The following individuals were honored with the INA Meritorious Service Award at the International Nanny Association’s 30th Annual Conference in Cancun Mexico on April 23, 2015.
The INA is blessed to have industry supporters who work tirelessly in the background to support the INA mission. These supporters are volunteers, and they contribute hundreds of hours of their own precious time to put together conference programs like this one, to collaborate on our member and public outreach efforts, and in general simply make INA work!
With this extraordinary service in mind, the INA board of directors instituted a new member recognition, The INA Meritorious Service Award, in 2014. The board today will recognize three special members, one for each decade, for their outstanding service to YOU – the INA and award them the inaugural INA Meritorious Service Awards.
The criteria for this award are as follows. The INA Meritorious Service award goes to a member who has been a strong, sustained supporter of the International Nanny Association and its mission. Individuals eligible to receive this award cannot receive remuneration for the activities supporting the INA. The individual is a volunteer whose activities support the INA.
Our first honoree is our outgoing Treasurer, Sandy Costantino. Sandy has served on the INA board for an amazing 30 years. She has held every position on the INA’s Executive board except President. She has tirelessly supported the INA, and I know I speak for the entire INA board when I say we will miss her ‘voice of reason’ and ability to help the board put into historical context many of the issues we grapple with today. Sandy has been instrumental in INA conference site selection for more than a decade – and if you like our venue here in beautiful Cancun you must take some time to thank Sandy personally.
Our second honoree is Wendy Sachs. Wendy is a founding member of the INA, and served on the INA Board of Directors for 17 years. Wendy was the INA President from 1992 – 1996, and Co-President 2008 – 2011, has presented at many conferences where she generously shares her professional expertise and served on the Nanny of the Year selection committee for 8 years. Wendy currently serves both the INA and the APNA as a liason on Government Affairs and on the Care.com Coalition, an industry wide communication vehicle between Domestic Workers United, nannies and the nanny agency world. On a personal note, Wendy was the INA president when I joined INA in 1993, and she and her board were quick to understand and adopt agency and nanny recommended practices in the legal payroll realm.
Our third Honoree is Mary O’Connor who has been an INA member since 1990! She joined the INA board in 1992 and served for 10 years. She held the positions of 2nd Vice-President, 1st Vice-President, 2 years as President and another as Secretary. Mary was the INA conference chair for 5 years, and co-chair an additional year. I assure you, all of these roles required a considerable time commitment to the INA.
The International Nanny Association and its Board of Directors honors these amazing volunteers and offers them a sincere THANK YOU for their years of dedicated service.