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SKAL INTERNATIONAL FT. LAUDERDALE PALM BEACHES

MEMBER OF SKAL INTERNATIONAL
Professionals in Tourism
www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org

2015 OFFICERS

Becky Reincke, President
Springhill Suites
beckynparadise@comcast.net

Richard Stafford, Vice President
Century Hotels, Inc.
rwstaff@bellsouth.net 

Ian Black, Treasurer
Brazilian Court Hotel
iblack@braziliancourt.com

Jerry Eastep, Secretary
Park Group
jeaststep@theparkgroup.com

Theresa Nix, SIUSA Rep.
Princess Cruises/Cunard Line
skalfllpbteresa@yahoo.com

Carlos Banks, EST
Pleasant Holidays
siusabanks@comcast.net

Board Members:

Beth Cohen
MSC cruises
bcohen.yoursolution@gmail.com

Paul Cook
Boca Raton Travel
travelizeme@aolcom

Mary Sue Jurkowski
Norwegian Cruise Line
msuejurkowski@ncl.com

Lisa Hamilton
Club Med
lisahamilton@live.com

President’s Letter
April 21, 2015

Our Annual Installations of Officers Dinner was a celebration of “Years of Service, “Membership Growth” and continuation of service to our club from our Board. Following a brief welcome, our Opening Toast was presented by Bill Pullen, founding member of our Club. It was an honor to have Burcin Turkkan, SIUSA Region IV Vice-President join us for the evening and to speak to our members and guests.

Special guests included Bill Pullen, President of SIUSA 1989-1990, Carlos Banks – President of SIUSA 2014 and our Executive Secretary Treasurer, Scotty Cassidy – Past Skal Member and Club President 1995 and Ron Stevens – Past Skal Member and Club President 2002.

A check was presented to Bill Pullen for the Joe Neary Charity. Bill also presented photos of the past to add to the history of our chapter.

This was our first year to vote on our 2014 Venue of the Year. General Manager, Greg Kaylor of the Waterstone Resort & Marina joined us to receive a beautiful Skal International plaque from our chapter.

Burcin Turkkan and Becky honored 11 of our members with certificates for they number of years in Skal.

15 + years
Paul Cook – 15
Jerry Eastep – 17
Lee Smolinski – 17 (Past President)
Dick Stafford – 18 (Past President)
Bernard Falkow - 22

25 + years
Wilson Carter - 26 (Past President)
Joseph Palumbo – 29
Andrew Doctor – 32
William Decker - 33

35 + years
Carlos Banks – 35
Thomas McDonald – 40

With excitement, we welcomed and pinned our new Skal members, Nashara Frazier, Expedia, Inc, Steve Barofsky, Crystal Tour Unlimited, Kate Merchant, Sixt Rent a Car and Irina Montoya, Sixt Rent a Car. Angie Franjul-Garcia, Orbitz Worldwide and Mariel Mendoza, Sixt Rent a Car, were recognized but unable to join us. This brings us to a total of 9 new members since January!

We thanked the outgoing Officers and Board Members, James Hansen, Treasurer (unable to attend) and Paul Cook, Secretary.

Burcin Turkkan presided over the Installation of our 2015 - 2016 Officers and Directors.

Officers:  
  Becky Reincke, President
  Dick Stafford, Vice President
  Jerry Eastep, Secretary (unable to attend)
  Ian Black, Treasurer
  Teresa Nix, SIUSA Representative (unable to attend)
Directors:  
  Beth Cohen
  Mary Sue Jurkowski (unable to attend)
  Paul Cook
  Lisa Hamilton (new to the board)

Becky Reincke made a special presentation of our club's flag to Burcin Turkkan and thanked all of our guests for attending this special evening.

Closing remarks were made by Becky speaking about the experience on our board and our membership. We have to continue to believe in and work hard to make Skal an organization that people want to join. She asked the members to help their Board by talking about Skal to others and to continue to invite them to our meetings. The Board is also going to work to become recognized by the Hospitality Programs in our local Universities.

We are always looking for your great ideas for future venues, speakers and any thoughts on how we can continue to make our Skal meetings interesting and fun to attend!

Events coming up so mark your calendars!

May 19th – dinner meeting at Doubletree by Hilton – Deerfield Beach
June 16th – dinner meeting – location TBA
July 22nd – Hospitality Industry Icebreaker at the South Florida Science Center & Aquarium sponsored by Discover the Palm Beaches. This is an opportunity for us to network with Hospitality members. We will have a Skal booth to hand out our information. You’re not going want to miss this! We would like all of our members to attend!
August 19th – Our Annual Travel & Tourism Industry Summer Social – location TBA
September 15th – dinner meeting – Waterstone Resort – Boca Raton

Don’t forget to take a look at our website www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org – we have over 50 pictures posted from the April Dinner.

Yours in Skål,

Becky Reincke
President
Skål International Ft. Lauderdale & Palm Beaches