Eileen Dengler, founder of Reading Enterprises, is the former Vice President, Meetings and Conventions for the American Booksellers Association. The ABA Convention and Trade Exhibit ranked in the top 25 of the country’s top 200 tradeshows thanks to her aggressive growth strategy for the ABA Convention. The ABA Convention and Trade Exhibit Show Statistics in the last year of her ten-year leadership were:

Gross Square Footage: 627,632
Net Square Footage: 267,104
Budget: $5.1 million
Exhibitors: 1800 companies
Attendance: 36,000 trade
Peak Night Room Block: 8,000

Ms. Dengler was recruited into the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau as Director of Convention Services. In this role she oversaw five departments within the NYCVB: Housing; Convention Personnel; Convention Services; Conference Express; and Sales Promotion. Ms. Dengler is credited with creating new services for meeting planners and the NYCVB, which include Convention Concierge, Conference Express, and Sales Promotion

Ms. Dengler was then recruited by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, which needed a professional to organize their 17 overseas and 8 domestic meetings. While with ISDA, Ms. Dengler created a conference timeline, budget system, and an RFP procedure for hotel chains to maximize ISDA’s buying power. She also streamlined office and conference procedures to cut expenses and staff overtime, as well as increase the marketing efforts and impact for ISDA conferences.

Ms. Dengler is past President of the New York Chapter for the Professional Convention Managers Association, and served on the Board of Directors for six years. She has also served as NY/PCMA Vice President and Treasurer. Ms. Dengler has been an active member of the International Association of Exhibition Managers and American Society of Association Executives for over 25 years.