Trina Armstrong
Director of Meetings
American Society of Cell Biology

Trina joined the ASCB in1998 and has been the society’s director of meetings since 2003. Her responsibilities include long-term planning, contract negotiations, housing management, banquet event orders, and floor plans; as well as interaction with vendors, exhibitors, and CVBs. She is a member of PCMA's Capital Chapter and previously served on the board of the Chesapeake Chapter (2004-2006). Trina is an active member of CESSE, serving as co-chair of the Meetings and Exhibits Track (Detroit 2008 and Orlando 2009). She has previously served on the Customer Advisory Council for San Francisco (2006-2008) and is currently serving on the CAC for New Orleans.

Session: "Tools You Can Use: Maximizing empowerMINT.com as a Planner Resource"

Scott Crider
Creative Director
Aristotle Interactive

Scott is a digital creative director and interactive marketing specialist with more than 23 years of experience on the leading edge of digital communications. His background includes the development of numerous campaigns that integrate online, offline, and social media for his clients, as well as authoring and publishing two blogs that received nearly a million visitors and have been featured by Time, CNN, and CBS News. Scott, a social media "evangelist," firmly believes that tools such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and blogging have forever changed the way people, brands, and organizations communicate.

Session: "Holy Cr@p! Meetings and the Social Media Revolution"

Joan Eisenstodt
Owner
Eisenstodt Associates, LLC

Joan founded Eisenstodt Associates, a Washington, DC-based meetings and hospitality consulting company in 1981. She brings 35+ years experience to her work with corporations, associations, hotel companies, and DMOs, to facilitate and design meetings, conduct training, conduct departmental audits, negotiate contracts, and serve as an expert witness.

Active in PCMA, MPI, ASAE, and other industry and non-industry organizations, Joan's passions for life-long learning, meeting preparation, risk anticipation and contingency planning, ethical and inclusivity practices, and meeting excellence have been well-recognized by MPI, HSMAI, IACC, and NSA; as an inductee into the CIC Hall of Leaders; and by the PCMA Foundation for lifetime achievement as an educator.

Session: "Black, White, and Shades of Gray: Ethics in Meeting Planning"

Samuel J. Erkonen
Partner
Howe & Hutton, Ltd.

Sam has extensive nationwide litigation experience at state and federal levels and presently serves clients from the hospitality, entertainment, and the not-for-profit industries in the areas of contract negotiations and litigation. He also served as volunteer finance chair for a large 501(c)(3) organization, which provided him with added knowledge of the concerns and problems facing not-for-profit clients.

Sam is past chairman of the trade and professional association committee of the Chicago Bar Association and is a frequent speaker for MPI, PCMA, ASAE, ISES, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other groups in the not-for-profit, meetings, travel, and hospitality industries.

Session: "An Hour of Prevention: Tips for Avoiding Litigation"

Jill Ferguson, CMM
Vice President of Meeting Services
PlanNet

Jill leads PlanNet’s operations team, providing site selection, hotel contract negotiation, registration, and meeting management services. Prior to PlanNet, she honed her meeting experience in sales with Hyatt Hotels, as a director of catering and conference services with Aramark, and as a convention services manager with Starwood. Jill is an active member in PCMA.

Session: "Client and Contractor Synergy: Cultivating Relationships to Deliver Great Meetings"

Paul Flackett
Managing Director
IMEX Group

Paul has been involved in the meetings and incentive travel industry for some 30 years, first as an organizer of conferences and events and then in the media field. From 1987 to 1999, he served as managing director of EIBTM. In 1999, he started his own company "pf.redseven", with clients such as the Croatia Convention Bureau. A member of SITE, he served on the international board of directors and as president. Currently, he serves as managing director of IMEX and as the president of the SITE Foundation. In 2003, he was appointed chancellor of MPI and, in 2004, ICCA awarded him the prestigious "Moises Schuster".

Session: "So Many Choices, So Little Budget: Making Trade Shows Work for You"

Susan Henderson, DMCP, CMP
President & CEO
GEP Atlanta

Susan has a background that includes teaching in high school, fashion retailing, university fundraising, and theme park marketing. This varied experience has prepared her well for the challenges of the hospitality industry.

Susan joined Atlanta Arrangements (now GEP Atlanta) in 1988. She is a past vice chair of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, a former board member of Southeast PCMA, and past president of ADME. Susan serves as a trustee for the Foundation for Hospital Art and is on the groups and meetings committee of National Business Travel Association (NBTA). She won ADME's "Destination Management Professional of the Year" in 2007.

Session: "Maximizing Value: Using DMCs to Increase Your Meetings’ ROI"

Martha Honey, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Center for Responsible Travel (CREST)

Martha Honey, co-founder and co-director of CREST, heads the Washington, D.C. office. She has written and lectured widely on ecotourism, travelers' philanthropy, and certification issues. Her books include "Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?" and "Ecotourism and Certification: Setting Standards in Practice".

Martha created the first-ever Guide to Travel Giving, and organized the first two international conferences on travelers’ philanthropy, held at Stanford University in 2004, and Arusha, Tanzania in 2008. She worked for 20 years as a journalist based in East Africa and Central America and holds a Ph.D. in African history. She was executive director of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) from 2003 to 2006.

