Jason Weldon has been the president/CEO of Synergetic for the last 18 years. Jason graduated from Temple university in Philadelphia where the company is headquartered. As a very active owner, Jason shows up every day to make sure the company is delivering on its promise to make people happy. One of his favorite things about being an entrepreneur is creating jobs and giving people the opportunity to succeed. When he is not working, Jason is usually adding records to his impressive vinyl record collection or enjoying a weekend country music concert.

Heartfelt connections are at the core of Kimpton’s ethos–and Telesa Via is a shining example of that ethos brought to life. Over nearly two decades, Telesa has built a successful career overseeing hospitality sales, marketing and public relations operations. But what makes her story truly impressive is the incredible amount that she’s given back during that same amount of time. She continues to travel the path of a well-rounded leader for whom success is as much about moving forward as it is about giving back.

Telesa oversees sales activities from coast to coast and beyond, within North America. While the scope of her role is straightforward, it’s anything but simple. Tasked with helping Kimpton grow market share in more than thirty metropolitan areas in the continental U.S. and beyond, such as Grand Cayman, Telesa must synthesize and address the nuances of these widely varying markets to support broader, brand-wide objectives. It’s definitely not a task for the faint of heart, and one that requires both outstanding tactical and strategic skills.

In the eight years she’s been part of the Kimpton family, Telesa has overseen sales and marketing activities for the Mid-Atlantic, a region that extends from Washington DC to Savannah, GA. Crossing geographic divides, she has consistently built strong bridges between the Mid-Atlantic ownership groups and Kimpton’s corporate office in San Francisco. Back home with other Kimptonites, her leadership has been equally dynamic. Whether employing time-tested strategies to inspire her team and drive regional topline, or infusing new energy into training programs and the successful redeployment of sales pods, she remains a focused and dedicated team player with a singular vision of Kimpton’s success.

But in actuality, Kimpton is not the only cause that is close to Telesa’s heart. Sharing that space is the MLC Cancer Foundation, an organization she co-founded with the mission of raising ovarian and breast cancer awareness. Continuing her focus on women’s issues, Telesa also chairs the Board of Directors of the Cinderella Foundation, dedicated to empowering girls living in high-risk, low-income communities in the Washington DC metropolitan area. A passionate believer in higher education, Telesa is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Arlington Chapter of the Links, Incorporated. She also serves as a mentor with Capital Partners for Education. In recognition of her service and professional accomplishments, Telesa was honored with the Bill Kimpton Award in 2014.

Telesa earned her BA in Communications from University of Virginia, and has had the chance to experience life in different parts of the US, such as Atlanta, Charlottesville, VA and Washington, DC. Her roots are strongest in the Washington DC metropolitan area, where she received the Top Minority Business Leaders Award from the Washington Business Journal and completed the Leadership Greater Washington program in 2015. She is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, Professional Conference Management Association and International Association of Exhibition Executives, among others.

Judy Johnson has been in the meeting and event industry for over 40 years. After graduating from college with a degree in special education, she returned to school to pursue a career in the hospitality industry.

She founded Rx Worldwide Meetings, which focused solely on pharmaceutical and medical meetings. After twenty successful years, she sold the company to pursue a consulting practice in healthcare compliance as well as teaching the HMCC Certification classes for MPI.

Active in industry associations, a certified meeting professional (CMP) as well as a certified HMCC, Ms. Johnson has taught a variety of meeting planning classes and has spoken at many industry-related events including Meeting Professionals International WEC, IBTM Latin America, The Pharmaceutical Meeting Planners’ Forum, Global World Congress, SPIN and the DIA (Drug Industry Association). She is featured in Harvey MacKay’s bestseller, “We got fired and it’s the Best Thing That Happened to Us” and has authored several articles on pharmaceutical meetings. She currently serves on the HEEMM (Hospitality, exhibits, events and meeting management) program at Richland College as well as advisory boards for several hotels.

