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.

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

Born and raised in the south of France, Agnès also lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Grand Case, St. Martin prior to moving to the United States in 1981. She is fluent in French and Spanish and has a working knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese. Her professional background includes owning her own incentive company for over a decade and filling the role of strategic meeting manager in multiple industry sectors, including Life Sciences. For the last 14 years, Agnès has worked for leading agencies, responsible for implementing, growing, and leading International teams and accounts across the globe, delivering programs in over 50 countries.

Agnès joined MCI USA in 2015 to lead the Corporate Meetings & Events division across multiple industry sectors. As a thought leader/subject matter expert in the meetings industry, Agnès is frequently invited as a Subject Matter Expert contributor on SMMP, International & Life Sciences subjects, in addition to serving as an advisory board member for various global hotel brands. Canonica obtained her Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation in 2000, as well as her Certification in Meeting Management (CMM) in March 2008. Agnès is also an active member of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) and currently serving a three-year term on the CIC CMP Governance Commission.

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).

Jeffrey joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in April 2016 as Manager, International Congress Logistics, in the Tampa, FL Global Meetings Management organization. Subsequently, Jeffrey transitioned into the Worldwide Congress Manager role in late 2016. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jeffrey owned and operated his own award winning meeting logistics agency for over fifteen years. As a certified diversified supplier, the company serviced clients in the pharmaceutical, medical, educational, financial and technology industries. Over the years, Jeffrey produced countless meetings, conferences, congresses, incentives and special events in over fifty countries, and spanning six continents.

Jeffrey is a recognized leader in the industry. In August 2014, he earned the Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) certification – a credential recognized globally as a badge of excellence in the meeting, convention, exhibition and event industry. Jeffrey obtained his Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate (HMCC) in 2016. Further, Connect Meeting Magazine named him an honoree in their 2014 “40 under 40” for his leadership and dedication to the industry.

Jeffrey has been a contributing writer to Pennsylvania Meetings + Events Magazine, and has been cited in national publications such as the Associated Press, Connect Meetings Intelligence Magazine, Collaborate Magazine, Corporate Incentive & Travel Magazine, Crain’s New York Business, Meeting Focus Magazine, Midwest Meetings Magazine, and Meeting Professionals International's 2014 Winter Outlook.

Jeffrey was a contributing writer and editor on the 2015-2017 Convention Industry Council’s CMP Item Writing Panel. He also co-led the Event Technology review team for the Convention Industry Council’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) Task Force, Terminology Protocol Renewal Project. Jeffrey has served on the 2014 Advisory Board to the Washington Speakers Bureau, and sat on the 2015-2017 Editorial Advisory Board to Pennsylvania Meetings + Events Magazine.

Jeffrey was raised in the suburbs of historic Philadelphia, always enjoys adventures, including exploring new cultures, and visiting exotic destinations around the globe. He’s a self-proclaimed "foodie" who enjoys cooking, fine wines and craft beers. Jeffrey is a voracious reader, shares his passion for the industry with anyone willing to listen, is always on the go, and always stays focused on the future.

You can follow Jeffrey on Twitter @JeffreyCesari and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Heidi Cocca has been at Merck for over 10 years, working on various aspects of the clinical trial process, including training investigative sites. In 2009, she joined the newly formed meeting management department with a goal to develop, implement, and sustain a new meeting model that produces compliant, cost effective and high quality investigator meetings. Prior to joining Merck, Heidi worked in software development, and now brings that zeal for technology to her current meetings, through digital and hybrid meetings, as well as staying on top of the latest trends such as meeting applications and gamification.

Heidi received her undergraduate degree from Lynchburg College, and now lives outside of Philadelphia, with her husband and two boys.

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.

Marc Crawford is the CEO of Educational Measures LLC. With over 20 years of experience within the live meeting technology industry, Marc’s primary focus is to oversee the strategic direction of Educational Measures and provide oversight of the company’s research and development initiatives. Prior to Educational Measures, Marc spent three years at Keane Consulting Group as a Senior Consultant managing projects and conducting operational analysis for clients. He developed strategies for Fortune 500 clients to streamline company operations and meet financial objectives. Before his position at Keane, Marc worked for Medical Educational Collaborative as a Program Development Manager. His main responsibility included recruitment of pharmaceutical and medical device companies to financially support educational programs. He maintained a duel role as account developer and manager.