Session: "Meetings that Give Back: Travelers' Philanthropy and Voluntourism"

Alyssa Kolat, CMP
Director of Events & Education
National Association of Federal Credit Unions

Alyssa is responsible for 11 major educational events annually at NAFCU—the largest attracting more than 1,200 members from across the nation; along with frequent webcasts and internet-based training sessions. Prior to joining NAFCU, Alyssa was training and development manager at Falmouth Institute. In this capacity, she managed 15 monthly seminars and seven annual conferences. Prior to that, Alyssa spent several years in IT consultant training and management, and has worked in training operations for Pepsi and McKesson. She is a member of AMPs and MPI.

Session: "Client and Contractor Synergy: Cultivating Relationships to Deliver Great Meetings"

Kristin M. Lamoureux, Ph.D.
Director, Int'l Institute of Tourism Studies
The George Washington University

Kristin's duties include the oversight of all of the institute’s activities—including the professional education program and all grants/contracts, such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance. She is also an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Additionally, she is involved in several projects focusing on tourism in developing countries of Mali, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, and Jordan.

Kristin began her education in Ecuador and has served as a consultant for USAID, the World Bank, the U.N. World Tourism Organization, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ecotourism Society, and Conservation International, among others. Her primary focus areas include sustainable tourism development, destination management, and tourism workforce development. She has recently been quoted in several articles pertaining to her work in volunteer tourism—including Time, Condé Nast Traveler, The Globe and Mail, and The Washington Times.

Session: "Meetings that Give Back: Travelers' Philanthropy and Voluntourism"

Rhonda Marko, DMCP, CMP, CMM
President & CEO
Destination Nashville

Rhonda has a unique approach to people and destination management. Her early career includes hotel convention services coupled with nine years with three of the country’s leading destination management companies.

In 2007, Women’s Business Enterprise Council named Rhonda as Nashville’s "Woman Entrepreneur Of the Year" and, in 2009, ADME selected Rhonda as the "Destination Management Professional of the Year." Presently, she serves as immediate past president of ADME, commissioner of transportation on CIC's APEX Commission, and on the domestic partners advisory board of Global Events Partners.

Session: "Maximizing Value: Using DMCs to Increase Your Meetings’ ROI"

Garland L. Preddy, CGMP
Director of Special Events
United States Marshals Service

Garland retired in late 2007, after 30 years of planning events for the federal government. She returned to the government in early 2008 and continues to use her expertise in planning and executive successful government events.

Garland has taught classes to various audiences on how to do successful events with the government, as well as government ethics, for the past ten years. She teaches the preparatory class for the Certified Government Meeting Professional offered by SGMP, also teaches at The George Washington University, and was an adjunct professor teaching conventions and meetings at George Mason University.

Session: "Working with Uncle Sam: The Challenges and Rewards of Government Meetings"

Christine “Shimo” Shimasaki, CMP, CDME
Managing Director
empowerMINT.com

With more than 15 years of experience in the destination marketing industry, Shimo facilitates the overall business development goals and objectives of DMAI's empowerMINT.com. She joined DMAI after serving as executive vice president and chief strategy officer for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (ConVis). During her tenure at ConVis, she led every division, including convention center sales, hotel meeting sales, marketing, business development, information technology, and operations.

Prior to ConVis, she held positions with several Marriott hotels and resorts, including director of sales. Shimo has distinguished herself in the industry as a recipient of the TWIN Tribute to Women & Industry in 1998 and winner of the Salesperson of the Year 1995 Gold Key Award, a recognition by the San Diego Hotel Motel Association.

Session: "Tools You Can Use: Maximizing empowerMINT.com as a Planner Resource"

Natasha Tomé
Head of Marketing
Dubai Convention Bureau

Natasha's varied and successful career in the meetings industry spans 15 years. Beginning her career in Canada with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, she has gone on to hold positions with the ICCA head office in Amsterdam and more recently can be found in the Middle East heading up the marketing team for the Dubai Convention Bureau. Natasha is an active member of MPI and is on the board of the ICCA Middle East Chapter.

Session: "So Many Choices, So Little Budget: Making Trade Shows Work for You"

Richard Vaughan, CDME, CTA
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Metro Tucson Convention &Visitors Bureau

Rick is tourism professional with 33 years of experience—including 23 in sales and marketing for Marriott, Sheraton, and Westin hotel brands. He has been in his current position with MTCBV for 10 years, where he is responsible for $7 million budget and oversees all sales, marketing, advertising, public relations, convention services, creative services, and Web site development. Rick serves as chairman of DMAI's sales and marketing council. He is a member of ASAE, MPI, PCMA, American Marketing Association, the Southern Arizona Lodging and Resort Association, Southern Arizona Attractions Alliance, Tucson Chamber of Commerce, and the Tucson Ad Federation; and is a board member of Pima County Tourism and Sports Authority, as well as the Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance.

Session: "Tools You Can Use: Maximizing empowerMINT.com as a Planner Resource"

Brad Weaber, CMP
Executive Vice President, Event Services
SmithBucklin

Brad is a 25-year meetings industry veteran and joined SmithBucklin in January 2009, where he is responsible for the consolidated company’s three convention, trade show, and event management service units. Before joining SmithBucklin, Brad served as executive vice president and chief customer officer for Experient, Inc./Conferon where he oversaw the sales and account management division. He held numerous leadership positions during his 18-year tenure.

Additionally, Brad held a variety of hotel management positions early in his career. He was a two-time seated president of the Capital Chapter of PCMA and currently serves on the board of trustees for the PCMA Foundation, the Starwood customer advisory board, and Las Vegas customer forum board. Brad is an active member of ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, as well as IAEE.

Session: "So Many Choices, So Little Budget: Making Trade Shows Work for You"