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CHICAGO, IL – Sherrif Karamat, CAE, President and CEO, PCMA and CEMA today announced the Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA) 2025-2026 Advisory Board of Directors.
Under its direction, CEMA will continue to create industry-leading educational content and high-impact professional networking opportunities, while driving groundbreaking initiatives and experiences to support the advancement of the global events industry.
“This dynamic group of industry leaders will play a key role in guiding CEMA’s mission to drive innovation and excellence as we work to deliver new knowledge, new tools, and new avenues to succeed, grow, and have impact within the community,” said Karamat. “Their continued contributions and expertise will help maintain the momentum and success of CEMA’s initiatives.”
2025-2026 CEMA Advisory Board members:
Chair
Gary Murakami, GTP, GLP, CMP, CMM, DES
VP, Global Sales and Industry Relations, Teneo Hospitality Group
Vice Chair
Bridgette Birdie
Senior Director, Global Events and Outreach, Moody’s
Immediate Past Chair
Amy Walter
Head of Global Events, Atlassian
Newly elected Advisory Board Members:
Michael Barnett, CEO, InGo
Katie Batten, CMP, MTA, Director, Strategic Events, Customer Portfolio, Okta
Kathleen Castaillac, Senior Director, Regional Cisco Live and New Market Opportunities, Cisco
Laliv Hadar, Vice President, Marketing & Brand, Invision Communications
Rodney Hart, Vice President, Events, Rainfocus
Leslie Hasvold, Senior Director, Global Event Management & Strategy, Illumio
Travar James, Vice President, Events & Industry Partnerships, BoomPop
Ben Nazario, Chief Growth Officer, MC2
Sarina Patel, Executive Director, Global Events, NCR Voyix
Richard Steinau, Senior Vice President, Bellwether
Mercedes Williams, Associate Director of Corporate Sales, Visit Houston
Returning Advisory Board members for second and final term:
Heather Schneider, CMM, CMP, DES, Global Director, Events + Experiences, Celonis
Jeremy Youett, Head of Proprietary Events, Atlassian
Jessica Colmenares, Director of Sales, Worldwide Accounts, Hilton
Kara Wooten, Director, Global Partner Engagements, Dell Technologies
Lisa Logan, Senior Program Manager, Global Events, Cisco
Paula Grayson, Executive Vice President, Client Services Delivery & Operations, Opus
For media inquiries from the Americas, APAC, EMEA and LATAM, 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 $900K in impact, and since 1985 has funded over 2,500 scholarships, 100 research studies and education programs, and $2.7M in charitable giving.About PCMA
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