Carla Daily began her career at Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2002. Before joining WW Commercial, Carla held various roles in Research & Development. She started as an Administrative Associate in Global Development Operations where she supported Study Strategy & Planning. While in this department Carla enjoyed taking on special projects that included work for the Plavix clinical teams, programs such as Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Tour of Hope, and supporting clinical trial work. In 2003, she was promoted to a Senior Clinical Trial Associate where she introduced a streamlined investigator site selection process and managed investigator meetings for our diabetes franchise. Her passion for events was evident and she was appointed the role of Meetings and Events Planner for R&D senior-level executives. In 2008, her role transitioned into a Technologies and Communications Associate Manager for Global Development & Medical Affairs eventually leading her the Drug Development Learning & Collaboration department in 2009 as an Associate Manager of Collaboration & Learning.

Carla was promoted to a Learning Manager in 2010 and was responsible for delivering high quality learning solutions in the form of live learning events to the R&D Organization. Amongst other accomplishments, she launched the Administrative Learning Curricula that reached beyond R&D into US Commercial, Human Resources and Legal. She also led the R&D New Employee Orientation Program, onboarding over 600 employees to the organization.

In 2015, Carla followed her passion to a six month Congress Manager job rotation in WW Customer Solutions. In 2016, Carla took on the role full-time. She had the opportunity to lead multiple workstreams managing congress operational execution across BMS’ immuno-oncology and specialty portfolio, taking on congresses such as ACR, ASCO and ESMO.

For the past four years, Carla also operates as the Market Outreach Lead on the Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD) leadership team and is an active member of other People & Business Resource Groups (PBRG) within BMS.

Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Carla focused on producing events for private and non-profit organizations. Carla holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband Mike, son Michael, daughter Cameron and their yorkie-poo Tucker.

As the Director of Business Development – Economic Sectors for Destination Canada’s Business Events Canada (BEC) team, Virginie is responsible for leading the development and managing the implementation of BEC’s economic sector strategy. Responsible for increasing overnight visitations to Canada by attracting business events from international markets in alignment with economic sectors identified in Canada’s Trade and Investment Strategy.

Virginie has an extensive background in business development and international operations with 17 years’ experience. She has lived and worked in more than seven countries in Asia, Africa and Europe before moving to Canada in 2010, where she was director of international trade at the World Trade Centre Winnipeg for five years.

In 2015-2016, she was the director of business development at Economic Development Winnipeg, responsible for attracting meetings and conventions business through local influencers as leader of the Bring it Home program. Prior to her relocation to Canada, Virginie spent 11 years working in Africa. She was operations manager of UGACOF Ltd, Uganda (coffee and cocoa processing and exporting company) for four years. Her varied work experience also includes time in Democratic Republic of Congo as commercial, marketing and administrative manager with Transys (IT company) and as a financial administrator with the Belgian Red Cross. Virginie is the Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Manitoba and is a certified International Trade Professional (CITP) through the Forum for International Trade Training.

Virginie holds a Masters of Science from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) in Belgium, and a diploma of Engineering in Agriculture. She is originally from Belgium and has language skills in French, English, Spanish, Dutch and Bahasa Indonesia.

Michael Dominguez is the Senior Vice President for MGM Resorts International providing oversight for all Hotel Sales operations in Las Vegas, Regional and Global destinations.

Michael is actively involved in leadership roles in the Meetings and Events Industry and currently serves as the Chairman on the International Board of Directors for Meeting Professionals International. His other industry leadership involvement includes board positions with: US Travel Association (Executive Committee), Steering Committee for US Travel’s Meetings Means Business Coalition, Starcite Advisory Board, Elite Meetings Advisory Board, PCMA Issues and Trends Taskforce, ASAE Industry Partner Alliance and Convene Green Advisory Board.

Piers Dooley has over 25 years of event operations and meeting planning experience with the Royal Airforce Club in London, U.K., Westin Hotels, Marriott International and Boston College.

Piers’ experience in the hotel industry includes using a collaborative approach to increase key analytics including profitability, customer satisfaction and sales retention. Piers has led teams of up to 300 while planning events ranging from dinners for the British Royal Family to Boston College Football Games.

