The annual meeting and tradeshow for the Georgia Society of Association Executives is scheduled for May 28–30 in Athens, Georgia. It’s theme is “Prepare Your Association for a Sustainable Future.” For more information, visit www.gsae.org.

• The Florida Society of Association Executives has scheduled its annual conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach on July 16–19. The organization has also recently published on its Web site two documents that pertain to associations within the state: the white paper called “The Issues, Impact, Opportunities & Challenges for Florida of a Post-Embargo Cuba” and a commissioned study called the “Economic Impact of Florida Associations 2007,” which examines the state’s largest 1,000 associations. For further information on any of these subjects, visit www.fsae.org.

• The Center for Association Leadership recently received a $500,000 grant from the J. Willard & Alice S. Marriott Foundation in support of its Social Responsibility Initiative. As part of the initiative, ASAE & The Center are planning the first-ever Global Summit on Social Responsibility, scheduled for April 30 to May 2 at a host site in Washington, D.C., as well as dozens of connected sites in the United States, around the world and online. Confirmed connected sites in the States include Chicago; Marlborough, Connecticut; Tallahassee, Florida; Atlanta and Duluth, Georgia; St. Paul; Nashville, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; Milwaukee; and Seattle. For more information on the Global Summit on Social Responsibility, visit www.asaecenter. org/globalsummitsr.

Bob Zec has been named president of the Lupus Foundation of America/Illinois Chapter, which is based in Chicago. Zec previously was global account manager for Hewlett-Packard. He also founded the Nick Zec Foundation for his son, who died from lupus complications in 1996 after years of misdiagnoses.

• The Wisconsin Society of Association Executives plans to hold the seminar originally scheduled for February 6 (and cancelled due to a blizzard) on May 21 at the Hilton/Milwaukee. The seminar’s topic will be a research study entitled “The Decision to Join: How Individuals Determine Value & Why They Choose to Belong.” For more information, call (414) 277-9723 or visit www.wsae.org.