Jason Dunn, CEO of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP), is a meetings industry leader that stands tall for his constituents inside and outside of the industry during a time when incidents of racial discrimination in the hospitality industry have grabbed headlines.
And as his history demonstrates, he’s not afraid to engage powerful interests when appropriate, even when it could ruffle feathers with current or future partners.
Case in point: After being a student leader of an economic boycott of Cincinnati following the 2001 police killing of Timothy Thomas—resulting in major entertainers and the Urban League to cancel events in the city—Dunn later joined the sales team at Visit Cincy and rose to be the first Black vice president in the 77-year history of the DMO. He then successfully championed the destination as a welcoming option, especially for African American organizations.
[Related: Black Meeting Profs CEO Jason Dunn on the State of DEIAB in the Meetings Industry]
Latest Advocacy Actions
Three recent examples of the NCBMP issuing public statements include after the June 30 death of D’Vontaye Mitchell, a Black man who died after being pinned down by security guards outside of the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee; the January 5 removal of three Black passengers from an American Airlines flight after another passenger complained of “body odor”; and when the NAACP Board of Directors released a formal Florida travel advisory in May 2023.
In the Milwaukee case, six employees of the hotel’s operator, Aimbridge Hospitality, were fired. The Mitchell family later settled with the company in late August, with four of the employees directly involved in the incident heading to trial on felony murder charges at the time of publication.
“We did reach out to [the CEO] at Visit Milwaukee and we agreed to stay in touch and work through opportunities to engage with their staff and hotels, and to figure out how we make sure there’s training and de-escalation activities that we can help facilitate,” Dunn said. “And then we have been working with the Hyatt corporate office, as they have been partners with us for a long time.
“I feel like the Hyatt in Milwaukee and the CVB have been great partners as it relates to communicating what’s going on,” he added. “They both have said that they concur with our request that justice prevail and the investigation be thorough, and that both the parent company and the operator of the hotel be transparent with the authorities, which they have. There are a couple conventions of ours that are coming to Milwaukee and we wanted to make sure that they felt like we were addressing the issue, and that we were advocating for justice to prevail, and I think we’ve done that.”
[Podcast: NCBMP Chair Jason Dunn Fights for Equality in the Meetings Industry and Beyond]
The American Airlines incident resulted in the suspension of several of the airline’s employees.
A public statement from American Airlines CEO stated the action was “unacceptable” and that the airline would work to “rebuild trust,” with the NAACP threatening to reinstate a 2017 travel advisory regarding the airline in early June.
The NCBMP also weighed in on the NAACP’s Florida travel advisory, commending the civil rights group’s advisory but also making clear to its members and the general public that it was not a boycott.
Members Raise Concerns
Dunn said the positions the NCBMP takes often stem from concerns raised by members, and that it can indeed be a challenge to confront entities that the organization and its members do business with directly or indirectly.
“A lot of times, our members call us because they may be going to a destination or using the particular entity that has been questioned,” Dunn said. “I take it back to our board, we have a conversation about it, but is this within the threshold of our mission, is it something that is relevant to our members, and then can we really make a difference?
“We want to offer objectives and agendas on how to deal with the issue at the time,” Dunn continued. “And like any association, there are times when there’s a conflict, like a member will bring up, ‘Well, I’ve got a contract with so and so.’”
[Related: 20 Meetings Trendsetters Who Stepped Up When Their Industry Needed Them Most]
NCBMP Annual Conference in Birmingham
This type of conflict, not uncommon to associations, has entered the conversation regarding the NCBMP’s November 13-16 Annual Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, in a state that has recently passed laws that led some NCBMP members to question whether they will travel to attend the event.
[Related: Birmingham Beckons Groups With an Amazing Food Scene and Monumental History]
“There have been some calls from our members not to go because of the legislation that passed a couple months ago, so we’re dealing with that,” Dunn explained. “We’re a member organization that has suppliers and planners, and sometimes there is a conflict that we have to figure out, and thus far, we’ve done a good job doing it, let me say that.”
The Birmingham conference, held in a destination that is considered the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, will focus on the founding principles of the 41-year-old association.
“Birmingham is reminding us of why we were created, in the consciousness that we all align with,” Dunn said. “Many of our organizations were created pre-integration, so a lot of that history is in Birmingham, and so the goal is to reset the discussions on why we were founded, what are the principles of why we were founded, and it also empowers us as a collective organization to begin to speak up and become rooted back into what our organization was created to do, which is impact, educate and advocate in the tourism industry.”
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