FROM YOUR CHAIRMAN
2019
ISPA BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
ELECTED OFFICERS
CHAIRMAN
IF YOU WERE AT THE FIRST GENERAL SESSION
Garrett Mersberger
Kohler Co.
VICE CHAIRMAN
OF THE 2018 ISPA CONFERENCE & EXPO, you may
remember me saying that this was only my fourth ISPA
Conference. While each one has been bigger and better than
the last, I’ve also experienced them from vastly different
perspectives: first as an attendee, then as an ISPA Board
Scott Duncan
Spa Gregorie’s
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Robert Vance
Sensei Retreats Lana’i
DIRECTORS
Sharilyn Abbajay
Mattison Avenue Salon Spa Suites
ISPA Foundation Vice Chairman
Member and Chairman. I suppose you could call it “A Tale of
Four Conferences.”
I came to my first-ever ISPA Conference, in 2015, as an
Noel Asmar
Noel Asmar Group, Inc.
Jill Carlen
Hilton Worldwide
attendee. I was like a kid in a candy store! There Brennan Evans
Trilogy Spa Holdings
was so much to see, learn and experience. Blake Feeney
Living Earth Crafts
From amazing keynote speakers—I’m still Kelleye Heydon
The Edgewater Resort & Spa
inspired by Amy Purdy’s story—to making
my very first networking connections in the
Patrick Huey
Montage Hotels & Resorts
spa community. Everything was new, and I Kristine Huffman
Hutchinson Consulting
soaked in as much as I could! Laura Parsons
The Resort at Pelican Hill
In 2016 I became an ISPA Board
Member, and so the next two Conferences
saw my role change a bit. No longer just a
Frank Pitsikalis
ResortSuite
ISPA Foundation Chairman
Todd Shaw
Technogym
Immediate Past Chair
participant, I had to become more of a host. I was also more
experienced and walked the Expo floor with more expertise. Much like other multi-year
Conference attendees, I came to Conference with specific questions and was looking for
Yvonne Smith
La Rive Spa at Northern Quest Resort & Casino
Michelle Adams Somerville
Woodstock Inn & Resort
Eric Stephenson
Elements Massage
particular products to bring back home.
This year I took on my current role with ISPA as Chairman of the Board. For the first time
Jessica Timberlake
Éminence Organic Skin Care
ever, I was involved in what happens behind-the-scenes at Conference, and it felt like I was at ISPA PRESIDENT
my first one all over again, experiencing things I had never seen or experienced before. I was Lynne McNees
International SPA Association
blown away to see all the moving parts working together in perfect harmony—a harmony made
possible by the hard work of the ISPA staff. Thank you!
Of course, this is also the month of Thanksgiving, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t additionally
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Brent A. Bauer, MD
Mayo Clinic
CHAIRMEN’S COUNCIL
thank Damien Craft, Todd Hewitt and Michael Tompkins, who are leaving the Board, for all their Past ISPA Chairmen who are current members:
incredible contributions to ISPA. Without them, the amazing Conferences I experienced as an Ella Kent • The Spa at Sea Island
attendee, as a Board Member and as Chairman wouldn’t have been the same. Jeff Kohl • Spa & Club Ideations
Gayle Brady • Brady Spa Consulting
Jean Kolb • Hutchinson Consulting
John Korpi • Korpi & Korpi
Kate Mearns • LIVunLtd
Jim Root • Mii amo
—GARRETT MERSBERGER, CHAIRMAN
Todd Shaw • Technogym
Jane Segerberg • Segerberg Spa Consulting, LLC
Michael Tompkins • Hutchinson Consulting
2
PULSE
■
November 2018
Deborah Waldvogel • ResortSuite