INDIANAPOLIS
Following an impressive 30-year career with the Religious Conference Management Association, Dr. DeWayne Woodring announced his departure as RCMA’s executive director, effective Dec. 31, 2011. The RCMA board unanimously appointed its vice president of the board, Rev. Harry Schmidt, as the new executive director after extensive deliberation. Schmidt has served as president of Christian Life College, in Mt. Prospect, Ill., for almost twenty years.
Replacing Schmidt as RCMA board vice president is Melvin Tennant, CAE, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis, the Official Convention and Visitors Association, marking the first time a supplier has held that position within the organization.
Dr. Woodring started with RCMA in 1982 with a small group of mainly Protestant clergy working evenings out of an office in his home. He built RCMA into a well-respected group dedicated to enhancing professionalism within the field of religious meetings management and to improving the experience of meeting attendees throughout the world.
Active within the meetings industry, Dr. Woodring was a delegate to the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism and chairman of the prestigious Convention Industry Council, made up of 31 key organizations in the hospitality, travel, and meetings industry. He was one of the original founders of its Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) certification program, which has become the industry’s accreditation standard. Dr. Woodring also served on the International Curriculum Advisory Panel of George Washington University.
Rev. Schmidt, 61, a leader known and respected within RCMA, also has had a career of service in the ministry and community. An ordained minister since age 22, he serves as a member in the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies and as first vice president for the Full Gospel Fellowship, Dallas, Texas. Schmidt is the founder of Ascension Convention and chairman of Mission Possible Foundation. He directed the formation of the International Education Fellowship, and he serves on the boards of Commonwealth Christian Ministries and WillGo Ministries.
The Religious Conference Management Association is a professional, nonprofit, multi-faith organization consisting of individuals who are responsible for planning and/or managing meetings, tutorials, conferences, conventions, and assemblies for their religious organizations. Representing over 800 diverse religious organizations, RCMA members are responsible for planning 14,000 conventions, meetings, assemblies, retreats and cruises that annually attract more than 11 million participants.
