Every year, Meetings Today polls its readers, reaches out to sources and contacts past Meetings Trendsetters to compile a list of the planners, educators and suppliers whose efforts and ideas propel our industry. Following is our 2016 list recognizing these agents of change. Congrats to all who made the list!
Looking for previous years' lists? Follow the links below!
We encourage readers to share the good news and make sure to keep an eye out (and vote) for future trendsetters!
THE PLANNERS
Lisa D. Frazier
Director, Conferences, Meetings and Events
// United States Institute of Peace
Specialties: Strategic event and government planning
Recognized by MPI as an Emerging Leader and by the International Live Events Association (formerly ISES) for excellence in event planning, Lisa is a 15-year industry veteran whose impressive resume includes senior planning positions at the Library of Congress, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Terri Woodin
Senior Director of Global Meeting Services // Meeting Sites Resource
Specialties: Speaking, education and site selection
With a career in the hospitality industry stretching some 35 years, Terri counts experience on both the supplier side, in hotel operations and sales, and as a meeting planner. She also delivers workshops and webinars on topics that include negotiation strategies, hotel contracts and strategic meetings management, among others.
Monica Grinage-Prince
Event Program Manager // International Facility Management Association
Specialties: Conference management and design
Singled out as a mentor of younger planning professionals, Monica designs and develops international conferences and program offerings for the IFMA’s events worldwide. She currently serves on the Board of the Houston chapter of MPI and the Education Review Task Force for MPI Global.
Dee Silfies
Owner // D. Silfies & Company
Specialties: Conference and tradeshow design, marketing and education
Following eight years as director of tradeshows at RealWorld Corporation and 10 years in executive management at events and tradeshow publisher EXHIBITOR, where she worked on its Exhibitor Show and developed its Certified Trade Show Marketer program and exhibitoronline.com, Dee now develops curriculum for conferences and online learning at her own firm, D. Silfies & Company.
Karen L. May
Vice President of Sales and Marketing // Venues of North Scottsdale
Specialties: Event design and site selection
Karen serves groups of up to 3,000 participants in all manner of partner sites in Scottsdale, and for the past 25 years has been active in the special event planning, tradeshow management and incentive events sides of the industry. Innovative spaces she has used include small airport hangars and even chef’s service on the tarmac of a runway.
Marc Crosier
Tradeshow Manager // Heidelberg Engineering
Specialties: Exhibitions, tradeshows and events
Marc uses his 20-plus years of tradeshow and events experience to create meaningful face-to-face connections between businesses and their customers. Whether partnering with vendors to develop interactive displays or spearheading volunteer opportunities, he strives to deliver memorable experiences that drive results. As a seven-year member of the ExhibitorLive Advisory Board he has helped shape educational programs as well as presented at national meetings.
Tami Forero
CEO // Forte Events
Specialties: Specialties: Speaking and event planning
A strategic event planner with nearly 25 years of experience, Tami leads Colorado Springs, Colo.’s Forte Events, and creates unique training and leadership development programs that have earned international recognition and industry awards. Event specialties include employee retention and recruitment, profit generation and product launches.
Every year, Meetings Today polls its readers, reaches out to sources and contacts past Meetings Trendsetters to compile a list of the planners, educators and suppliers whose efforts and ideas propel our industry. Following is our 2016 list recognizing these agents of change. Congrats to all who made the list!
Looking for previous years' lists? Follow the links below!
We encourage readers to share the good news and make sure to keep an eye out (and vote) for future trendsetters!
THE EDUCATORS
Pat Schaumann
Senior Director of Healthcare Compliance
// Maritz Travel, A Global Events Company
Specialties: Medical and pharma meetings education
Until recently director of the Healthcare Sector, MPI MD and the Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate program for MPI, Pat is a virtual library of medical meetings education, helping meeting planners navigate the complicated segment and its myriad rules and regulations. She recently joined major medical meetings third-party planning company Maritz Travel to direct its healthcare compliance effort.
Kristen Brown
Speaker // The Happy Hour Effect
Specialties: Keynote speaker
Kristen helps busy professionals strive to reach their goals even when work and life are stressful, using her compelling personal story—a staggering loss that led to her shift to speaking after spending 15 years in corporate leadership—to inspire audiences. She lives in Minneapolis with her daughter when not on the road and says she “will do just about anything for bacon or an extra hour of sleep.”
Eric Rozenberg
President // Swantegy
Specialties: Incentive travel and author
Long a fixture on the meetings scene, both running an incentive travel company and as the first European to become chairman of the International Board of MPI, Eric recently penned his first book, Meeting at C-Level: An Executive Guide for Driving Strategy and Helping the Rest of Us Figure Out What the Boss Wants, which aims to get to the “why” instead of the “how” of meeting programs.
