PCMA announces 2012 professional achievement honorees

John Lisack Jr.

John Lisack Jr., CAE, George Aguel, and Amanda K. Cecil, Ph.D., CMP, will be honored at the 2012 Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Education Foundation Dinner Celebrating Professional Achievement, May 2, 2012, at the Washington Hilton in Washington D.C.

Lisack is the executive director of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and this year’s Meeting Professional Honoree. Aguel is senior vice president of the Walt Disney Company and the Supplier Honoree. Cecil, assistant professor at Indiana University, is the Educator Honoree.

John Lisack, Jr., CAE Lisack is a recognized professional with more than 35 years of experience in association management. As executive director of AAPS, John develops and establishes programs, policy and strategies that support the APPS vision, mission and values, and oversees AAPS’ finances, personnel, meeting, educational offerings, and communication and information resources.
Prior to serving at AAPS, Lisack was the executive director of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), the executive director of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), and the executive vice president of the National Association of Personnel Consultants.

Lisack has served on several Convention and Visitor Bureau Advisory Boards and numerous other volunteer organizations. He is past chairman of the PCMA Board of Directors and a former trustee for the Education Foundation. Long after completing his responsibilities with the Board, Lisack continues to stay engaged with PCMA. He has captained the PCMA golf team for more than a decade and has raised well over $100,000 for the PCMA Education Foundation through his efforts.

PCMA is honored to recognize John Lisack as the 2012 Meeting Professional Honoree.

George Aguel is senior vice president of the Walt Disney Company, and during his career, which spans 37 years, has been a tireless

George Aguel

advocate for the meetings industry. He currently serves as a member of the USTA’s Meetings, Incentives and Tradeshow Council, which was created to advocate on behalf of the industry, to establish its important with opinion leaders and policy makers. Most recently, George served as chairman of Visit Orlando helping guide the Central Florida hospitality community through the new normal.
George has always looked for ways to leverage creativity and innovation to stimulate new ideas, to inform and to educate. Under his direction, Disney Partnered with PCMA to become one of the founding sponsors of the Executive Edge program.

Throughout his career in the meetings industry, Aguel has been an active volunteer in organizations including ASAE, MPI, CIC, and PCMA. He served on the PCMA Education Foundation Board of Trustees from 2004-2007. Aguel was inducted into the Convention Industry Council’s Hall of Leaders in 2004.

George Aguel was selected the 2012 PCMA Education Foundation Supplier Honoree because of his creative vision and continued dedication to the meetings industry.

Amanda Cecil

Amanda K. Cecil is in her tenth year on the Indiana University’s Tourism, Convention and Event Management faculty and has been an active industry volunteer, participating on a number of PCMA Task Forces since joining the organization in 2004. She created the Instructor’s Resource manual for the fifth edition of PCMA’s Professional Meeting Management textbook, recognized as the industry’s premier textbook adopted by more than 110 colleges and universities around the world. Additionally, Cecil created study materials for the first and most comprehensive online program for industry professionals preparing for the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation, the PCMA CMP Online Prep Course, the only online course endorsed by CIC. In 2006, PCMA named her Educator of the Year.

Prior to joining as faculty at IU, Cecil started her professional career in association and corporate event planning. She also spent time working in business travel management, destination marketing, collegiate sport management and convention and special events planning. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Indiana University and her Master of Arts from The Ohio State University. PCMA is proud to recognize Amanda Cecil as the 2012 PCMA Educator Honoree.

For more information about the 2012 PCMA Education Foundation Dinner Celebrating Professional Achievement, May 2, 2012 at the Washington Hilton, visit the foundation web site at pcma.org/foundation.