Elite Meetings Advisory Board

Amanda Armstrong, originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs. After working for a newspaper for a year in Santiago, Chile, she accepted a stateside logistics position with INTRAV, an international travel company. After four years on the road as a travel director, she became a program director in product development to research and operate programs in Africa, Holland, and Belgium.

Armstrong transitioned into event management at a consulting firm in Clayton, Missouri. After a steep two-year learning curve in operating large, domestic educational training events, Enterprise Rent-A-Car hired her to head their Corporate Meetings Department at their headquarters in St. Louis in 2007.

Since then she has procured more than 30 national meetings, operated over 40 large meetings, and survived the largest of the lineup—the four-day rental branch-manager meeting for 7,300 attendees.

Louise Barnes is the founder of Tred-Lite, a consulting firm specializing in helping organizations become more sustainable with a focus on environmental responsibility, economic growth, and social awareness. The firm provides consulting and project management services in the areas of corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy, program development and management, and reporting. Barnes is one of a handful of consultants in the US who has achieved Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) certification.

In her previous experience as director of corporate events for VMware Inc. Barnes was responsible for the strategic planning and integrated program approach to VMware’s industry trade show, launch, and VMworld events.

Prior to joining VMware, Barnes spent eight years at Schwab Institutional as director of client education & events. Her background also includes a position as senior event manager for Carlson Marketing Group, where her corporate accounts included Oracle and Varilux.

Oliver Bonke, senior vice president sales & marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., leads the sales and marketing arm of Starwood’s Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) division, which encompasses more than 240 hotels and resorts in 60 countries. Based in the divisional headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Bonke oversees the global sales, brand marketing, brand management, revenue management, distribution marketing, public relations, and customer contact center functions.Oliver Bonke, senior vice president sales & marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., leads the sales and marketing arm of Starwood’s Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) division, which encompasses more than 240 hotels and resorts in 60 countries. Based in the divisional headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Bonke oversees the global sales, brand marketing, brand management, revenue management, distribution marketing, public relations, and customer contact center functions.

Bonke joined Starwood in 1989 and rapidly progressed through his career in sales and marketing across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Previously he served on Starwood’s leadership team in Singapore for four years, where he became senior vice president sales & marketing and saw the division through unprecedented growth. Before embarking on the Asian continent, Bonke served for four years as managing director and chief marketing officer for ArabellaStarwood Hotels & Resorts, a hotel management company and joint venture between Starwood Hotels and Schoerghuber Corporate Group, based in Munich, Germany.

A graduate of Harvard Business School, Advanced Management Program, Bonke is fluent in English and German and has a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and sociology from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana.A graduate of Harvard Business School, Advanced Management Program, Bonke is fluent in English and German and has a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and sociology from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bonke is an active member of several tourism-related affiliations, such as the Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE) and the marketing board of directors of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Jamie Bruce returned to Kerzner International as the senior vice president, sales and revenue management for Kerzner International Resorts Inc. in 2006. In this role he is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of all sales and revenue management efforts for the Paradise Island operation, including Atlantis, One&.amp;Only Ocean Club, and Harborside at Atlantis.

A hospitality industry veteran, Bruce had previously been with Kerzner from 1994 to 1998. In the interim, he served as vice president sales and marketing for Coral Hospitality in Naples, Florida, a full-service hospitality management firm with a portfolio of 35 properties throughout Florida and Georgia.

Bruce has also held management posts with other KSL Resorts at Grand Wailea Resort & Spa in Maui, Hawaii, and Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami. His hospitality career began with the Hyatt Hotels Corporation serving in a variety of sales positions at properties in Washington, D.C.; Virginia; Atlanta; and Hawaii.

Bradley Ford serves as director, clinical marketing and professional education for Avinger Inc., a medical device company engaged in developing catheter-based technologies for treating vascular disease. Ford also holds a position as executive director of strategic partnerships for the Technology Innovations in Plastic Surgery (TIPS) foundation. Its core group of Stanford University–based physicians created this educational foundation with the goal of bringing industry, physicians, and the investment community together to discuss innovative ideas and concepts to meet the needs of plastic surgeons and patients.

