For several years, Eileen Spath (Class of 2014) chaired the Banquet Committee. When we all come back to Syracuse every year for one of our favorite weekends, we may not realize what happens behind the scenes to get this show "on the air." Today we go behind the scenes.
We start, however, with Eileen's story - how she got to Syracuse and then found Citrus TV and WJPZ. And while she loved her time on the morning show, Eileen also excelled behind the scenes, serving in various roles from human resources to broadcast consultant. In her time since graduating, she's worked several jobs, ending up at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany. She is now their communications director, overseeing a "small but mighty" team.
When she took on the job of running the Banquet, she of course leaned heavily on her predecessor, Dena (Giacobbe) Laupheimer, forming a great friendship.
In addition to the usual Syracuse weather challenges, the Banquet has thrown Eileen various curve balls. In fact her first Banquet as Chair was 2016 - the year we had to move Banquet back a month, due to construction at the Syracuse Sheraton. The only problem was: the new date was Final Four weekend. Every sports guy in our group (and there are many) assured her there was no way the Orange would make the Final Four. Until they did. And as for the "construction" at the Sheraton: it never happened.
Eileen also helped navigate our annual event through the pandemic - from a cursory concern in 2020, to going virtual in 2021, to finally coming back in 2022. To bookend that last year of her tenure, there WAS an issue at the Sheraton - necessitating a last minute venue change to Drumlins.
While today's guest is quick to credit the team around her, she deserves a lot of credit for keeping this event going for the better part of a decade. As for this year? She's happy to be a resource for new Banquet Chair Sam Kandell ('18), but is also looking forward to working a little less in Syracuse.
Join Us in Syracuse for Banquet on March 4th: https://bit.ly/WJPZ50BanquetTickets
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast is produced by Jon Gay '02 and JAG in Detroit Podcasts
Want to be on the show? Email JAG at jag@jagpodcastproductions.com
Connect with the WJPZ Alumni Association: https://wjpzalumniassociation.org/
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