Piers studied Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management at Brighton University in the UK, takes classes at Boston Collegeand has earned the Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM), an MBA-level executive education for meeting professionals.

Mrs. Joan Esneault joined Encore Boston Harbor in 2017 as Executive Director of Hotel Sales and Catering. Joan’s responsibilities include all sales and catering efforts for the property. She is a hospitality industry professional with over 30 years of experience leading sales teams across the country.

Beginning her career with Marriott Corporation, she served 15 years as Director of Sales in various markets and cities. These included flagship Marriott hotels in New York City, Newport, Rhode Island, Chicago O’Hare, Minneapolis and New Orleans. Joan also has a vast casino resort background, having worked as Vice President of Resort Sales for Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut for 12 years where she was an integral part of the opening of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in 2008. Joan maintains involvement in associations such as Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals, Meeting Planners International, Society for Incentive Travel Executives and Professional Convention Management Association to keep her finger on the pulse of the industry.

With deep roots in the New England region, Joan was born and raised in Westerly, Rhode Island and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Rhode Island College in Special and Elementary Education for teaching. Joan had many successful years in education before following her passion into the hospitality industry. Her husband Edward is from New Orleans and is an Executive Chef with many years of hospitality experience. In her spare time Joan enjoys spending time with family, traveling and cooking with her husband.

Pádraic is Managing Partner at SoolNua, a specialist agency helping destinations, hotels and venues with marketing, strategy and training for the MICE marketplace. His company provides marketing services to SITE and Gilligan currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for the association. Prior to founding SoolNua with his long time collaborator and friend Patrick Delaney, Gilligan was Vice President of Industry Relations at MCI and Managing Director of Ovation, the global DMC founded by Delaney and Gilligan in 1994 and sold to MCI in 2007.

He served as international president of SITE in 2008 and has won many industry awards including DMC Personality of the Year (ADMEI) and Changemaker with US based MeetingsNet. He is a former Trustee of the SITE Foundation and was on FICP’s Hospitality Partner board for 6 years. He blogs regularly at www.padraicino.com

A global strategic meeting professional, Mozelle’s experience spans more than 20 years in the medical education programming arena as well as programming in higher education, publishing and technology. Her career started at Sterling Drug where she was introduced to the world of meeting planning. She later acquired a position at a third-party medical education agency, where she held positions in operations and account management during her 13-year tenure before deciding to venture out as an Independent Planner. Having a passion for medical programming, Mozelle is currently in her third year with Eisai Inc. as a Pharmaceutical Meeting Planner.

A member of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) since 1997, she earned her CMP in 1998, served as President of the WestField Chapter from 2013-2014 and has recently rejoined the chapter’s board of directors as Director of Leadership Development. In 2016, she was invited to be a member of the inaugural MPI-MD Advisory Council whose objective is to support and promote medical meeting professionals through education, career development programs and resources, an exclusive online member community, and private consulting. Mozelle currently serves as a member of the MPI-MD Advisory Council, as well as the Maritz Travel HCP Advisory Council.

Other certifications include Sports, Entertainment and Event Marketing (New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies) and Healthcare Meetings Compliance (MPI and St. Louis University). Mozelle holds a BSBA in general business from Bowling Green State University (Ohio).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Saira Banu Kianes is a Certified Meeting Professional for over 15 years and recently received HMCC certification. She married her husband on her Birthday and he is grateful for the easy remembering dates. Whew!

She is the owner and operator of Banu Event Solutions & Training (B.E.S.T) LLC since 2008. With over 25 years being in the meetings, travel, airline and hospitality industry, Saira’s knowledge is vast and diversified.

B.E.S.T Banu Event Solutions & Training providing all aspects of meetings and events planning, sourcing, tour operation, incentive groups, Congress Management, Global Conferences, and most recently – Yoga retreats to South India. Saira is an expert on pharmaceutical meetings, conferences and tradeshows – Saira have gained client’s trust by keeping a close eye on compliance and PhRMA guidelines and cost saving.

She have planned all types of events and meetings all over the world except Australia and Antarctica. It is on her list ??

As all of us professionals – She have to stay busy.. Can’t sit still .. So she speaks at conferences, constantly connecting people, mentors and trains. As she lives in a University town, she hires junior and senior students on a paid intern basis – mentor them and get them ready for the cruel corporate world and help them find jobs.

