(Chicago, IL)  The National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) elected Maria Angles, ECM, of Cinemark Theatres, Plano, Texas, as association president at the 2007 NAC Annual Convention held in Salt Lake City. Angles was elected into office at the association’s Annual Membership Luncheon.  She takes over the NAC presidency from Larry Etter, CCM, of Malco Theatres, who will now serve a two-year term as chairman of the board. She is the first woman to hold the NAC presidency.

Angles has been a member of the association since 1988. She joined the NAC Board of Directors in 1997 as a director at large, and was elected a vice president and joined the Executive Committee in 2001. She served as a vice president for four years before accepting the position of president elect in 2005.

She has also served on the Education, Finance, and Marketing/Membership committees, and has earned a ruby and sapphire NAC lapel pin for sponsoring five new members to the association. She was also the first female recipient of the NAC Bert Nathan Memorial Award, which she received in 2001.

Angles has been in the movie theatre concessions industry for over 20 years. She began her career at United Artists Theatre Circuit, and served as Director of Concessions. She joined Cinemark Holdings in 1996 and currently serves as director of food and beverage for Cinemark USA and vice president of food and beverage for Cinemark International.

During her tenure at United Artists, she earned a Gold POPAI award from the Advertising Institute for outstanding point of purchase display developed for in-theatre concession promotion. She is a former member of the Board of Variety Children’s Charity of Colorado, and has served on Variety’s North Texas Board since 1996. A native of Kansas City, Angles is fluent in Spanish and resides in the Dallas area.

The National Association of Concessionaires was founded in 1944 to serve the recreational and leisure-time food and beverage concessions industry as a network and resource for operators, suppliers, manufacturers and distributors. Association services include publications, educational seminars and training programs, convention and trade shows and other programs for the concessions industry.