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Jen Albrecht, Convention Facilities Manager for Urbana 06, ������Ƶ’s 2006 Student Missions Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, has been selected as Meeting Professional of the Year by the Association for Convention Operations Management (ACOM). The award was presented at the ACOM Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday, January 12, 2008.

“I accept the award on behalf of my wonderful team of ������Ƶ staff and volunteers,” Jen said. “It was a challenging experience but the success of Urbana 06 more than compensated for all of our efforts.”

Jen was nominated for the award by Abby Podkul, CMP and Event Manager of the St. Louis America’s Center who wrote, “Jen’s leadership and management style was inspiring and rare.” She praised Jen for her professionalism, including her communication skills, flexibility and responsiveness.

Urbana 06 was ������Ƶ’s first missions convention outside of the University of Illinois in 60 years. “Jen and her team had to learn how things are communicated and accomplished in our setting,” Abby noted. “All of her diligent planning and delegation among her team members paid off in that the convention was smooth, issue-free and fun. Jen was instrumental in creating the strong partnership between our staff and her organization.”

Abby also praised Jen’s ability to deal with everyone on a warm and personal basis. “Jen made a point of meeting as many of our staff members as she could and learned everyone’s names. She remembered personal details about us and inquired about our lives and loved ones when she saw us,” she wrote.

“We are thrilled that Jen’s diligence and competence are being recognized with this award,” said Jim Tebbe, ������Ƶ’s vice president for missions and the director of Urbana. “It reflects positively on our entire Urbana team. And it also highlights the strong ties that ������Ƶ is developing with the St. Louis community.”

Urbana 06 was ������Ƶ’s 21st student missions convention. Since 1946 Urbana conventions have challenged more than 240,000 people to participate in God’s mission.

^{Photo: Abby Podkul, Jen Albrecht, Kathy Steffen (Director of Convention Services, St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission) and Matt Brinkmann (Convention Service Manager, St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission).}