Oh, she is also a certified Zumba instructor who teaches Zumba at her conferences for her conference attendees and a LinkedIn junkie..

Saira can be reached via email saira.kianes@gmail.com or 908 507 4015

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.

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.

Passionate about engagement, professionally and personally, Frank has been fortunate to build a career that has provided him the opportunity to do something he truly enjoys.

As Chief Sales Officer at MeetingPlay, his role is to enhance the future of MeetingPlay’s growth including development, tracking, and overseeing the MeetingPlay Brand; Designing and Implementing the MeetingPlay Sales Growth Strategy. In addition, his goal is to develop and build a fabulous team: Work hard, ‘wow’ clients, and provide each associate an atmosphere for personal growth.

His background has been successfully building high performing sales & marketing teams in the ‘engagement’ space, and his specialties include strategic planning, business development & sales; team building, training, coaching, and mentoring. He’s worked at E Group Inc., Burlington Industries, Triad Systems Corp, and IBM. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University in PA with a BSBA in Marketing, and enjoys tennis, golf, the outdoors, cooking, and a love of music. (www.meetingplay.com)

Ryan Mazon is Senior Vice President of Business Development at Educational Measures, a meeting technology and analytics company. He has more than a decade of event technology experience with a primary focus in life sciences and healthcare communications. His experience spans everything from pharmaceutical events (including speaker trainings and investigator meetings) to technology and meeting design. Ryan works with clients all over the world to help them utilize innovative technologies to maximize audience engagement, improve meeting impact, and create remarkable experiences. Ryan served in the military as a Sergeant in the Army and was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq where he received awards and accommodations for his service to our country. Ryan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Grantham University, with a focus in Homeland Security.

Brian began his career 20+ years ago working at the Krisam Group, a hotel sales and marketing company. He joined WorldTravel Meetings & Incentives on-site at Warner-Lambert as a Sourcing Manager in 1999, staying through the Pfizer acquisition.  In 2006, he joined Maritz Travel on-site at Schering-Plough to develop their International sourcing department.

Following Merck’s acquisition of Schering in 2010, he joined the Maritz team on-site at Novartis to develop an international sourcing department there.  He moved to Forest Laboratories, Inc. in November, 2013 as Manager, Global Procurement, Meeting/Conference Sourcing, overseeing the company’s venue sourcing program. Promoted to Senior Manager in 2017, he continues in that role following the acquisition of Allergan.

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.

John Patrick Oroho is a principal of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman in the Life Sciences Compliance, Commercialization and Regulatory Counseling Department. His practice is concentrated in the areas of regulatory compliance with respect to Aggregate Spend, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (“PDMA”), Anti-kickback Statute, False Claims Act, and Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse. Mr. Oroho is a noted expert on pharmaceutical compliance, specifically OIG and state compliance with Sales and Marketing and product distribution. He has written and lectured extensively on these, as well as other life science compliance issues. He has worked with companies under Corporate Integrity Agreements to ensure their compliance with the standards established for pharmaceutical marketing and sales. Mr. Oroho previously served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the PDMA Alliance, a national trade association focused on sample distribution and pharmaceutical marketing and sales compliance. Mr. Oroho has been responsible for the development of Aggregate Spend systems and PDMA-compliant sample tracking systems.

Mr. Oroho is also Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Porzio Life Sciences, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the law firm. He meets regularly with companies to identify sales and marketing issues and to propose solutions that streamline their understanding of acceptable practices and conduct in meeting compliance requirements of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Mr. Oroho previously served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the PDMA Alliance, a national trade association focused on sample distribution and pharmaceutical marketing and sales compliance.

Mr. Oroho has an extensive pharmaceutical regulatory and compliance background. He spent three years as General Counsel for Integrated Pharma Technologies and Computer Systems Services & Consulting, Inc.

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.

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.

Danielle Restaino, CMP, is a Senior Professional Meeting Partner with Genentech’s Meeting & Convention Services team. As a strategic business partner to internal stakeholders, Danielle drives teams to meet business goals and objectives through sales and marketing meetings, product launch meetings, convention related activities, advisory board meetings, clinical trial and other HCP meetings and interactions.

