Mar 14, 2024
Celebrated every March, Women’s History Month is an opportune time to celebrate the female achievers of the trade show and corporate events industry. In this first in a series of exclusive interviews with several outstanding female industry professionals, we had the pleasure of speaking with Kitty Ratcliffe, president of Explore St. Louis and Kathy Springstead, general manager, convention center operations for Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, to find out how their organizations are supporting women, whether they believe we are making progress when it comes to gender diversity in the C-suite… more
Mar 08, 2024
Ask about Visit Salt Lake (VSL) President and CEO Kaitlin Eskelson’s long and accomplished career in the travel and tourism industry and prepare to be impressed. As the organization’s youngest chief executive and only the fourth person to hold the leadership role in its 36-year history, she has made her mark through passionately crafted programs and strategies designed to secure a strong future for business events and tourism in Salt Lake City and Utah. Since taking the helm at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2020, Eskelson’s achievements to build back the city’s meetings and… more
Mar 01, 2024
Event-related organizations far and wide, particularly CVBs and suppliers, are elevating staff, welcoming new industry professionals and saying farewell to long-standing team members this month. Huntington Place Detroit’s Huntington Place welcomed Heather Anderson as its new marketing and communications director. She is succeeding Mary Klida, who has headed the downtown convention center’s marketing and communications efforts since 2010 and is retiring March 31. In her new role, Anderson is responsible for leading the facility’s marketing and communications team and working closely with… more
Feb 29, 2024
Taking place each February, Black History Month is an ideal time to honor and celebrate the achievements of Black trade show and event industry professionals and renew our commitment to continue fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). We want to recognize and highlight Black industry leaders and share their experiences. This week, we are featuring Julie Coker, president and CEO of San Diego Tourism and Al Hutchison, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore. Find out how their organizations are supporting the Black community and Black History Month, and how all of us can champion… more
Feb 22, 2024
Taking place each February, Black History Month is an ideal time to honor and celebrate the achievements of Black people in the events and trade show industry and renew our commitment to continue fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). We want to recognize and highlight Black industry leaders and share their experiences. This week, we are featuring Marveen Hart, Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Freeman, a full-service exhibitions, exhibits and events company with a 97-year legacy, and Ed Jeffry, business development manager for Gielissen, a Netherlands-based exhibitions,… more
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Feb 16, 2024
Taking place each February, Black History Month is an ideal time to honor and celebrate the achievements of Black people in the events and trade show industry and renew our commitment to continue fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). We want to recognize and highlight Black industry leaders and share their experiences. This week, we are featuring Tavar James, head of field and partner marketing, Riskified, a publicly traded company that provides software as a service fraud and chargeback prevention technology. Find who inspires him and what tips he can offer others to champion DEI… more
Feb 12, 2024
The U.S. meetings industry is continuing its steady pace of hiring and promoting, with meeting and event-related companies elevating and appointing staff as business forecasts signal a positive outlook for the coming year. Here’s our latest recap of new hires and promotions. Connect Matt Johnson has been promoted to managing director of meetings, events, travel and tourism industry leader Connect, which was acquired by Informa in 2023 and is now part of Informa Connect. A part of the Connect team for nearly 19 years, he is responsible for spearheading new initiatives to best serve customers… more
Jan 30, 2024
Destination and event management company CSI DMC, Inc. has appointed a new president. The company tapped 28-year events industry veteran Hope Valentine to take the helm after serving as an integral part of CSI DMC’s senior leadership team for 12 years, most recently as chief sales officer. A Florida native based in the Greater Orlando area, Valentine has built a successful career developing and managing large, complex programs for FORTUNE 500 companies, including Ford, Procter & Gamble, CVS, Honda and Wells Fargo, in a variety of roles spanning proposal development, sales and event… more
Jan 22, 2024
Event-related organizations across the U.S., especially DMOs, are kicking off the New Year with new hires, staff promotions and executive leadership announcements.   Seattle Convention Center After serving as Seattle Convention Center (SCC) president and CEO for more than 12 years, 45-year venue management industry veteran Jeff Blosser is retiring in May 2024. During his time at the helm of the SCC, Blosser opened a new building, guided operations through a pandemic, served in leadership on numerous industry boards and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International… more
Jan 12, 2024
Talk to Lux Narayan, co-founder of event audience engagement technology platform StreamAlive, and it quickly becomes apparent that he is anything but your typical event tech CEO. Not only has the serial entrepreneur founded three technology companies over the past two decades, including AI-powered SaaS StreamAlive in 2021, social media benchmarking company Unmetric and online data backup company Vembu Technologies, but also he is a TED speaker, amateur standup comedian, author and storyteller who feels just as comfortable telling jokes in front of an audience as he does delivering PowerPoint… more
Partner Voices
MGM Resorts is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse culture, not just among employees and guests but also within its supply chain. The company prioritizes procuring goods and services from businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, people with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals and those facing economic disadvantages. This commitment is integral to MGM Resorts' global procurement strategy.    Through its voluntary supplier diversity program, MGM Resorts actively identifies and connects certified diverse-owned suppliers to opportunities within its supply chain. The company is more