News Archives - 2007

Jodi Collen, CSEP, Augsburg’s Director of Events and Conferences, was part of the team that helped the Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of the International Special Events Society (ISES) earn the "Spirit of Excellence – Chapter of the Year" award for the second year in a row. None of the 40 other ISES chapters has ever won this award two years running.

Jodi, who is now the Midwest Regional Vice President for ISES after serving as president of the local chapter in 2005, spoke at the ISES International Education Conference in Montreal, Quebec, in August of this year. She represented seven chapters in the Midwest, including Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Columbus.

The Spirit of Excellence award recognizes chapters that are excelling in the areas of communications, membership, programming and education, and special projects. Jodi also won an “ISES Esprit” award for “Best Team Effort” with a team of 11 other event professionals from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The award was given for the “ISES Minnesota Star Awards,” a local awards ceremony Jodi started three years ago for ISES members. 

“The awards are the evidence that we’re doing great things in the Twin Cities,” says Jodi, “and I look forward to bringing the events that are being done at Augsburg to the national scene!”

ISES is a professional organization for people in the events industry with 5,600 members worldwide. Once a year, ISES members participate in 3 days of world-class education and networking opportunities at the conference.

“My involvement with ISES and with the ISES Conference has been the best professional development experience that I've ever taken part in for my career,” says Jodi.  “The fact that I’ve been able to collaborate with other event professionals from the Twin Cities area, and from the around the world for ISES projects, makes me better at my job at Augsburg – and has provided me with a great network of people to utilize for ideas and resources when needed.”