Alumna Directs Hospitality at
Champlain's New Conference Center

Linda Wheeler ’80 returned to her alma mater last summer in the role of Champlain College’s Conference and Event Center Director. The new facility will target corporate and educational groups for one-day meetings or weeklong conferences, although occasional social events are likely to be hosted as well. Able to accommodate groups of five to 500 people, the Center was launched to generate revenue for the College primarily during summer, a three-month stretch when the campus is nearly empty. “We have a charming campus that meeting planners fall in love with,” Wheeler says. “Champlain already provides hospitality; now we’re upgrading our services to match our beautiful campus.”

Wheeler, who majored in Business at Champlain, brings to the role expertise in event planning and tourism and extensive knowledge of Vermont’s hospitality industry. For the past 14 years, she has run her own business managing statewide conferences and professional associations’ meetings and trainings, helping organize boards, producing newsletters, and more. She oversees a staff of four, including alumna Jodi Israel ’04, and draws confidence from knowing that the Sodexho catering team and dining center has already proven itself capable of accommodating a diverse range of menu and catering requests. “We’re competitively priced with area college conference centers,” she adds.

Amenities include professional attention to details; air-conditioned dormitory suites with single rooms, kitchens, common living quarters, and state-of-the-art technology and interactive multimedia; an exceptional, tried-and-tested dining center; and gorgeous views of the cityscape and lake. Champlain College’s Conference and Event Center can be reached at eventcenter@champlain.edu or www.champlain.edu/eventcenter/.

— Daphne Walker