With recognition and a proven track record as a meeting strategist, she leads cross-functional teams, drives to maintain excellent event operational and compliance standards, cost containment strategies, and manages vendor teams to provide excellent pre-planning and onsite production and logistics management.

Previously with Kaiser Permanente’s Corporate Meeting, Danielle has been in the meeting & event planning industry for nearly twenty years. She graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Art History and entered the world of Arts Administration, where she realized her aptitude managing workshops and conferences was destined for a career in the Meetings and Events Industry.

An active industry professional, Danielle served on the Meeting Professional International Northern California Chapter Board of Directors in various roles, including Director of Education, Vice-President of Education, and Vice President of Membership, as well as serving on Meeting Professional International’s Committees. For over six years she co-authored articles for the MPINCC Quarterly Magazine Perspective, continues to be active in MPINCC and the Green Meetings Industry Council, as well serving on hotel and CVB customer advisory panels.

Jennifer Cole is concurrently on the faculty in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College and the Harvard Graduate School of Sustainability. Prior to that, Dr. Cole was on the faculty at Harvard University in Earth and Planetary Sciences, and had been Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Northeastern University for fifteen years. She has also taught at Tufts University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Cole has published extensively in the fields of wetlands, agriculture, and energy education and has written books on natural disasters. She holds a PhD in earth sciences specializing in groundwater geochemistry from Syracuse University. She is currently working on research papers on the sustainability ramifications of meat consumption in China.

She also has a career in the environmental consulting field, serving as expert witness in wetlands cases, and representing town conservation commissions on river and wetland protection act cases. She was senior hydrologist at Weston and Sampson Engineers, Inc., and is principal at her own private consulting firm, Rivers Consulting.

She has given many invited talks, including the US Environmental Protection Agency and The Weston Observatory. She represented Harvard's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the White House on two occasions.

Christian-Claus Roth has been employed at Novartis Pharma since 2001, in different roles of increasing responsibility. After his studies in Business Administration he started his career with the International Pharmaceutical wholesaler GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH and later Celesio AG, in Germany.

From there he moved to the Novartis Pharma affiliate in Berne, Switzerland, where he set up the congress & event department for the Swiss market, shortly later being promoted to the Global Headquarter in Basel with responsibility for the Pain and Urology Areas as International Congress Manager, with additional responsibility later for the Bone area.

Christian now oversees the strategic global Congress & Conventions team focusing on the impact of external regulatory requirements on global medical event management – one of several key areas for which the team is responsible. Additionally he regularly participates as a panel member and speaker at conferences.

Pat is the Sr. Director, Healthcare Compliance, Maritz Travel

Pat is the author of "Breaking the Code to Healthcare Compliance", 1st, 2nd and 3 rd Edition, a health policy resource book for meeting professionals, physicians and manufacturers that addresses the impact of the National Physician Payment Transparency Program: Open Payments (formally the Physician Payments Sunshine Act) and global cross-border compliance. The book is the resource for the Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate program being offered globally through MPI, St. Louis University and the Convention Industry Council CMP-HC certification program.  She is also the Executive Editor of the newly released “MPI CMP Healthcare Training Manual and "The Guide to Successful Destination Management”. Pat is a contributing editor to 5 editions of the CIC Manual. 

The Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate (HMCC) program was designed by Pat and currently has 1,000 recipients representing 16 countries. 

Pat was recently named by Meetings Today as on the 2016 Meetings Trendsetters.  She was recently recognized, for the third time, by Successful Meetings magazine as One of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry. Her honors include being named the first recipient of the International Destination Management Professional of the Year by ADME International, named as One of the Magnificent 7 in the Global Hospitality Industry and was most recently named as One of the 25 Most Influential Women in Business by the St. Louis Business Journal.   Pat was also selected as Meeting Professional of the Year by the MPI-St. Louis Chapter and Event Professional of the Year by ISES-Missouri Chapter.

She is proud of her impact and roots within the Hospitality Industry.   She is past president of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), St. Louis Chapter, Founder and Past President of the International Special Event Society (ISES-Missouri Chapter) and Past President of the Association of Destination Management Executives International (ADME).

She has served as an adjunct Professor at 4 universities and currently Co-chairs the Hospitality Management Industry Advisory Board at St. Louis University's School of Professional Studies and serves as faculty for the Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate.

