2017 Sees Record Numbers Endorse PCMA’s Status As The Leading Global Meetings Industry Association


NASHVILLE, TN,  January 10, 2018 – PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) announced strong financial growth and record revenue numbers at the final press conference held during its annual Convening Leaders event, taking place in Nashville, TN at the Music City Center this week, January 7-10, 2018.

Reporting on its membership, there are now more than 7,000 Business Event Strategists globally.  More than half of the PCMA membership body joined approximately 4,500 total attendees at this year’s Convening Leaders.

Financially, PCMA’s revenues have also shown record increases to $19 million USD (from $6 million USD in 2006) with partnership activity contributing $6.5 million USD in 2017. Its revenue streams and brands now include Convening Leaders, ICESAP, the Digital Experience Institute and Convene magazine.

The growth of PCMA has been supported by the PCMA Education Foundation, which has also announced record numbers this week, raising  $1.83 million USD from a range of activities during 2017 with $493,000 USD being awarded in scholarships and grants during the same year.

This record success has grown under Deborah Sexton’s leadership as CEO, a position she has held since 2005. In a recently announced move, Deborah Sexton will hand over as President and CEO to Sherrif Karamat, the current COO. Karamat has worked with Deborah since 2005 and originally joined the organization as vice president of sales in 2003. He became COO in 2008. He officially begins his new role as President and CEO of PCMA on January 19, 2018.


For media queries from the Americas, APAC, EMEA, and requests for interviews with Sherrif Karamat, please contact: Meghan Risch, PCMA Chief of Staff, Vice President, Corporate Communications

About PCMA

PCMA, PCMA Foundation and CEMA educate, inspire, and listen, creating meaningful experiences where passion, purpose and commerce come together. We are the world’s largest community for Business Events Strategists, providing senior-level education, networking, and market intelligence for the global business events industry. Our mission is to drive social and economic progress through business events. Headquartered in Chicago, IL PCMA has 17 North American Chapters, regional communities in APAC, EMEA and LATAM, and members in 59 countries. The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA), a PCMA subsidiary, advances strategic event marketing and marketing communications for senior-level event marketers and industry professionals. Visit us at pcma.org.

About PCMA Foundation

The role of the Foundation of PCMA is to support the mission of PCMA through fundraising and grant-giving focused on scholarships, education and research that will advance the business events industry. Annually the Foundation funds over $700K in impact, and since 1985 has funded over 2,500 scholarships, 100 research studies and education programs, and $2.7M in charitable giving.

About CEMA

The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA) is the eminent community for senior event executives, association peers and industry partners and is an integral component of the Professional Convention Management Association’s (PCMA) brand collective. CEMA promotes professional networking opportunities, facilitates peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and drives industry standards. Through strong relationships with strategic partners, CEMA fosters both finding innovative solutions to business issues and continuous focus on members’ career growth. For more information, please visit http://www.cemaonline.com.

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