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CHICAGO, IL, July 31, 2017 – U.S.-based Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has acquired Incentive, Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific (ICESAP), the two organizations announced today.
Based in Singapore, ICESAP, with almost 700 members in 15 plus countries, provides education, career development and networking for corporate, agency and supplier professionals in the US$200 billion Asia Pacific (APAC) business events sector.
“Today PCMA already has strong and valued relationships with prominent organizations in the APAC region,” said Deborah Sexton, PCMA President and CEO. “The addition of ICESAP further strengthens our endeavors to enable industry collaboration and deliver superior education to this important region.”
ICESAP will continue to operate in the region under the ICESAP brand and PCMA will retain the current ICESAP staff and Singapore office headquarters, led by President Nigel Gaunt.
“I am delighted with PCMA’s acquisition of ICESAP, it represents the best possible future for our Society. ICESAP will continue on delivering on our commitment to agency accreditation, member education and most importantly, advocacy for the benefits the sector brings to the businesses and economies of Asia Pacific. A stronger ICESAP under PCMA is a win-win and will define our actions in the years ahead. For me personally, it is validation of the investment of time & money I have made over the past four years in establishing what I felt was needed for our industry in Asia Pacific ” said Nigel Gaunt Founder & President of ICESAP.
The move supports PCMA’s goal to straightaway bring the highest level education to APAC. ICESAP’s certificate in Incentive, Conference and Event Management, a five-module online distance-learning program created in association with William Angliss Institute, is highly regarded in the industry.
One of ICESAP’s key objectives is strengthening the role of intermediary agencies across Asia Pacific. Earlier this year, ICESAP launched the Agency Accreditation Scheme, a new accreditation supporting industry professionalism. The program ensures agencies operate at the highest possible standards by meeting or exceeding the Code of Conduct and prescribed Best Practices guidelines stipulated in the scheme.
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About Incentive, Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific
The Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific was established in 2014 to bring together people working with or for the Incentive Travel, Conference & Business Events sectors across the Asia Pacific region. It is unique in the fact it has approximately one third of its members are customers under ICESAP’s Corporate Member category, the other two thirds work in Agencies (Agency Members) or in the supply chain (Partner Members)
ICESAP serves all the markets of Asia Pacific which are inter-dependent as a source of, or location for the IC&E projects which in 2016 relied on the markets within Asia Pacific as the source of over 80% of the sectors US$200+ billion value. www.icesap.org
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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