The expert of record for all things meetings tech for more than 20 years, Corbin Ball—owner of Corbin Ball & Co.—has ingrained himself in the meetings industry on a global level. An inveterate traveler—he spends about a third of his time on the road every year—Ball recently received the highest honor in the industry after being inducted into the Events Industry Council’s (EIC) Hall of Leaders.

Being the female leader of a travel company featuring an all-woman team of six travel counselors, London-based Crossing Travel CEO Sangeeta Sadarangani is quite aware of the challenges women face when traveling for business.

John H. Richardson, general manager of 320 Guest Ranch near Big Sky, Montana, lives and breathes the hotel life, with a father that worked for Sage Hospitality, Marriott and Ritz-Carlton. “When I tell people I’ve moved around a lot they ask if my dad was in the military and I say, ‘No, he was in the hotel business,” he quipped.

What does high-stakes international diplomacy have to do with meeting planning? A lot, as it turns out. Meet Pamela Eyring, owner and president of The Protocol School of Washington, a nationally accredited educational institution that offers international protocol, cross-cultural awareness, business etiquette and image training for business professionals and, increasingly, meeting planners of top organizations that perform on a global stage.

A new day is dawning for the embattled tourism promotion industry in Puerto Rico, as CVB veteran Brad Dean, who helmed the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce as CEO for 15 years, is set to take the reins of the newly created Puerto Rico Destination Marketing Organization (PRDMO).

Forty-six-year meetings and hospitality industry veteran David Bruce, managing partner of Ft. Worth, Texas-area’s meeting planning company CMP Services, knows and cares enough about his profession that he realizes it’s time for a big change.

Taking the reins of PCMA in January after serving as COO, Sherrif Karamat can leverage more than 14 years with the association to both recognize why and what it was and also propel it to where it needs to be in the future.

Tahira Endean author of Intentional Event Design, Our Professional Opportunity and event producer for British Columbia’s BC Innovation Council, is one of those getting out ahead of the curve—and actually on the leading edge—by utilizing technology and neuroscience concepts to create meetings with meaning instead of feed-and-forget cattle calls that leave attendees with fleeting impressions.

Julie Coker Graham, president a CEO of the Philadelphia CVB (PHLCVB), was recently named co-chair of U.S. Travel’s Meetings Mean Business Coalition (MMBC).

Jeanne Rappoport, a 24-year veteran of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF).