Mission & History

History

TRIBUTE TO SHARON SHUFORD

Site Southeast Founder and original visionary, Sharon Shuford is retiring from board service in 2011. A chapter of Site in the southeastern region was a glimmer in Sharon's eye in 2007 when she sent out a "call to action" to existing Site members located in the southeast, who had no local organization to support the value of their membership. From that early call, a juggernaut was born! That original team; Sharon, Caren Bigelow, Bob De Leon, Bonnie Boyd, Teresa Fish, Mary Jane Bills and Carol Owen-later joined by Michelle Ward and Corinne Conner, began to meet regularly to put together the foundation of what is now Site Southeast. Without Sharon's thorough and wide reaching industry knowledge, her insights, wisdom, discipline, diplomacy and numerous marketing skills, we would have struggled more and achieved much less. We all owe Sharon enormous gratitude for her leadership, the hundreds of hours of dedication to our growth and her determination to steward this chapter to a bright future. May all our future successes be a tribute to her. Carol Owen Site Southeast President Elect 2011

CHAPTER HISTORY

The current iteration of the SITE Southeast USA chapter began two years ago, at the International Conference in Barcelona, where Sharon Shuford, a member for more than 5 years, met members of the international organization for the first time and experienced the powerful potential of the education and networking opportunities that membership affords. As a result, she returned to Atlanta and contacted current SITE members residing in the southeast region, and organized the first exploratory committee meeting.

Chapter organization had been attempted previously in Georgia, but it never caught hold. This time the group was determined to form a planner-centric organization with a strong balance of corporate to vendor members. The group, comprised of Shuford, Mary Jane Bills, Carol Owen, Bob DeLeon, and soon joined by Caren Bigelow and Jim Sharpton, decided to cover the seven state region where few attempts have been made to bring educational incentive/ performance improvement programming to a "grass roots" level.

Members of the Chicago, Florida, and New England chapters provided advice as plans were laid to hold a Formation Meeting in March 2008, which more than 75 people attended at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead; this was followed soon by the Call to Committee meeting (May 08), attended by nearly 24 volunteers.

From there the organization took on a life of its own. Application for full chapter status was submitted in August 2008 and approved in September 2008, with an announcement at SITE Nite in Chicago at the Motivation Show.

To become involved in one of the chapter’s committees please contact the board liaison or any board member.

Mission and Objectives

In each of the seven designated states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee):

1. Help build better incentive business practices for our members and our members’ organizations through the education and networking opportunities that SITE affords us.
2. Provide access to education and networking opportunities for incentive professionals in our region.
3. Promote the value of performance improvement strategies, and incentive travel as an effective means of performance enhancement.
4. Provide a forum throughout our region for the exchange of ideas and information