Hannah Heinzekehr ('03) of Claremont, Calif., will be MC USA's new Convention Planning coordinator. She will begin working part time Feb. 1 and will transition to full time after completing graduate school in May.

An MC USA news release says:

In her new role, Heinzekehr will work alongside Convention Planning staff members Glen Guyton, Carol Epp, and Scott Hartman. She will help plan various aspects of the denomination’s biennial convention, promote the event, and work with media and technology coordinators to develop a social media strategy and increase online convention programming.

Guyton, director for constituent resources, says that Heinzekehr’s position is new. Following the departure of former Convention Planning Director Rachel Swartzendruber Miller in August, staff responsibilities were reallocated; Guyton is now serving as director of Convention Planning and will continue to lead the team in this role.

Heinzekehr says that the denominational convention has been an important place for her. “I was always grateful for the opportunity to see a larger representation of Mennonite Church USA than I could experience in my own home community, and it was also a place where I was able to expand my gifts and connect with new mentors and friends.”

When Heinzekehr was a high school student, she had the opportunity to serve on the planning committee for the Atlanta 2003 convention. “That gave me my first taste of what all goes on behind the scenes with convention planning,” she says. “From that time on, I thought in the back of my mind that it would be great to work in convention planning.”

Read full release.