A Week In Business

A Week In Business
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Sales Manager Named

OCEAN CITY – Vantage Resort Realty, an international provider of vacation rentals and sales, announced last month the addition of Marianne Ulshafer as sales manager for its Ocean City office. As Sales Manager, Ulshafer will be responsible for recruiting, training and mentoring sales staff for Vantage, as well as assisting with marketing efforts and sales-related activities.

“We are extremely proud to have Marianne join the Vantage team,” said Vantage Resort Realty President Brooke Pfautz. “With her extensive background in real estate and sales, we are confident she will be effective in building our sales department and helping take Vantage to the next level.”

Ulshafer brings to Vantage 25 years experience in real estate, sales, training, mortgage banking, recruiting and management. Prior to her new position, Ulshafer served as branch manager of the Ocean Pines office for Long & Foster Real Estate.

Board Chair Announced

OCEAN CITY – John B. Lynch of Ocean City, currently the owner and CEO of the Commander Hotel in Ocean City, was recently named to the position of chairman on the Board of Directors of Bank of Ocean City. Lynch has served on the board of the Bank since 1983 as a member.

Lynch is a third generation Ocean City native. After earning a BS in business from Florida State University, he served in the US Coast Guard. During his business career, he was elected to Who’s Who and was honored by the State of Maryland for his family’s longevity in the hospitality business. He has served as president of the OC Chamber of Commerce, the OC Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association and was charter member and the first president of the Berlin OC Optimist Club.

Bank of Ocean City is a locally owned independent bank, established in 1916. The Bank has six offices, four in Ocean City, one in Ocean Pines and one in Berlin.

OC, Ad Agency Honored

OCEAN CITY – The Town of Ocean City and its advertising agency, MGH, are the recipients of two platinum MarCom awards presented by the Association for Marketing and Communication Professionals. The first was given for the "Ocean is Evaporating" publicity campaign and the second was for the specific public relations placement about the campaign on Fox News. Platinum awards are the highest bestowed by the organization.

The publicity campaign was organized around the Ocean City Department of Tourism advertising campaign unveiled in June, which was created by MGH and featured Mayor Rick Meehan urging people to book their Ocean City vacations now before the oceans evaporate in a billion years. The creative team at MGH developed that ad based on an actual article appearing in the New York Times that reported the scientific theory that the world’s oceans would evaporate in a billion years.

MGH and Department of Tourism public relations representatives developed and coordinated a publicity campaign that generated 125 media placements resulting in 15 million unpaid media impressions across the country, including an appearance by Mayor Meehan on the Fox News Channel’s Fox Report with Shepard Smith show.

The MarCom Awards program is an international competition for marketing and communication professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of marketing and communications programs and print, visual and audio materials. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, public relations firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

Doctors Featured At Show

BERLIN – The doctors of Atlantic Dental Cosmetic & Family Dentistry participated in the three-day Coastal Style Luxury Living Show at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center last month.

Doctors Geoffrey Robbins and Lawrence Michnick presented seminars on “Smile Enhancement” which focused on their training at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies and showed the audience dramatic before and after pictures of patients who have completed LVI smile enhancements. The two doctors were joined at their booth with their associate, Dr. Christopher Takacs, to answer any questions by the general public.

During the event, the doctors had a prize basket giveaway for all to enter to win a Sonicare Electric Toothbrush. Dee Irwin of Berlin was the winner.

Bank Adds Employee

OCEAN CITY – Wayne Benson, president of Bank of Ocean City along with the Board of Directors, has announced the hiring of Nancy Bradford as assistant vice president and branch manager.

Bradford brings to Bank of Ocean City more than 25 years of experience in retail branch banking. Her duties will include the daily operation and business development of the West Ocean City branch.

She is a graduate of Stephen Decatur High School and Maryland Bankers School, University of Maryland. Nancy is currently a member of the Ocean Pines Lions Club, Berlin Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary, Grant Committee Member for the Delaware Community Foundation and Committee Member for the Girls Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Eastern Sussex Advisory Council.

Alliance Announces Contest

BERLIN – On Nov. 28, the Assateague Island Alliance (AIA) will launch a naming rights auction on eBay for four lucky foals living on Assateague Island. These will be the first auctions for the right to name a wild Assateague horse.

Most people can’t afford to name a stadium, or to memorialize an incident, but now the average American can provide a lasting tribute to a friend or loved one by naming one of this year’s new foals, the press release read. All of the named foals will be added to the new Foster Horse Program that begins in mid-January.

These fund-raising initiatives on the Internet will provide a creative pathway for AIA to educate people who have not yet visited the Island, and will allow old friends to stay in touch with the fauna and flora, and especially the Assateague horses.

According to AIA, there will be four consecutive 10-day auctions just in time for the holidays. Every foal’s name will become a part of the permanent genealogical records for the Assateague herd.

“We’re trying something new,” said AIA President David Blazer. “Assateague Island National Seashore is one of the few natural barrier island ecosystems still accessible to the public in its wild state. There is an ongoing contraceptive program for the horses to prevent the herd from growing too large. As a result, we don’t know when we’ll have other foals, so this is a real happy event and a chance for someone to give a unique living gift."