Prior to his current role, Ford was director of marketing and customer programs at Pathway Medical Technologies Inc. where he providing sales training, physician education, and market development programs for a sales force of 65 sales consultants. Before Pathway, Ford managed physician training, field-level referral marketing programs and effective sales training programs at FoxHollow Technologies Inc.

Ford’s background also includes extensive event management experience with major incentive travel management corporations and boutique event-planning firms such as Maritz Travel, MeetingsPlus.com and Woodberry Events.

A procurement specialist with Synthes, Glenna Fulks’ career began as an aide to Mike DeWine, the lieutenant governor of Ohio who later became a United States senator. She left the political arena to become a global meetings manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where she spent much of her time in international locations planning events for the telecommunications industry.

Seven years ago she moved to the pharmaceutical industry, where she currently sources at least 65 programs a year, performs site visits, and handles contracts for all meetings.

The best part of her job, Fulks says, is that she’s able to maintain her working relationships with vendors she has known for years. “The chance to participate in such an exciting venture with Kelly Foy, the Elite Meetings team, and the other talented members of the Advisory Board is a rare opportunity,” Fulks says.

With more than 17 years in the hospitality industry, Michael Greto was recently promoted to the Coca-Cola Company’s Sports & Entertainment Marketing division to manage golf strategy, relationships, and activation of the company’s golf properties. These include Pebble Beach Resorts; Tournament Players Clubs courses across North America; the First Tee; and the PGA Tour, including the Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the season-ending event. In his previous role with Coca-Cola over the last nine years, Greto also managed national customer hospitality events, meetings, and incentive programs.

Before joining Coca-Cola, Greto led business development for McGettican Partners, now Maritz Travel, where he established the company’s Southeast presence. He previously worked for MGR Food Services, the exclusive food service provider for the Georgia World Congress Center, Georgia Dome, and Centennial Olympic Park. As part of his job, he ran corporate meetings and events at the convention center.

Greto serves as a member of the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board and chairs the Programs & Education committee for the SITE Southeast Chapter. He is also an active member of PCMA and a member of the Meetings Competitive Advantage Forum (MCAF), a corporate benchmarking group focused on information and best-practice sharing with 20 Fortune 50 companies.

Greto’s other leadership and volunteer roles have included work with the Atlanta History Center, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Sales Club for the Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola, Executives for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Hands on Atlanta, and the Chastain Park Conservancy.

James W. Hensley began his career in the travel industry in 1972, working for a Chicago-based incentive company. In 1981 he formed his own marketing consulting business, with Allied Travel France among his clients. In 1989 he purchased Allied Travel France and devoted all of his time to the destination management business. Under his guidance, the business, now called Allied Europe, has increased tenfold and has expanded from one office in Paris in 1998 to seven today, located in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Monaco, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2007 Hensley acquired PRA Destination Management, which includes 20 franchise offices across the United States. Allied International, parent company to Allied Europe, Allied Arabia, and PRA Destination Management, Inc., provides DMC services on three continents, in seven countries, and over 60 destinations—making Allied International one of the largest destination management companies worldwide.

Carmelina Iannarone, a native of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, graduated from Concordia University with a bachelor of commerce degree. She began her career in the hotel industry in Mexico some 18 years ago, and has held various sales positions with a series of prestigious hotel chains including Camino Real Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels (Mexico), and Le Meridien.

In 2003, Iannarone joined the Spanish hotel company, Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts, and currently holds the position of director of group sales for the Latin America market. Sol Melia has over 300 hotels in 30 countries on four continents, and markets seven different individual brands. As part or her responsibilities with the Sol Melia hotel chain, Iannarone and her Latin America–based team look for business in the Latin America group market for Sol Melia’s group hotels. Fluent in four languages, she earned her CMP industry certification in 2006 and is very excited to be part of the EMAB.

Floortje Jeukens, corporate services director for Nike’s European division, leads the visioning and strategic planning process for the five departments that comprise the Nike Corporate Services business function. Her duties include ensuring that individual department planning is integrated with other departments and that they reflect the vision, goals, and objectives of Nike.  She also handles facility services, travel service and security, procurement, and risk management.

