New Coordinator for Meetings and Membership Joins PAEA Staff

Toya Vigne joined the PAEA staff in January as coordinator for meetings and membership. She will support Jennifer Jarmin, director of education and meetings services, in coordinating logistics for the Annual Education Forum and leadership and committee meetings. She will also serve as co-staff advisor to the PAEA Education Committee and assume responsibility for the membership database.

Vigne was a resident of New Orleans until 2005 when Hurricane Katrina dictated an abrupt change of plans for her, her husband, and four children, now 17, 16, 10, and 4 years old. Vigne and her family evacuated by car to Houston as the hurricane approached, and when they learned that the levees had broken, realized they wouldn’t be able to return to their home. In September, 2005, the Vignes flew to Silver Spring, Maryland, to live with an uncle. They have since decided to settle permanently in the Washington, DC, area.

Vigne brings to her new position five years' experience as a group coordinator for the Chateau Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans, where she managed meeting space and served as a point of contact for associations and other groups meeting in the hotel. Since moving to Washington, she has worked as a travel counselor for Academic Travel Abroad, a company that arranges educational tours for clients that include the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic. Vigne was able to go along on one of the tours, to Greece.

In her spare time, Vigne takes college courses online through the University of Maryland University College. Now in her third year of college, she majors in communications.

PAEA members who call the national office with meetings-related questions will soon hear Vigne on the other end of the line.