The Deans Of MHEDA University

Convention planners AnnaMaria Kendall and Susan Freibrun work to educate members.

AnnaMaria Kendall, Marketing Communications Manager
AnnaMaria Kendall loves to spread the word about MHEDA. As the organization’s marketing communications manager, she makes sure that all MHEDA members—from CEOs to service techs—know about new and evolving programs and services. Kendall says, “I want to help make sure the association drills deeper into a company and lets more people know that MHEDA is for them, too.”

During her time with MHEDA, Kendall, too, has been able to dig deeper and become more involved with key MHEDA programs—especially the Annual Convention. Kendall has always had an interest in event planning, and has worn different hats over the years to help plan Convention activities. When she started at MHEDA in October 1996, a few months after receiving her bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Illinois, an initial task was to help design the brochure for the 1997 Convention in San Antonio. Kendall soon took on more Convention responsibilities, and by 2000, when MHEDA visited San Diego, she was the overall manager of Convention planning and activities.

Kendall earned a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Roosevelt University in 2005, and strives to further her skills by networking with staff members of other associations. “It’s good to get out and see what other associations are doing,” Kendall notes.

Kendall is grateful to MHEDA for allowing her the flexibility to work part time and spend plenty of time with her husband and their young son, Ryan. Whether providing information to MHEDA members via e-mail or meeting with them face-to-face at the Convention, it’s clear that AnnaMaria Kendall is committed to their needs.

Susan Freibrun, Education and Meetings Manager
Education and Meetings Manager Susan Freibrun relishes the satisfaction of enhancing member knowledge. Since joining MHEDA in 2006, she has helped spearhead initiatives that ensure MHEDA members can learn, whether at seminars or at their desks listening to a podcast, which is a 12- to 15-minute presentation that can be played on portable music devices. “The variety of educational formats is increasingly important to members because many don’t have time to attend live events,” she notes.

Her passion for program planning began with her bachelor’s degree in program management from the University of Illinois, and she gained more than two decades of experience in meeting planning in the hospitality industry and creating continuing legal education programs for attorneys. Freibrun enjoyed working with associations and lives a stone’s throw from the MHEDA office; she finally decided after driving by it every day to see if MHEDA was hiring. It wasn’t, but she submitted a résumé and kept in contact with Executive Vice President Liz Richards. “I was impressed from the first moment by the person who answered the phone. That told me a lot about the kind of organization MHEDA was,” she says. Once a position opened, Freibrun came aboard to share her expertise with MHEDA members.

As Convention approaches, Freibrun shifts gears and focuses on ensuring attendees are greeted with a fantastic opening party, wished “bon voyage” with an outstanding closing party and have memorable tours of the city’s best sights.

Away from the office, Freibrun enjoys spending time with her husband and three children, ages 16, 13 and 12. With children heavily involved in sports, she is always on the go, but relishes every moment. “They can go in three million different directions,” she says, “and I enjoy watching every minute.”

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The MHEDA Journal • Second Quarter 2008 • Volume 37, No. 2 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.