After graduation from the Hotel Management School in Maastricht in 1994, she spent six years with Le Meridien hotels throughout the Netherlands in various roles. She then decided to explore the world and spent the next ten years outside of the Netherlands as general manager of Le Meridien hotels in Warsaw, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Juan-les-Pins, France. After being responsible for implementing LEAN operations programs for Starwood Hotels in Northern Europe, she planned and directed the opening of the Sheraton Bratislava hotel in Slovakia. Her position with Nike returned Floortje to her Netherlands home.

Jennifer Leto serves as senior meeting planner at Hess Corporation, a Fortune 100 company. The midsize New York–based corporation takes a fully integrated approach to the exploration, production, and refining of oil and gas, and maintains operations in 20 countries around the world. Leto strategically plans and executes high-level corporate events and meetings throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, including board of directors meetings, executive retreats, and senior leadership conferences.

Responsibilities in her position include site search and selection, contract negotiations, budget preparation and management, logistics coordination, vendor negotiation and supervision, participant coordination, and corporate communications coordination. Prior to joining Hess Corporation in 2003, Leto served as an event coordinator with Morgan Stanley for three years, after spending eight years as a wedding planner on Long Island.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to engage with many talented professionals in the industry and collaborate on ways to challenge industry standards in order to reach our maximum potential,” Leto says.

Daniel Lozano has been involved in the hotel industry since 1980, holding positions in a breadth of departments, as resident manager, general manager, project director, vice president operations Asia Pacific, executive vice president Asia Pacific, and now, as senior vice president with the Melia brand. His career has spanned such companies as Hilton, Westin, Ritz, InterContinental, and Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts, Worldwide: Panama, Mexico, Indonesia, China, Thailand, and Spain. His professional memberships include such organizations as Skal, Chaine des Rotisseurs, Rotary Club, and Global Hotelier’s Club.

A native of Buffalo, New York, David J. Manzella attended the State University College at Buffalo. Shortly after graduation, David moved to Orlando, Florida to pursue his career in the hospitality industry. After a brief time in the educational field, David moved into a sales roll with the Omni Rosen Hotel. From there, David quickly progressed up the industry ladder with senior and leadership roles with The Walt Disney World Resort and Hilton Hotels, both located in Orlando, Florida.

After 13 years in Orlando, David accepted a leadership role with the world’s largest resort, The Venetian and the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as the Regional Director of Sales. Recently, David moved into a new realm as the Vice President of Group Sales with Posadas Hotels and Resorts, a leading Latin America hotel company. In this position, David oversees multiple luxurious hotels and resorts throughout Mexico and South America featuring the brands of Fiesta Americana, Live Aqua, and Caesar Park and Business Hotels. David still resides in Las Vegas and is active with many industry boards and hospitality initiatives.

Dave is responsible for the brand experience delivery across Starwood’s six full service brands in the North America Division. He also directs the development, execution and evaluation of all brand and tactical marketing communications, partner marketing strategies and public relations for the company’s North American hotels. Additionally, he oversees the field marketing organization; a team of sixty five field based marketing professionals who focus on online and offline initiatives that drive revenue back to the 520 hotels they work for within the division.

Marr joined Starwood in January 2001 as regional vice president of sales and marketing to spearhead their sales and marketing efforts for the ten New York City properties, then took on the same responsibility for the thirty five hotels in the mid-Atlantic region in 2003. In July 2005, he became vice president of sales and field marketing, North America, adding the field marketing role to his previous duties.

Prior to Starwood, Marr spent over 12 years with Marriott International, where he served as market director of business strategy for several of the company’s hotels in New York, as well as director of sales and marketing for the New York Marriott Marquis. Prior to Marriott, he worked for Hilton Hotels Corporation for over 5 years in New York City at the Waldorf=Astoria, New Jersey, Boston and Washington, DC.

He is a member of the marketing council for the Travel Industry Association of America, the advisory council for Elite Meetings International, and is a past board member of the Hotel Association of New York City.

Marr is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, and currently resides in Ridgefield, Connecticut with his wife and three daughters.

