President’s Message

Friends and sustainability enthusiasts,

My interest in event sustainability began in 2016, when I could no longer witness the food waste I observed in our industry.  In my quest to find out what could be done, I learned about food rescue, recovery and zero food waste and have happily served as the Chief Zero Food Waste Enthusiast for SENFC since we initiated our first “official” food rescue at the NACE Annual Convention in Hollywood, FL in July, 2016.

Fast forward six years and my interest in all things sustainable has burgeoned and blossomed which is why I happily now serve as President of SENFC.  Our past presidents did an outstanding job of creating the vision and foundation for our necessary and noble work within our beloved events industry.  With the global need to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, we have much work to do in order to make sure our industry does its part.  While the SENFC mission is to “lead the meetings and events industry in the advancement of sustainable practices in Florida and the Caribbean”, I believe that we are also bonded by our shared passion for igniting awareness and action through education as we fight the good fight with like-minded individuals.

During my tenure, I hope we can “increase our collective knowledge in order to raise awareness and inspire action within our industry as we bond in the march towards 2030!”

Joanna Berens

President 2021-23

July 2022