Now that we’ve heard about the science from Dr. Patel, let’s look at how our industry has been directly affected. We have brought together a panel of industry experts to discuss the different ways COVID has impacted themselves and their teams. The panel will discuss their own journeys since March 2020, and how they intend to move forward, including vaccination requirements, as the uncertainty of the future in the meetings and events industry continues.

EIC Status: Submitted
Domain G: Meeting or Event Design
Clock Hours: 1.0

Moderator: Desirée Knight, CAE, CMP, DES
Senior Director, Education & Meetings
American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA)

Desirée Knight serves as the Senior Director of Education and Meetings for the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA).  She was responsible for a portfolio of global events leading adult education for multigenerational stakeholders with more than 9,000 attendees and 480K sq. ft. of exhibit space.

Desirée is an accomplished executive leader with a passion for life-long learning and understands the importance of creating an inclusive environment for all. Her leadership has been recognized by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Board of Directors as the first Governance Committee Chair.  Her background on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access around biases has been actualized through her volunteer work with the Event Industry Council (EIC).

As an accomplished industry leader, Desirée has achieved numerous awards celebrating her successes.  She has been named the Event Industry Council, Pacesetter in D&I Social Responsibility, twice recognized in Meetings Today Magazine, as the Meeting Trendsetter and named one of the 500 must know event pros by Biz Bash. She has earned her Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executive (ASAE) and is an ASAE Diversity Executive Leadership (DELP) Scholar.  In addition, she is a certified meeting planner (CMP), a digital event strategist (DES) and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.

Speaker: Anthony Maggiore, CMP, CED, DES
Sr. Manager, Meeting Services
HIMSS

As a Sr. Manager, Meeting Services for HIMSS Anthony is responsible for overall Global Conference logistics, food and beverage planning, special events and hotel contracting for more than 90,000 room nights annually. The HIMSS Global Conference attracts 1,400 exhibitors and 45,000 attendees. For HIMSS21, held August 9-13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Anthony was the primary lead on establishing the show’s overall Health & Safety plan, which included a vaccination mandate for all attendees, exhibitors, speakers and HIMSS staff.

Born and raised in Chicago, Anthony’s event career started in Hollywood, when he moved to Los Angeles after college and managed casting events for game shows and reality shows. Missing his Midwestern roots Anthony moved back to Chicago and worked for 8 years as a Sr. Event Manager at Chicago’s McCormick Place. His customer roster included National Restaurant Association, International Housewares Association, Microsoft, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Cardiology, and yes, even HIMSS.

Anthony was named one of Special Event Magazine’s “25 Young Event Professionals to Watch” in 2019 and has recently earned his CED & DES certifications.

Speaker: John S. Gonzalez, CMP
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Houston First Corporation

Speaker: Matt Laws
President & CEO
SafeExpo