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Bruce MacMillan appointed Chief Operating Officer to Lead Recovery Discovery
To support continued activation of PCMA’s global business events recovery plan – Recovery Discovery, PCMA President and CEO Sherrif Karamat, CAE, today announced the appointment of Bruce MacMillan as Chief Operating Officer effective immediately.
After 30+ years in the business events industry, Mr. MacMillan joined PCMA a year ago as Chief Marketing Officer providing executive leadership collaboration for the events, publications and marketing/communications teams. During that time PCMA realized 25-50% audience engagement increases across its omnichannel communications portfolio. Bruce is also the architect of Recovery Discovery – PCMA’s global business events industry recovery plan.
“In addition to serving as MPI’s president and CEO during the 2008-09 recession, Bruce has led transformational industry undertakings through his role at Tourism Toronto (post-SARS recovery plan) and with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games bid”, said Sherrif Karamat CAE, PCMA president and CEO. “The global business industry needs a pathway to its next normal and PCMA is the only organization with a plan to help business events industry stakeholders thrive through the pandemic and beyond. Bruce’s focus will be on bringing that plan to life for our members, partners and audiences everywhere.”
As part of the organizational update, Robert Haas has been named Chief Technology Officer and operational leader of PCMA’s technology and business intelligence infrastructure, reporting to Mr. MacMillan, ensuring that PCMA’s digital backbone provides the essential audience insights and partner opportunities for the business events industry’s omnichannel future.
Karen Bolinger, Managing Director of PCMA’s APAC operations, and a soon to be announced leader for PCMA’s EMEA operations, will now report directly to Sherrif Karamat.
“As challenging as the effects of the pandemic and related economic fallout have been for our industry, we have to look at the opportunity we have in front of us”, said Mr. MacMillan. “The business of human connections has never been more valuable and more needed than it is right now. Our Recovery Discovery plan provides the essential insights around participant engagement, business models and reskilling in order to help business events stakeholders everywhere be successful in our industry’s next normal.”
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About Bruce MacMillan
Bruce MacMillan has more than 30 years of experience in the global business events and tourism industry. His past leadership roles include CEO of Meeting Professionals International and at Tourism Toronto, along with over ten years destination marketing and development experience at Tourism Vancouver. He also developed and led Vancouver, Canada’s successful national bid for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
About Recovery Discovery
Recovery Discovery is PCMA’s comprehensive ongoing campaign of research, respelling, event experimentation and education to help PCMA members and global business events stakeholders navigate their businesses and careers to a place where business events professionals, organizations, brands and communities will thrive through the pandemic and beyond.
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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