Tammi Leader Fuller
CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer) // Campowerment
Specialties: Teambuilding and empowerment
After leaving a senior-level producer career at Warner Brothers/Telepictures, Tammi brought her energy to Campowerment, which brings together women from all walks of life on rustic weekend retreats to further their professional lives. The effort has received recognition from the likes of Oprah, MORE and Parade magazines, the TODAY Show, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald and Philadelphia Inquirer.
Dr. Kristin Malek
Assistant Professor
// Department of Hospitality Management, Kansas State University
Specialties: Business consulting; keynote speaker
A former meeting planner in Las Vegas, Kristin is currently an event management educator at Kansas State University. She works with the industry to conduct individualized event research and helps organizations develop strategic plans, increase membership and analyze attendee satisfaction, loyalty and content retention across different meeting platforms, including face-to-face, streaming and webcast. Dr. Malek brings hands-on learning into the classroom and requires students to participate in and plan actual events.
Every year, Meetings Today polls its readers, reaches out to sources and contacts past Meetings Trendsetters to compile a list of the planners, educators and suppliers whose efforts and ideas propel our industry. Following is our 2016 list recognizing these agents of change. Congrats to all who made the list!
Looking for previous years' lists? Follow the links below!
We encourage readers to share the good news and make sure to keep an eye out (and vote) for future trendsetters!
THE SUPPLIERS
Michael Massari
Senior Vice President of National Meetings and Events
// Caesars Entertainment
Specialties: Casino resort sales, operations and marketing
Showing unflinching resolve in building the business travel and meetings segment in Atlantic City, N.J., Michael was a major advocate for investing in the new Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center and helped land MPI’s World Education Congress there in June.
Tom Faust
Vice President, Sales // Benchmark Hospitality International
Specialties: Hotel sales and marketing
Bringing experience gained at major hospitality brands such as Omni Hotels & Resorts, the Anatole in Dallas under both the Wyndham and Hilton flags, and Sheraton and Starwood, Tom joined Benchmark Hospitality International in early 2016 and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the MPI Foundation.
Darren Green
Senior Vice President of Sales // Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board
Specialties: Destination sales and marketing
A more than 20-year meetings industry veteran, Darren has held positions at brands such as Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Nikko Hotels International, KSL Resorts and Starwood Hotels. Helped by his efforts, Los Angeles hotel occupancy last year set a record at 79.6 percent and hotel rooms sold set a record at 28.5 million hotel room nights.
Bonnie Grant
Executive Director // PHL Life Sciences, A Division of the Philadelphia CVB
Specialties: Medical/pharma meetings, promotion and education
Bonnie has taken a leading role in promoting Philadelphia as one of the top U.S. destinations for medical and pharma meetings as well as sponsoring education through MPI and acting as an advisory council member on the MPI MD advisory council and on the PCMA Medical Meetings Task Force.
Kathleen “Kitty” Ratcliffe
President // Explore St. Louis
Specialties: DMO leader and sustainable meetings
With sustainable meetings being a central driver in her career, Kitty has served in leadership positions for a number of industry organizations, including being a founding board member of the Green Meetings Industry Council and chairing MPI’s Task Force on Green Meetings, which resulted in the meetings industry’s first white paper on green meetings. Other accodlades include being named MPI’s International Supplier of the Year and chairing the association and leading roles in industry associations such as ASAE, CIC and various regional tourism boards and St. Louis organizations. Her work chairing a committee for the Oceans Blue Foundation led to the development of its website, bluegreenmeetings.org.
Julie Coker Graham
President & CEO // Philadelphia CVB
Specialties: Destination marketing and strategic partnerships
Besides serving on the boards of two of the industry’s top associations, U.S. Travel and DMAI, Philly CVB chief Julie Coker Graham has been leading the charge to create more partnership opportunities between meeting clients and Philadelphia city government, as well as with the civic, tech and business communities.
Mark Cooper
Chief Executive Officer // IACC
Specialties: Promotion of meetings and conference-focused venues
With more than 25 years of experience in the global hospitality industry in both the U.S. and U.K., Mark has transformed IACC to increase its global influence and mission of educating planners about the benefits of holding their meetings at exclusive meeting venues, by design.
Edward Harris
Vice President of Marketing & Communications
// Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board
Specialties: Destination marketing and technology
Leveraging his background in tech and retail marketing for companies such as eBay, Converse, Timberland and Under Armour, Ed brings a fresh take to DMO meeting planner outreach, including an emphasis on cutting-edge digital video and image efforts such as its Montco 360 website. Harris is also an adjunct professor of marketing at the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