Joost de Meyer, chairman and CEO of First Incentive Travel Inc., was born in the Netherlands. He worked with Holland America Line, then began 25 years within the Dutch travel trade, where he concentrated on sales and marketing, mainly in management positions for various Dutch tour‑operators. In 1997, he moved to Florida and founded Florint Vacations, a property management company for vacation homes in the Orlando area. Later he became a partner in First Incentive Travel, and, at the beginning of 2000, he and his wife Iris bought the company. In September 2009, they added First Incentive Travel International to their portfolio, so that along with working with international groups visiting the US, they now offer outgoing travel services for American groups that want to hold incentives and meetings abroad.

Joost was named Member of the Year at the Site International Conference 2005 held in Toronto. He is an active participant on the Site Florida board, and a member of the International Board of Directors of Site since January 2007. He achieved his CITE (Certified Incentive Travel Executives) Certification in 2007. He is also an MPI member and received his CMM (Certified Meeting Manager) Certification in 2005.

Kelly Morris, manager of conferences & events at FamilySearch, began her career in New York ad agencies working on Reebok, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and the new business team. She moved to the client side and has managed marketing and events for the past 18 years.

Following positions with high-tech companies in various global marketing and event positions, she joined Burton Group in 2006 as director of marcom/events. In this position, she implemented a global mar/com and event plan in addition to managing all design and marketing for corporate and event initiatives. She led her team of event managers as they produced NA & EU events.

In her current role, she manages the production of the annual user conference as well as the rest of the event portfolio. She has a keen interest in technologies and best practices for digital marketing and social media, and integrates them into marketing and events whenever possible.

Elisa Novoa enjoys more than 15 years of experience in the events industry. She spent her early years managing corporate functions for McKinsey & Co., followed by six years at Maritz Travel Company, where she specialized in major sporting events. After a year at Compaq, she came to Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., where she creates unique and memorable programs for Schwab clients and employees.

Environmental awareness lies at the forefront of Novoa’s many passions. She is currently focusing on creating and implementing green meeting guidelines for the events department at Charles Schwab. As part of this initiative, Novoa is tapping into resources such as the Green Meeting Industry Council and best practices of corporate meeting colleagues at various Fortune 500 companies.

Novoa’s work has taken her to numerous destinations across the globe, most recently managing an employee recognition event in South Africa.

Before joining Cisco Systems Inc. as the senior global meetings & events manager, Carolyn Pund worked at several high-tech telecom and networking companies in Silicon Valley throughout the past 25 years. Her roles touched everything from travel and procurement to facilitating corporate meetings and marketing events.

Pund holds two leading industry certifications. She earned her CMP in 1996, and was part of the inaugural CMM class of 1998. In 1999, she cofounded MCAF (Meetings Competitive Advantage Forum), a corporate best-practices sharing team comprised of 20 Fortune 50 companies.

Pund has served on several advisory boards over the years encompassing event technology, meeting management, hospitality, economic development, client boards, and cause-based charities.

Eric Rozenberg, CMM, CMP, is president of Swantegy, a European company designing meetings that increase the business performance of corporate clients. For more than 15 years, Eric has been working for corporate clients in various industries, and his company has run about 400 projects in more than 50 countries worldwide. He holds a masters degree in international management sciences from Warocqué Business School, an executive master in marketing and advertising from Solvay Business School, and has completed executive programs from INSEAD and MIT - Sloan School of Management. He currently serves as immediate-past-chairman on the international board of directors of MPI, on the board of the Weizmann Foundation for Sciences in Belgium and has recently been appointed non-executive chairman of Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings & Events Portfolio.

Lisa Schelle’s 17 years of industry experience includes the past 5 years at Nike Inc., where she leads the Global Meetings & Events (GME) department, Nike’s corporate resource for off-site meetings and events. Schelle is responsible for creating and driving the strategic vision and business planning, in addition to managing the department’s operations, budget, and staff. The GME team manages the sourcing and contracting of group hotel business, in addition to planning and managing worldwide meetings and events including: leadership meetings, sales meetings, product launches, media events, athlete hospitality, and logistics for major sports events.