Susan is the leader of Maritz Travel’s operations team in Philadelphia which supports our Healthcare Solutions, as well as our meetings, events and incentive business. She is responsible for strategic planning, staffing, process development/implementation, maintaining the level of high touch service that our customers expect, and creating a collaborative highly effective work environment. Susan has been with Maritz for 30 years, with a career encompassing sales leadership, project management and on-site program operations.

Michael’s career in Bio Pharm spans for over 20 years in Bio Pharm and the last 10 in Medical education as part of Medical Affairs and Marketing. Currently, Michael position oversees all Peer to Peer interaction. His efforts are now focused on Speaker Programs, KOL Development and Ad Boards. In this role, he harmonized policies and procedures for the pharma and has also developed a streamline process and state of the art system for, advisory boards and speaker bureaus while increasing both internal and external customer satisfaction with the process. Prior to his role in medical education he was in marketing and sales as well as worked clinically as a registered vascular technologist. Michael has also presented at numerous industry meetings as an expert on medical education.

Deborah is a recognized industry leader in the development and implementation of integrated marketing programs, hospitality sales training and national account management. Deborah is proud to serve on the board of MPIMD. Previously she served as the President of the International Medical Meeting Professionals Association, was named the 2013/2014 MPI Gulf States Chapter Meeting Planner of the Year and also served as the President of the Foundation of NACE. Deborah received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Purdue University.

The Hinson Group has had the pleasure of representing Fleming’s Prime Steak House and Wine Bar as their National Sales Department for the past 13 years. Nationally renowned for its Prime beef and steakhouse fare, Fleming’s is equally celebrated for their outstanding service.

Each of the 73 Fleming’s nationwide offers beautifully appointed private dining rooms - the perfect backdrop for any medical event, and the National Account program provides many benefits including one point of contact for booking events nationwide and a lucrative incentive program.

For additional information, please stop by their booth in the exhibit hall.

Bonnie Grant joined the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) in April, 2008, as Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Congress (PHLLifeSciences), responsible for marketing Greater Philadelphia, ranked one of the largest life sciences sectors in the country, as “America’s Life Sciences Meetings Destination.”

Representing our region’s public, private and academic entities, members of PHLLIfeSciences assist PHLCVB with sales, on-site services and sponsorship efforts to attract conventions, meetings and new business, as well as promoting the region’s premier attractions in history, medicine, science, arts, culture and entertainment, all making for a unique and memorable Philadelphia convention experience.

Bonnie was appointed to serve on the Professional Convention Management Association’s (PCMA) Medical Meetings Task Force, beginning in January, 2016. In October, 2012, Bonnie was awarded the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Life Sciences Award in the “Best Consultant” category.

Bonnie served for 11 years in the City of Philadelphia as Deputy City Representative for the City of Philadelphia under the administrations of Mayors Edward G. Rendell and John F. Street, charged with promoting Philadelphia as a world-class destination, and in the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation. She has also served as director of communications and spokesperson for Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition; the Philadelphia Eagles; and Chestnut Hill College.

Bonnie is past president of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA), and serves on the boards of PPRA, Foundation for Breast and Prostate Health (Secretary), and the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia. She is past board member of The Wellness Community of Philadelphia (now The Cancer Support Community of Philadelphia). A writer and actor, she has also served on the boards of Plays and Players Theater and Random Acts of Theater. She holds a BFA from Tyler School of Art and a Master’s in Journalism from Temple University.

Patricia A. Jackson is a Senior Project Manager for Meetings & Incentives Worldwide, Inc. where she is responsible for leading key Congress Project Management efforts. With a management style that focuses on strategic planning, innovation and creativity and over 20 years of experience in the Meetings, Incentives, Congresses and Events (M.I.C.E.) industry, she is considered as a savvy Game Changer who is known for taking pride in leading internal strategy and operational efforts, initiating and leading process improvement, authoring and standardizing procedures and partnering with clients and vendors to build and maintain partnerships.