Fast Five Interview

Debi Scholar is a coach and mentor in Strategic Meetings Management and Virtual / Hybrid meetings and volunteers her time to help corporations, associations, and suppliers. She was a Meetings Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, American Express, and owned her own consultancy, Scholar Consulting Group. In 2013, she accepted the role of Global Leader and Director in Meetings & Events at a major pharmaceutical company working in the Global Strategic Sourcing group.

Debi has authored four books on meetings and events was named one of the Top 25 Women in the Meetings Industry in 2015 and 2016 by Meetings and Conventions Magazine, one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry in 2013 by Successful Meetings Magazine, was the co-chair of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Groups & Meetings Committee, a GBTA Foundation Board Member, named a “Mover and Shaker” of the industry by Corporate & Incentive Travel Magazine, was named a Top 20 Changemaker by Corporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine, and a “Best Meeting Practitioner” by Business Travel News.

Debi has achieved 9 designations, including Global Leadership Professional from Wharton, Certificate in Meetings Management, Certified Meeting Professional, Global Travel Professional, and Digital Event Strategist.

Michael Shannon, CMP, is Director, Business Development, Northeast for Business Events Canada, a division of Destination Canada. His responsibilities include promoting Canada as Meetings and Events Destination from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeastern US.

A thirty+ year veteran of the hospitality industry and graduate of the University of Denver, School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, Michael has spent his career in a variety of hotel operational and sales & marketing positions. Michael has worked for MGM Resorts International, Westin Hotels & Resorts and the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau. In addition, Michael spent over eight years on the intermediary side of the business in a meeting & event planning company.

Active in Meeting Professionals International since 1994, he served on the board of directors and is a Past-President of the New Jersey Chapter. Michael has also Chaired several MPI International Committees and served a three-year term on the International Board of Directors. Honors from the New Jersey Chapter include Chapter Supplier of the Year as well as the recipient of the Meeting Professional of the Year.

Michael has been published in The Meeting Professional, and has presented programs on topics such as: Starting your own Business; Negotiation Skills; Everyday Ethics for the Meeting & Sales Professional and How to Achieve Work Life Balance. Michael has been a Platinum Series Speaker at various MPI Chapters as well as a speaker at MPI International Conferences and served on faculty for MPI’s Institutes program. Michael resides in New Jersey with his wife Michelle and two children, Ashley and Matthew and their beloved dogs, Bella and Scout.

Meredith is an energetic, highly strategic, meetings and travel leader with extensive international experience, predominantly on the buyer side. Her 20 years in the sector spans companies such as Hyatt, Starwood, Expedia, Intel and Merck & Co. In April 2018, Meredith joined FESTIVE ROAD, the world’s leading travel and meetings engagement consultancy as Principal for the Americas region. Directly prior to this she led Merck’s Global Travel, Meetings and Payments program across 72 countries. Meredith has been recognized for her results driven, direct transparent style as well as her ability to challenge the status quo and is a frequent industry speaker, most recently at the ACTE NYC Global Summit.

Kelly is currently an Academy Senior Program Manager at Aesculap, Inc. where she manages Surgeon Training Education Courses and Corporate Meetings. Starting her career in the meeting industry over 25 years ago, she began working for the Merrill Lynch Conference and Training Center Hotel before moving into the healthcare industry where she worked for Merck & Company, Aventis Pharmaceuticals and as an Independent Meeting Planner freelancing for a number of medical education agencies and pharmaceutical companies.

After attending Widener University for Hospitality Administration, Kelly became a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) in 1999 and received her Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM) and Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate (HMCC) in 2013.

An active member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Kelly recently served as the Committee Chair for the chapter’s Education Institute Day and was the recipient of the Shining Star Award and the 2015 Volunteer of the Year Award.

Outside of work, Kelly enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughter’s and during the Summer and Fall months, serves as the Assistant Director and Visual Instructor for the Council Rock High School North Marching Band.