Prior to Nike, Schelle worked at Ford Financial & Ford Motor Co. as the global events/internal communications manager supporting the CEO and senior leadership’s strategic initiatives. In addition to her 9 years in corporate meetings, she has worked in the nonprofit sector as marketing manager for the GLNA, an international tourism marketing organization in Chicago, and as meeting coordinator for the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

Darell Stokes serves as a global category partner for meeting & events at Symantec Corporation, a world leader in data security, storage, and systems-management solutions. In her position, Stokes is responsible for the overall strategic vision and business process globally, drives third-party supplier relationships, and facilitates worldwide travel for global meetings, incentive events, leadership meetings, and consumer product launches, ranging from 25 to 5,000 travelers. Responsibilities also include the procurement aspect of meetings and events as it relates to compliance, risk management, insurance, and contract language. She also facilitates the transient NAD hotel program.

Prior to joining Symantec, Stokes spent more than two decades with Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Her career began in hotel reservations, and included promotions to human resources, and sales, including over ten years in the GSO office as global account director serving top-volume accounts.

The opportunity to serve on the Elite board, with this team of professionals, is exciting and educational, and truly enhances ones professional strength in the industry! It is through our industry peers that we shine the brightest.

With nearly 30 years of hotel experience, Gus Vonderheide has worked in both operations and sales. From his beginnings as a convention service houseman to his current position as vice president of group sales, he has had exposure to numerous departments.

Vonderheide’s first director of sales position took place at the Frontenac Hilton in St. Louis, Missouri. He joined Hyatt Hotels in 1994 as a director of sales in Louisville, Kentucky; followed by positions in Dearborn, Michigan; and Washington, DC. In 2000 he joined the corporate sales division and became director of Hyatt’s western worldwide sales force.

In June of 2007, he was promoted to vice president sales – group. He now has complete responsibility for Hyatt’s worldwide and national sales forces, as well as client events. He also serves as liaison between the sales division and the full-service franchise properties.

Vonderheide resides in the Chicago-land area with his wife and two children.

Tom Wilson is division vice president for Maritz Travel Company. In his current role, he leads the New Business Development and Growth Initiative for the company. He and his team provide strategic direction and consultation to clients who are looking to optimize their business results through the strategic use of meetings, events, and incentive travel.

Wilson’s 21-year career with Maritz includes serving as group vice president—sector leader for the company’s largest vertical market—financial services. During his time as sector leader, Wilson was responsible for overseeing the retention, growth, and expansion for over 80-plus finance and insurance clients through the development and implementation of services and solutions that included: meetings, events and incentive travel; customer satisfaction and brand research; employee recognition; channel sales incentives; and consumer loyalty programs.

Wilson is also very active in the meetings, events and incentive travel industry through several hotel advisory board positions and participation in MPI, SITE, EIBTM and GBTA. Wilson also has extensive destination knowledge both domestically and internationally.

During his career at Maritz, Wilson has earned numerous awards for his sales and management contributions, including: nine-time Maritz Master’s Award, two-time William E. Maritz Chairman’s Award; Rookie of the Year Award for First Year Leadership; Sales Leader of the Year Award; and Winner of the inaugural President’s Choice award in 2010.

Wilson and his wife, Dianna, have two children, John (age 12) and Katherine (age 11), and reside in Scottsdale, Arizona. In his spare time, he helps his wife manage a private school that they have owned for just under a year. He also enjoys coaching youth sports, golf, and traveling with his family.

David Kliman, CMP, CMM, is founder and president of The Kliman Group, a market research and communications consulting practice based in Sausalito, California, which specializes in facilitating customer advisory boards, focus groups, and strategic planning meetings for hospitality industry organizations. Kliman helps his clients understand customer trends and converts those trends into sales, service, and marketing best practices.

Kliman is a widely respected hospitality industry leader with 30 years experience in business development, global sales, and marketing and operations management in both the hotel and financial services industries.

He has served as international chairman of MPI (Meeting Professionals International), and as a delegate on the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism. He co-chaired the MPI PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) Tomorrow’s Summit Conference and has served on MPI’s Multi-Cultural Initiative committee. Kliman was awarded one of the industry’s highest accolades, MPI’s International Meeting Planner of the Year, in 1999.