She has an extensive background in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. Working with Fortune 500 companies such as Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Novartis, her project management and live event production spans a myriad of medical meeting types inclusive of Global Congresses, Product Launches, National Sales Meetings, POAs, Investigator Meetings and Advisory Boards ranging anywhere from 10 to 3,000 attendees. In her immediate past, she lead the Congress Management efforts for Product Life Cycle Services across the Novartis Innovative Medicines division including overseeing engagement and communication to influence decision-making to achieve measurable results, association relations, contract and sponsorship negotiations as well as maintaining brand awareness to understand messaging across products, diseases and franchises.

Patricia thrives in a fast-paced environment and loves conquering challenges. Her mantra is ‘YOLO,’ short for “You Only Live Once” and she subscribes to leaving people, places and things better off than when you first came. She has successfully completed two half marathon-running events on behalf of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training, raised over $10,000 towards the research, treatment and cure for blood cancers and has run the New York City Marathon.

She obtained her a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University in Kent, OH USA.

Kirsten Knauer is a Global Sales Leader who has managed high performance teams in North and South America, UAE and Europe. Her experience spans from Private Clubs, Restaurants to Hotels, and she has been published in the prestigious Crittendon Golf Magazine, and continues to contribute to MPI, ASAE and PCMA with content and perspective from the restaurant industry. She is a staunch supporter of education for the restaurant industry on the Healthcare Compliance guidelines for medical meetings.

Kirsten has a passion for excellence and that includes the culinary arena. She is an evangelist for Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse, engaging clients and building lasting relationships with key industry professionals. When not traveling, Kirsten can be found at her home in Dallas with her extended family. She holds a BS in Hotel and Restaurant Management from California State Polytechnic University Pomona.

Shimon Avish is a 20+ year veteran of Travel and Meetings Management. As a consultant, he currently is the head of Acquis Consulting Group’s Meetings Management Group. Previously he has worked for American Express Consulting, American Express Meetings & Events, Management Alternatives, Shimon Avish Consulting, and BCD Meetings & Events. Shimon has led initiatives to design and build a global strategic meetings management program for a major pharmaceutical company, and built a global congress program for another major pharmaceutical company. As current member, and former Vice-Chair, of GBTA’s Meetings Committee, he has led the Committee’s Thought Leadership Initiative. Shimon is a frequent contributor to industry publications, and presenter at conferences, and is considered an industry thought leader.

Anna Kershaw is a procurement professional with her certification in Public Purchasing. She also holds a HMCC certification after completing the Healthcare Meeting Compliance certificate course through MPI. Anna has more than 25 years of procurement experience. She is a graduate of Bethel University and holds a B.A. in Psychology and German. She has enjoyed working primarily in the business travel arena having worked at CWT’s headquarters and for BCDTravel where she served as a Director of Supplier Relations. Anna currently works for UCB Pharma, a global specialty pharmaceutical company based in Belgium as their Purchasing Team Lead for the categories of Travel, Meetings and Fleet for N. America. Her most current accomplishment has been working with a team to implement a strategic meetings management program at UCB. Just for fun, ask Anna about her love for adventure travel and social justice causes.

Fast Five Interview

Jill Joy Rankin, C.P.M. Global Category Manager, is part of a Global Sourcing Team at Boehringer Ingelheim, whose corporate offices are based in Ingelheim, Germany. Jill is based out of Ridgefield Connecticut and is currently responsible for Global Sourcing initiatives for domestic and international programs. She has extensive leadership and cross functional experience across Sourcing and Procurement for more than 20 years. She currently supports Global Sourcing categories which includes Contract Sales, Meetings, Congresses, Sales Training, and Print management at BI leading Cross Functional and Cross Divisional Project Teams.

Prior to Boehringer Ingelheim, Jill supported Sourcing and Procurement Categories as Associate Director at Novartis Consumer Health which included Global Category strategy management of their Marketing Services and Digital Services programs as part of their Over the Counter (OTC) Division. In addition she worked in Strategic sourcing group for Johnson and Johnson, based in New Brunswick New Jersey as part of a shared services team function supporting and leading Strategic Sourcing specific categories across three business sectors including Pharma, Consumer and Medical Devise Business units. Jill was previously based on the West Coast as part of the Purchasing team for Neutrogena supporting all Supply Chain plant site functions.

