This has been a year of extraordinary disruptions for meeting and incentive travel planners, and of course hotels, destination management companies, and other industry suppliers. And so, as our call for nominations for the 2020 Changemakers went out to readers in April at the peak of the coronavirus, we wondered what would come back to us. It’s hard to make positive change for your organization and your industry in a lockdown; were people consumed with simply getting by?
It didn’t take long to get our answer. Read on to be inspired by people making a difference in large and small ways: creatively supporting their employees through the crisis, executing a zero-food-waste event, building a new mental-health foundation, pivoting to digital (in a week!), bringing whole-person initiatives into the virtual environment, and much more. MeetingsNet salutes the innovators and leaders on our 2020 Changemakers list.
Alicia Aebersold
Chief Communications Officer, American Psychological Association
Faustine Chan
Business Innovation Manager, Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest
Colleen Creighton
Chief Executive Officer, American Association of Suicidology
David D’Eletto
Managing Partner, Meeting Alliance
Desiree Hamilton
Operations Manager, Global Events, Cisco
Dale Hudson, CED
Knowledge and Events Director , IMEX Group
Heather Mason
CEO & Founder, Caspian Agency
Deana Mitchell, CMP, DMCP
Founder, Realize Colorado, a Global DMC Partner
Kate Patay, CPCE
Chief Strategy Officer, Patay Consulting , Chair, SEARCH Foundation
Milton Rivera
Vice President of Global Business Development, American Express Meetings and Events, American Express Global Business Travel
Jackie Suggitt
Stakeholder Engagement Director, ReFED
Ralph D. Weaver
Founding President & CEO, East West Connection
Nancy Blizzard White
Senior Meeting Manager, Planning, Wings Unlimited Inc.
Becky Williams, CMP
Assistant Director, Education and Meetings, Society of Surgical Oncology
Amy Zellmer, SMMC
Vice President Meetings + Incentives, Formerly of GMR Marketing LLC
