Photo by Christina VanHorn,
UNH Human Resources

It would be next to impossible to maintain a lengthy career as a Director in any sales/marketing business without constantly producing positive results, both personally as well as with a team of support people. Because many such organizations don't produce positive results year in and year out, those positions see a lot of turnover. The New England Center at the University of New Hampshire has been extremely fortunate to have had a person leading that charge for the past 15 years who does produce results. Award winning results. That person is Brenda Mullaney.

Brenda began her career at UNH in 1989 as the Director of Sales and Marketing of the New England Center (NEC), a position she still holds. She remembers "For me, having the opportunity to work at UNH was like coming home. I first became familiar with UNH in 1968 when my father accepted a position at UNH. We relocated from Waterville, ME to Durham, NH. My father, Charlie Holt, was a former hockey coach at UNH" (Holt was NCAA Coach of the Year in '69, '74 and '79, and then was enshrined in the US Hockey Hall of Fame in '97). Brenda graduated from UNH with a BA in Psychology in 1983. While attending UNH, she worked part-time at the Department of Recreational Sports (Campus Recreation) providing student administrative support for the offices before becoming a lifeguard at the outdoor pool. After graduation, she moved to Boston, MA and worked in retail management as an Assistant Manager at the Christmas Dove Gift Shop in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. "I realized that I would be required to work all nights and weekends if I were to succeed in retail management," she says. "I decided to explore other possibilities and was fortunate to discover the Omni/Dunfey Hotel Corporation." After working in the Hospitality Industry for five years and moving from Howard Johnson's to Sheraton to Days Inn, she found herself at the right place at the right time. "I received a call from a former manager at Omni/Dunfey Hotel Corporation, who asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in applying for a sales position at a hotel property in the seacoast area. She hadn't remembered that I was a UNH alum, so when I reminded her of this fact, she encouraged me to apply for the position. The New England Center had just expanded by adding guestrooms and meeting space. The facility needed to reestablish itself in the hotel and conference center market. Jim Varn provided me with the opportunity to come home."

In her position, Brenda is responsible for creating, managing and executing group sales and marketing initiatives in an effort to fill the New England Center hotel and conference center. "I think that the best way to describe my role is that I identify potential residential meetings for the New England Center and put heads in beds," she says. "If customers sleep here they will likely meet and eat here." Brenda oversees a staff of 3 full time people and her team is responsible for booking over 19,000 room nights a year. Her sales teams combined efforts contributes over $1.5 million in hotel guestroom revenue and an additional $2 million in meeting room, food and beverage revenue for the University. The New England center is the only full-service hotel and conference center in the State of New Hampshire recognized by the International Association of Conference Centers. In turn, they must follow strict guidelines for service standards and 60% or more of their business must be meeting-related business. Lodging Hospitality Magazine recognized them as being 62nd - 83rd out of "Top 400 Performers" - Suburban Lodging properties, in '96, '97 and '98. They competed with facilities located in Atlanta, San Diego and Los Angeles. "When Lodging Hospitality Magazine contacted us to verify our information and announce that we had received this award, they asked me to verify that we were really located in Durham, NH and not Durham, North Carolina," Brenda says proudly. "We were also interviewed by 'Meetings & Conventions' magazine and recognized for turning meetings around on a dime." Acorns Restaurant was named one of the "Top 100 Restaurants in New England" by the restaurant reviewer; the Phantom Gourmet. In her typically unselfish manner she quickly adds "Most of our awards at the New England Center are directly attributed to the great culinary talents of our food and beverage team."

As her position involves dealing with both an internal as well as an external customer base, Brenda realizes exactly how important interpersonal skills are. "I feel that in order to succeed in any position you need to have a strong customer service commitment to your internal and external customers," she explains. "Customer service sets each individual and each organization apart. I've identified the following key skills that are required for sales people in the hospitality industry: attention to detail/organizational skills; effective communication and listening skills; leadership ability; customer focus; sense of humor; the ability to adapt to changes; and the ability to be empathetic and patient."

Though her workday is typically extremely hectic and fast-paced, Brenda says "I feel that hospitality sales in an academic setting is invigorating! Each day is different from the next and I have the opportunity to support a diverse group of internal and external customers." While the New England Center's customers have very different hotel and meeting requirements - whether they are a Fortune 500 company, state or federal government agency, religious organization or affiliated with the University or another educational institution - they serve many diverse groups on and off campus. "I enjoy working with our campus customers from Athletics, the Browne Center, EOS, NHPTV to the Whittemore School and everything in between!" she explains. "I value the relationships that I have established with our customers and have gained great insight as to the goals and objectives of other organizations." The New England Center was recently involved in supporting a major campus initiative with EOS. UNH was competing to host the National Center for Hydrologic Science and was a finalist competing against UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and Utah State. Sadly, UNH wasn't chosen. Yet the active participation of our University President, Provost, Vice President for Research, Deans, Chairs and Directors didn't go unnoticed. "UNH did a commendable job demonstrating a spirit of collaboration," Brenda remembers. "I feel that experiences like this are what make UNH so special. Another satisfying aspect of my job is that I have the opportunity to provide customer service and sales training for my sales team, interns and various students from the Whittemore School, Hospitality Management Program and the School of Health and Human Services, Department of Recreation Management and Policy. Internships provide me with a way to stay connected to the students and to their academic experiences."

When asked who at UNH has had a positive impact on her career, Brenda doesn't hesitate when saying "Gary Armitage, David May, my New England Center and UHS colleagues, and all of our customers have each contributed to making this position all that it could be." Armitage says of Brenda "I started with Sheraton Hotels in 1971 and in all these years I have never met anyone as remarkable as Brenda Mullaney. She is, by far, the best Director of Sales and Marketing I have ever worked with. Brenda is responsible either directly or indirectly for almost 40% of the New England Center's total revenue! She also finds time to support the academic mission of the institution by teaching and working with interns. The average job expectancy for a Director of Sales at one property is 2 years. Brenda has been here for over 15 years and is still as committed and productive as ever. She is continually learning new skills and broadening her management education. She starts her day early and is on the phone meeting and greeting clients from dawn to dusk. She is an outstanding ambassador for UNH and the NEC. Her customer service commitment is evidenced by the loyalty our customers show to her. She has earned a scholarship to the HERS program and is currently participating in Managing @ UNH. Brenda is a great team member, a true professional (with a capital P), terrific mother and valued colleague. Brenda Mullaney is the best of the best and the NEC is greatly indebted to her for all the outstanding contributions she has made to keep us going!"

Putting in a 50-55 hour work week, while also being a mother/spouse/student/mentor/friend, would be enough to make many folks long for more time away from the office. Not so for Brenda Mullaney. "I like so much of what UNH has to offer, I don't even know where to begin," Brenda says. "The setting. The academics. I love the entrepreneurial spirit we have at the NEC. It's almost like we're running a big bed and breakfast. I get to do what I love to do and what I was trained to do, and I get to do it at my alma mater. I don't know how it can get any better than that! I get up every day and I want to go to work. If I have to work, I couldn't think of a better place to do it!"

When Brenda is not at the New England Center, she can likely be found spending time with her family and friends at a local hockey arena. Brenda's daughter Ashley (age 14) plays for the Seacoast Lightening and son Kyle (age 11) plays for the Oyster River Youth Association. Mike, her husband, coaches the Oyster River Pee Wee Team and plays hockey for fun, too. "Between the kid's schedules and UNH Hockey games, we have over 95 hockey games on the family calendar for the 2004-2005 season," Brenda says. During the off season, Brenda enjoys organizing family photos.