Jill has been in a Procurement function across multiple industries including Software, Health and Beauty, and worked in manufacturing leading the purchasing team for a Billion dollar Global Corporation in the Food industry as well as experience working for Wella Corporation running the Purchasing function for their West Coast division. She is a Lifetime Certified Purchasing Manager and Green Belt for Six Sigma and has a vast knowledge across many industries which lends to her success and leadership in Procurement roles and expertise initiating new processes, approach and innovation to this field with both her internal stakeholders and Suppliers.

Betsy began her career in restaurants in 1977, transitioned into hotel sales and ultimately found her passion in meeting and trade show management.  During her 15 year tenure at the world’s largest biotech company, Betsy developed and implemented a pioneering corporate-wide strategic meeting management program.  This experience also provided her deep insight into the regulations affecting the Life Sciences industry.  In 2007, she moved from the corporate meeting world to consulting, much of which has been within procurement organizations. In addition to her current work with Fortune 500 companies, Betsy is considered a Subject Matter Expert in the area of Strategic Meetings Management Programs and as such, has authored many articles, developed educational content, and presented to audiences in North America, Europe and Asia.

Betsy holds a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has been an active member of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) since 1994; having served on many of international committees, as a member of the International Board of Directors and is currently the chair of the Knowledge Advisory Council.  Betsy believes in giving back, and as a result has participated in a number of industry advisory boards, panels, and forums. In 2009, Betsy was one of the first to achieve MPI’s Accredited Trainer designation. Betsy has been recognized as one of Business Travel News “Best Practitioners” and has been honored as one of Meeting News “25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry, and recently was awarded the 2010 MPI “Chairwoman’s Award”.

betsy@bondurantconsulting.com

Kathy is a global strategic meetings professional with 20+ years of wide-ranging industry experience. Having worked with medical device, pharmaceutical and financial services companies, she understands meeting management from multiple perspectives. Kathy began her career in trade show management, before moving to event management and then M&E operations. She has experience with supplier management, global events, as well as building and evolving a strategic meetings management program.

Kathy is active in the industry. She is currently serving as VP of Education for Meeting Professional International, New Jersey Chapter as well as a member of Global Business Travel Association’s Meeting Committee. Kathy created a Strategic Meetings Mastermind Group that meets monthly to review and discuss industry hot topics, best practices and idea sharing.

Tina McLaughlin is a Director of Global Operations with American Express Meetings & Events. She has 25 years of experience working with Life Science organizations in the area of Strategic Meetings Management. Tina is recognized as a subject matter expert for Healthcare Meetings and associated compliance regulations.

Tina is a CMP and a member of the Philadelphia chapter of MPI.

Amallely “Jeli” Prado is Global Meetings and Events lead at Shire pharmaceuticals. She is responsible for managing strategic projects and optimization of processes for the Global Meetings and Events department. In her current role, Jeli leverages her Six Sigma green belt to design processes which improve the adoption of Shire’s SMMP.

Jeli joined Baxter Healthcare in 2014 as a Process Excellence Manager. Following the spinoff of Baxter to Baxalta, Jeli partnered with the US Commercial meetings team to assist in the rollout of a global SMMP. After the Shire acquisition, she joined the global Meetings and Events team to once again rollout the SMMP at the newly combined company.

Jeli previously spent 15 years in the financial services industry holding various leadership roles in sales, customer service, and project management. Her experience in process management and continuous improvement brought her to the pharma world.

In her free time, Jeli enjoys volunteering for various organizations, watching Marvel movies with her son and taking their new dog, Darwin, on walks.

Michael’s career in Bio Pharm spans for over 20 years in Bio Pharm and the last 10 in Medical education as part of Medical Affairs and Marketing. Currently, Michael position oversees all Peer to Peer interaction. His efforts are now focused on Speaker Programs, KOL Development and Ad Boards. In this role, he harmonized policies and procedures for the pharma and has also developed a streamline process and state of the art system for, advisory boards and speaker bureaus while increasing both internal and external customer satisfaction with the process. Prior to his role in medical education he was in marketing and sales as well as worked clinically as a registered vascular technologist. Michael has also presented at numerous industry meetings as an expert on medical education.

