Pictured L-R back row: Publisher Don Svehla (holding Haha), Art Director Thomas Speak, General Manager Bob Reinecke; front row: Editor Jeanne Brei and Sales Rep Carol Wilhems.
After a traumatic six-week period in which ECN lost their editor, Arthur Bloberger, to esophageal cancer on Sept. 28, their office manager, Samanta Arjune, to a gunshot wound at the 1 October tragedy at Mandalay Bay (she’s still in rehab), and their sales director, Kathy Anaya, passing away unexpectedly after a test at St. Rose Hospital on Nov. 17, they are bouncing back with a new staff and looking forward to an exciting 2018.
ECN welcomed Northwestern Medill School of Journalism alumnus Jeanne Brei as their new editor beginning October 2 last year. She has spent years working for magazines such as Photo District News and The Independent in New York City, LasVegaZine.com, The Sunday free weekly publication and Exhibit City News in Las Vegas, and she worked briefly as a newspaper reporter for the Macon Telegraph & News in Macon, Ga. She has also spent years working in the tradeshow industry, beginning as on-call staff to operation coordinator to creative services manager for Safaris DMC, then Production Group International (PGI). She also worked transportation for Production Transport International (PTI) and Alan Waxler Group. She enjoyed writing tours, training tour guides, booking entertainment, setting up spousal activities, booking booth and meet and greet staff, scheduling buses and writing proposals for companies that were coming to Las Vegas for major conventions but left it desiring to travel more. She then spent several years working as a tradeshow rep for VNU, representing tradeshow publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Amusement Business, Kirkland Review, Backstage magazine, PDN and truly enjoyed getting to work convention centers from San Francisco’s Moscone (Seybold); New York’s Javits Center (PhotoPlus Expo); Chicago’s McCormack Place (ALA); Orlando’s OCC (PMA); Santa Monica CC; LACC; Washington, D.C.; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Miami, Fla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Denver, Colo.; Seattle, Wash.; Tampa, Fla., and more. She enjoyed building the 10×10 booth, working the booth and tearing it down (although not the waiting for the crates to arrive!) Since going to work for ECN, she’s enjoyed getting to know yet another side of the tradeshow industry, attending EDPA’s ACCESS in Orlando in 2016, Aluvision’s training last summer, and IAEE in San Antonio, Texas, last year. She looks forward to covering the industry and hopefully adding some international tradeshows to her travel schedule.
Bob Reinecke returned to ECN as general manager at the end of November last year. He has worked in the tradeshow industry for more than 30 years, primarily in I&D, running Allied Convention & Tradeshow Services from 2001-2013 and becoming a partner in ABC Expo Services in 2014. Along the way, he’s worked for Willwork, Nuvista, Tru Service Group and others as city manager and other I&D positions. He had worked for ECN 12 years ago before moving out of state. He hails from Long Island, New York, where he got that incredible “can-do” attitude and he has three grown children, a pre-teen daughter (who’s godfather is ECN publisher Don Svehla) and one grandchild.
Our new sales rep, Carol Wilhems, signed on just last month. She’s been a media sales rep in the hospitality and travel side of publishing since 1989 both in trade and consumer publications, including Resorts & Great Hotels, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, AAA Magazine Network, American Express Golf and Plan Your Meetings, among others. Her territories have included Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean and the inter-mountain west states. She’s a graduate from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. and she’s looking forward to working with ECN.
ECN‘s talented art director, Thomas Speak, has been with the publication ever since it became a glossy magazine in March 2015. He grew up in Hawaii and moved to Las Vegas to attend UNLV. Along the way he worked for Freeman before finding his passion in graphic design and graduating from UNLV with a BFA with a graphic design emphasis. As a member of AIGA, the professional association for design, he won several awards including a Judges Choice at their awards ceremony last fall.
ECN‘s publisher, Don Svehla, started this publication 24 years ago in Chicago and is as passionate about the tradeshow industry as ever. He’s looking forward to working with his new team and to the future of the tradeshow industry. He’s very excited about our upcoming 25th anniversary issue that he’d like to see include a complete history of the industry and the men and women who made it happen.
Be sure to come to Willwork, Inc. & ECN’s Exhibitor 2018 party at Light Nightclub in Las Vegas on February 27 for the networking party of the year! We’re looking forward to meeting our readers!
