ISPA's early newsletter highlights the
importance of attending the ISPA
Conference & Expo.
Featured on the cover of its first issue is the
election of ISPA’s first Board of Directors.
Werner Mendel, owner and operator of New
Age Health Spa in Neversink, New York, was
elected ISPA’s first president. Deborah Szekely,
founder of Rancho La Puerta, was appointed
“honorary chairman for life.”
5.
The first ISPA Media
Luncheon. On July 1995, the first
ISPA Media Luncheon (now ISPA Media Event)
was held in New York with a total of
63 journalists in attendance. The
invite-only event has continued to
grow through the years. Nearly 150
top journalists attended the recent
East Coast ISPA Media Event in New
York.
6.
The launch of the
inaugural Silent Auction. The first ISPA Silent
Auction was held during the 1995 ISPA Conference at
Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Proceeds from the
event were donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The
annual Auction has since grown to include a Live Auction and
was later officially named ISPA Foundation Live & Silent
Auctions. Proceeds of the Auctions help to support the ISPA
Foundation’s research and educational initiatives.
The establishment of ISPA’s
international chapters. To strengthen its
7.
international presence, ISPA
established its European
chapter in 1997. A year later,
the first ISPA Conference of
its European Chapter was
held in Austria. Its AsiaPacific Chapter was later
established in 1999. Then,
in 2003, both chapters were absorbed
into the rest of the membership to reflect a unified ISPA voice.
8.
The rebranding of ISPA. In 1998, ISPA went
9.
The founding of ISPA Foundation.
through a brand identity makeover, starting with a
name change. The International Spa and Fitness Association
dropped “Fitness” from its name. The rebranding also
included an unveiling of a new logo during the 1998 ISPA
Conference at The Broadmoor in Colorado. The new brand
identity included a globe as a visual element to emphasize
ISPA’s international scope.
In 1999, the ISPA Education Foundation (now ISPA
Foundation) was created from an initial seed grant of
US$30,000 from Vicenzo R. Marra, founder of Italian Beauty
Innovations. Today, the ISPA Foundation continues to fund
and support industry-related education and research, and
provide scholarships to the spa industry’s future leaders
through the ISPA Foundation Mary Tabacchi Scholarship.
The international attendees were all smiles at the 1998 ISPA Conference
& Expo held at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
October 2015
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