NAWILIWILI — Chuck Brady of the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club had five of the resort’s six administrative professionals on hand Friday during the celebration culminating the week-long Administrative Professionals Week.
“Christina Gabriel, the general manager of the Marriott Waiohai Beach Club, has about a dozen of her APs here,” Brady said.
About 350 people, administrative professionals, and in some cases their bosses, took in the event celebrating administrative professionals at the Kaua‘i Marriott Ballroom coordinated through the efforts of KQNG Radio Group, the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce and The Garden Island newspaper.
The two-hour program catered to the administrative professionals with a fashion show, entertainment and a buffet line which opened shortly after the first people arrived and stayed open during most of the event.
Administrative Professionals Day and Week has grown to become one of the largest workplace observances outside of employee birthdays and major holidays, states the International Association of Administrative Professionals website.
Working under the theme of “Admins, the pulse of the office,” Kaua‘i joined the rest of the nation in honoring administrative professionals, or admins.
Admins are one of the engines of business, particularly in a complex economy, the IAAP website states.
In a world which demands the accurate and speedy movement of digital information, admins are masters of data, doing this while maintaining their more traditional role as the gatekeepers for many customers, clients and employees.
Started in 1952 as National Secretaries Week by the National Secretaries Association, now known as IAAP, in conjunction with public relations executive Harry Klemfuss and a consortium of office product manufacturers, the IAAP announced a name change to Administrative Professionals Week in 2000.
The first event was held as an effort to recognize secretaries for their contributions in the workplace and to attract more people to secretarial and administrative careers.
Today, there are more than 4.1 million secretaries and administrative assistants working in the United States, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics. There are also 8.9 million people working in various administrative support roles.
More than 475,000 administrative professionals are employed in Canada with millions more working in offices throughout the world.
Visit www.iaap-hq.org for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
