Finding a job one loves isn't as easy as it sounds. While most people stick around for a few years before moving onto their next gig, Mary Elizabeth McMahon was lucky enough to find a position at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront that she loved -- so much so that she's been with the hotel for more than 23 years.

McMahon joined the team at this hotel near Savannah State University and the Savannah College of Art and Design in February 1991, and was the top producer from 1992 to 2009 and 2010, as well as for the current year. Before she joined the Savannah event planning and sales team here, she was the Regional Sales Manager at Marriott's Bay Point Resort, where she was responsible for opening the Atlanta sales office and was the third-highest producer of her seven-person team within just 8 months. Her first Regional Sales Manager position was at the Sea Palms Resort, where she increased room revenue by 500% by reorganizing the regional office, better utilizing personnel and developing a close, personal rapport with clients. Her long tenure at these Savannah, GA conference rooms is a testament not only to her hard work, but of her relationships with both staff and clients. That, coincidentally, is what she loves most about her work.

"The best thing about my job is that it has brought two other incredible 'families' into my life over the years, in addition to my original one," she says. "One is my 'hotel family,' whom I have grown to love over all these years of working together; the other family is made of all the loyal and repeat clients that I have grown close to by working with them year in and year out on their meetings. If I can claim any bit of success, it is because of them -- and that's why I love Billy Payne's quote below so much ('Success in life is as simple as making friends')."

When she's not working, McMahon keeps busy with her family, including her husband, two adult daughters, two dogs, a granddog and a grandcat. She is also involved in professional and local organizations including the Georgia Society of Association Executives, Society of Government Meeting Planners, Junior League of Atlanta and the Satellite Offices of Atlanta, for which she is the Co-Founder, President and Executive Director.