Ann McAuliffe '06

Sales & Services Manager,

Visit Jacksonville

q: What do you do?

a:  I assist three sales managers at Visit Jacksonville, the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Northeast Florida. Some of my responsibilities include sending out leads, collecting hotel proposals and forwarding information to clients. When groups confirm their meeting for the Jacksonville area, I handle all of their service requests.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: There is a new challenge every day. I focus a lot on the sports market so am constantly sourcing fields, parks and courts.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: Since being recently promoted, my biggest challenge is knowing where all the parks and fields are located and what would work best for specific groups.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: I mainly stay in contact with Jen Sandler Rosenthal ’06. We have actually known each other since high school.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: At the beach or the mall.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: Pursuing my MBA online with Saint Leo University. I am halfway through the program.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a: UCF helped me out a lot. While working with groups that are bringing conventions to the city, I utilize a lot of the information I learned from my event classes as far as set-ups and square footage requirements. It was also a shock to my bosses when they hired me that I already understood the workings of a CVB.

q: Your favorite class?

a: Definitely Quality Brewing & Fine Beer. By learning so much about beer, I came to love and appreciate it even more.

q: A UCF memory?

a: It always seemed to be a challenge for me and my friends to figure out where to go during lunch breaks for school, considering the many options along I-Drive. I also remember visiting the parks before, after, and sometimes during class breaks.

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: The beef empanadas from Café Tu Tu Tango are my absolute favorite!

q: On your iPod?

a: I know it’s cliché, but I really do have everything on my iPod, from 80s to Rap to Pop to Country. If it’s a good song, it’s on my iPod.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: It shocks people how much I love, know about, and follow sports...especially football.

Jen Rosenthal '06

Catering Manager,
Rosen Shingle Creek

B.S., Hospitality Management '06 & M.S., Hospitality and Tourism Management '09

(Maiden Name: Jen Sandler)

q: What do you do?

a: I manage all "life event" celebrations at Shingle Creek Resort, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, bar/bat mitzvahs and retirements. Most of the events are weddings, as we average about 45 weddings a year. I handle everything start-to-finish including sales, banquet event orders, and helping implement all the details, usually in conjunction with a wedding coordinator.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: Every day is different and so is every event. One example was a couple who met in an airplane terminal when their planes were late, so their entire wedding was airplane-themed. They had luggage tags for place cards and airline tickets for their "save the date" cards. Another couple had Lionel Ritchie play at their wedding and we had to coordinate extravagant lighting and electrical. I really do enjoy my job.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: Dealing with different personalities and cultures, which all negotiate differently.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: Jackie Becker '08, Courtney Beckwith '04, Gary Deel '07, Francesca Fistner '08, Amanda Hayes '07, Rebecca Maxwell '05, Ann McAuliffe '06, Sonny Shaffer '08, Brandee Simmons Garr '01 and Alison Watkins '02.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: With my husband and playing with my dogs, a collie and a border collie.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: Getting married and completing graduate school.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a:My sorority, Chi Omega, taught me how to deal with different personality types. People ask how I can deal with stressed out brides every day. Well, drama just rolls off my back after being surrounded by girls for four years.

q: How could the hospitality program have been better?

a: More parking. I took my master's classes at night, so when I'd get to campus the parking lot would already be full.

q: A UCF memory?

a: Homecoming was always fun filled and spirited. Also beer class with Ed Measom. I learned so many fun facts about beer that I use when working with clients today. It was a relaxed way to bond with the other students.

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: The Grilled Hearts of Romaine Salad with Warmed Goat Cheese and Palm Sugar Vinaigrette with the Blackened Seabass with Cilantro Buerre Blanc from A Land Remembered, at the Shingle Creek.

q: On your iPod?

a: It's all over the place: Josh Groban, OAR, Dave Matthews Band, AFI and oh, let's check what's playing right now (she pulled out her iPod)....Sublime.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: I'm a Canadian citizen.