When Jeanette Stensgaard was waiting tables at O’Charley’s in Mansfield, Ohio, in 2006, she had no idea there would an MBA, CMP, and HMCC following her name in the future.
“I thought I was going to be a nurse,” says Stensgaard, who was working on her prerequisites to attend nursing school at the time.
However, the vibrantly outgoing, strategy-loving, painstakingly organized, and performative public speaker within Stensgaard had other plans. When her father’s work relocated him to Virginia that year, she followed to catch the first glimpse of the untapped potential lying within.
She secured an administrative position at the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, and soon started taking on some meeting planning roles. For Stensgaard, these roles seemed to be a harmonious labor of all her skills, not to mention work that truly felt meaningful and exciting. When the association moved to Larkspur, Colorado, Stensgaard began taking classes in the hospitality and business management programs at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
“I love being part of a bigger mission that utilized my organizational and logistical skills,” Stensgaard says. “The work has a similar front of the house, back of the house feel; it’s all hospitality.”
The merging of these skills, experiences, and passions helped Stensgaard to excel as a meeting planner. She now has more than 16 years of experience in the industry, including 10 years working for membership organizations. As a volunteer, she is a board member for the Travel Trade Advisory Board and the director of fundraising for Meeting Professionals International Rocky Mountain Chapter, which presented her with its 2022
Rising Star Award.
Stensgaard is drawn to organizations with impactful missions, leading her to work roles at both the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the Kidney Cancer Association, where she is currently senior director of events and education. She cherishes being an integral part of the medical field in an unexpected way.
A rather unconventional path to her dream job proves that every experience can be harnessed to build character and open doors to new possibilities.