Becky Cavanaugh began her career in both the meetings industry and the Contract Research Organization world in 2002 at a niche company in Cincinnati where she spent five years planning meetings and last served as Manager, Client Management and Business Development . She briefly left the CRO world to expand her experience in the events industry to try exhibit management. It was only six months when she realized it wasn’t for her. In 2007, Becky joined the Global Clinical Education and Strategic Programs team at INC Research. After a number of promotions within the team, she is now the Associate Director, Strategic Programs and leads the Americas region. Becky's role as an Associate Director includes growth and management of the Americas region staff, ensuring successful program management by her team and building organizational capacity to increase work effectiveness and cost efficiencies. In Becky’s spare time (when she isn’t traveling for work-which isn’t very often), she enjoys spending time with her family and friends in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Becky has an extremely supportive husband and a wonderful “mini-me” daughter who’s a high school senior and soon to be studying Stage Management/Theater in college. Becky’s favorite city in the world she’s gotten to visit is Istanbul (with Florence, Italy a close 2nd).

Jocelyne Côté is Managing Director with American Express Meetings and Events. She has been responsible for the global implementation and performance of the Strategic Meetings Management Program for some of the world’s largest Bio Pharmaceutical and Health Care companies. Prior to this position, Jocelyne held various roles within American Express Business Travel, Global Commercial card, and Merchant services. She was an Engagement Director with American Express Consulting. She brings her extensive knowledge of payment options, automated expense management, Pharma transparency, corporate travel and group air to provide strategic, end-to-end global meetings management solutions.

Jocelyne studied Communications at Laval University.

Throughout her career in expense management, Jocelyne has received global recognition for her performance, including four American Express President’s Club Awards.

Rawya Tullgren has been involved in meetings and convention management in the healthcare/pharmaceutical industry for the last 19 years, with extensive experience in international and domestic meeting management, contract negotiations and Healthcare regulatory and compliance managent. Prior to joining Takeda Pharmaceuticals in 2006, Rawya was Lead Meeting Manager at Abbott International, putting her fluency in English, French, Arabic and German to good use.

Rawya accepted the Senior Manager position at Takeda to create a centralized, strategic meetings department.  In her first year at Takeda, she consolidated over 150 meetings with over 20,000 participants yielding savings of $3.66 million. She currently leads an effective, high performing team of meeting professionals ensuring top level quality meeting planning services through the development of consistent, formalized meeting planning processes and procedures in compliance with both internal Takeda policies and PhRMA guidelines.

Rawya’s responsibilities included facilitating the execution of Takeda’s strategic goals through managing the daily operations and budgets of global scientific physicians’ programs, key national sales meetings and group travel. She continuously applies companywide policies and procedures to the procurement of meeting services, in order to drive savings, minimize risk, maximize efficiency and enhance value, in addition to developing quarterly value analysis and cost savings reports to efficiently manage the process of planning meetings and leverage the corporate spend.

As an expert in global operations, Rawya has successfully expanded Takeda’s Meetings Services globally to include Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan and China. She was instrumental in creating a cross-cultural trained global team responding effectively to the company’s continuous global growth.

As a member of Takeda Global Research & Development Senior Leadership Team, Rawya was instrumental in developing a corporate-wide Meetings & Business Travel Policy.  In addition, she has provided support to Office of Ethics and Compliance in developing strategies and guidelines for training and interaction with Health Care Professionals in a changing government regulations and global compliance environment.

Rawya has received multiple Commitment Awards at both Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. She received her BA from Cairo University and her Master of Arts from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She was a member of International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association (IPCAA) and served for one year on the board of IMMPA. She is a member of Healthcare Business Woman (HBA) and participates in meetings with Women in Bio as part of the Takeda organization.