Dan joined AstraZeneca in April 2016 as a Category Partner for Meetings & Events and Market Research. Dan is leading the evolution of these categories through several initiatives such as innovative contracting, strategic 3rd party partnerships, demand management, and process standardization. In 2017, he was awarded the Global Procurement Award for Insight & Innovation for his work in the Meetings & Events category. Prior to AstraZeneca, Dan spent 7 years in consulting with Accenture and Alvarez & Marsal where he developed a broad range of experience across several industries including: Logistics, Manufacturing, Professional Services, and Utilities. Dan currently lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. While not at work, he enjoys staying active through triathlon training, golf, and traveling with his wife

Cerstin leads the dedicated global Healthcare Practice across MCI. A highly skilled meetings and events professional, Cerstin’s career has spanned 30+ years in the meeting industry. With 19 years specializing in the Healthcare sector, she has assisted many leading global pharmaceutical companies in their quest to find the right solution to maximise the impact of their face-to-face engagements.

Originating from a Hotel Management background, Cerstin’s finely honed skills include a broad mix of HR, Sales & Marketing, Accommodation and Food & Beverage Management. Joining MCI in 1995, Cerstin began in the Destination Management field where she managed accounts for corporate clients across a wide range of industry sectors. In 1999, Cerstin established the inaugural Healthcare Practice in MCI, serving global, regional and local companies in the healthcare and life sciences industries. Cerstin’s comprehensive knowledge of these industries led to her nomination as Subject Matter Expert for the MCI Institute (MCI’s in-house training facility). Cerstin regularly shares her knowledge on issues affecting the Healthcare industry, such as compliance, through training sessions and thought leadership engagements.

Cerstin is Global Account Director for several Pharmaceutical Clients where she also heads up the implementation process for SMM programmes.

Denise Torcivia is the Corporate Vice President – Professional Services and the Corporate Compliance Officer for Aesculap Inc. a German owned company which is a member of the B. Braun Group of Companies. Denise grew up in Wayne, Pennsylvania on the Main Line right outside of Philadelphia, PA... She graduated from Bloomsburg University with a degree in Psychology and minor in Business. She holds a CCEP (Corporate Compliance and Ethics Professional) Certificate as well as a LPEC (Leading Professional in Ethics and Compliance) Certificate.

After graduation, Denise spent time working in management in various retail oriented fields. In 1988, Denise began her career with B. Braun Medical; where her focus was in management as a HR generalist in both manufacturing and corporate departments. In 2001, Denise started working for an affiliate of B. Braun, Aesculap Inc. as they moved their corporate offices from San Francisco to Center Valley, PA; where she continued to head up the HR department as well as assumed addition responsibilities of Compliance Officer for the North American Aesculap division. In 2014, Denise was promoted to her current role of Corporate VP – Professional Services / Corporate Compliance Officer / Deputy Risk Officer. Her areas of responsibility are: Sales & Corporate Training / Compliance and Ethics / Academy-Convention-Meetings/ Corporate & Marketing Communication / Inside Sales.

Denise is a member of the Executive Board for Aesculap and reports directly to the President of the North American Division.

She currently lives in Center Valley, PA. She is married with three children. In her spare time she enjoys reading, walking and spending time with her family

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.

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.

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.

Ashley Williams (MBA) is the Vice President of the Global Life Sciences Center of Excellence (LSCOE) at BCD Meetings and Events (BCD M&E). In this capacity, she heads up North America’s operations and account management as well as Global Compliance. Ashley is also responsible for leading the collaboration of BCD M&E’s global team of Life Sciences meetings management experts—through the development of insight rich benchmarking data, and identifying and disseminating best practices globally. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with experience leading teams in Brand Marketing, Commercial Operations, Regulatory, Compliance and Procurement, Ashley’s diverse background in both the pharmaceutical and meetings management industries gives her a unique perspective on elevating the value and strength of partnerships between clients and their service providers.

An authentic servant-leader, Ashley is passionate about developing talent and capabilities through coaching and mentoring. Outside of work, she is also committed to volunteering and to her family, and enjoys escaping from her Raleigh, North Carolina home to the nearby mountains.

Maggie was born in Shreveport, LA and currently lives in Chicago. She graduated from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN with a BS in Marketing. In 2005 Maggie started her meeting planning career with Medtronic as an Associate Meeting Planner. Over the last 12 years, Maggie has climbed the corporate ladder and now manages a team of meeting planners within Medtronic’s CardioVascular Group. Outside of work, Maggie enjoys attending sporting events with her family and friends. She is a big fan of the New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers; however, she will support Chicago teams when they aren’t playing a Louisiana team! Maggie is engaged to be married and has a 14 year old son.