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Chicago, IL – PCMA and CEMA president and CEO Sherrif Karamat, CAE today announced the 2024 CEMA Advisory Board comprised of senior event marketing executives from marquee brands. Working collaboratively with PCMA leadership, the CEMA Advisory Board will provide guidance and support as the CEMA community continues to create industry-leading educational content and high-impact professional networking opportunities, while driving groundbreaking thinking to help advance the global business events industry.
Effective January 1, 2024, the Executive Officers serving a one-year term include:
Chair: Amy Walter
Head of Global Event Strategy, Atlassian
Vice Chair: Gary Murakami
Vice President, Sales & Industry Relations, Teneo Hospitality Group
Secretary: Richard Steinau
Senior Vice President, Bellwether
Immediate Colleen Bisconti
Past Chair: Vice President, Global Events & Experiences, IBM
Newly elected leaders serving a two-year term include:
Jessica Colmenares, Director of Sales, Worldwide Accounts, Hilton
Paula Grayson, EVP, Client Services Delivery and Operations, Opus Agency
Nicola Kastner, Founder, The Event Strategist
Heather Schneider, Manager, Event Operations, Tyler Technologies, Inc.
Jeremy Youett, Senior Director, Corporate Events and Sponsorships, Smartsheet
The following leaders are serving the final year of a two-year term:
Leslie Hasvold, Senior Director, Global Event Management & Strategy, Illumio
Brian Mason, Senior Director of Strategic Events, Salesforce
Jodi Morrison, Vice President Operations, Lenos Software
Sara Straw, Director, Strategic Events, RingCentral
Several existing Members at Large will remain on the Advisory Board for an additional year to carry out the work of a strategic plan that was established last year:
Courtney Bales, Director & Chief of Staff | Business Management, Global Events, Oracle
Bridgette Birdie, Senior Director, Global Events, Moody’s RMS
Kathleen Castaillac, Global event marketing leader
Stefanie Maragna, Global event marketing leader
Ben Nazario, Chief Growth Officer, MC2
Dan Shuman, Senior Director, B2B Strategic Initiatives, Global Sales Organization, Marriott
“As we embrace the opportunities of the current year, our commitment remains to focus on the ever-changing event landscape by exchanging best practices and innovative thinking,” said Karamat. “The Advisory Board exemplifies CEMA’s outstanding community of event executives and is ready for ideation and collaboration to grow and deliver tremendous impact for the corporate events industry.”
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 PCMA’s 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.
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 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. 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. 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.About PCMA
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