Debi Scholar, CMP, CTE
Co-Chair of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Groups & Meetings Committee
Meeting & Event Services Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P.

Debi Scholar is the Co-Chair of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Groups & Meetings Committee which leads the hospitality industry in Strategic Meetings Management initiatives. In addition to being the Director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Meeting & Event Services team, Debi also participates on the Meeting Competitive Advantage Forum (MCAF) which is a best practice and benchmarking team composed of 20 Leaders in the Meetings Industry from Fortune 100 companies. She is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP), Corporate Travel Expert (CTE) and a Certified Technical Trainer (CTT).

Debi's team, Meeting & Event Services (MES), recommends meeting locations, contracts with suppliers, plans and implements meetings in addition to webcasts for PwC Partners, staff and clients.

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Stephanie Weinberg

Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Travel Services

Concur Technologies

For the last seven years Stephanie has worked with a team of travel and technology professionals to launch and drive the success of Cliqbook, today’s industry-leading corporate online booking tool. At the start of 2006 the Cliqbook offering expanded with the addition of Cliqbook Meeting, which includes complete registration and meeting travel management. As the Product Marketing Manager of Travel Services, Stephanie’s primary focus is the Cliqbook Travel and Cliqbook Meeting offering. Today over 1800 companies use Cliqbook products including Dell, ABN Amro, Monsanto, Estee Lauder, and Liz Claiborne.

Prior to her time at Concur (formerly Outtask); Stephanie was a marketing and meeting professional for a non-profit organization in Washington, DC.

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Jonathan Merril, MD, CEO, Astute Technology

Dr. Merril, the CEO of Astute Technology, has focused on creating digital archives and webcasting meetings since 1997 when his company webcast the first medical conference. He has developed patented technologies for enabling the rapid and high quality transformation of presentations into electronic formats for ‘anytime, anywhere’ viewing. Using a publication model and work-flow to conferences- the company provides over 10,000 hours of conference searchable multimedia content in electronic format (with video, slides and audio). Dr. Merril pioneered the use of on-site DVD production to meetings- enabling sales of archival meeting sessions on the show floor within 24 hours of presentations. He has worked with associations and commercial enterprises to strategically determine the best methods of integrating media broadcast/archives into their conferences to enhance the on-site experience and enable virtual participation. In addition, Dr. Merril has developed successful models for creating ‘found revenue’ as a result of live and archival streaming media. He has also created content specific media channels and on-line continuing education that further leverage conference content.

His efforts in educational media software won Discovery Magazine’s award for Innovation and has been featured in National and International Publications and Press including features on CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, as well as trade and professional peer reviewed medical publications.

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Jill Birkett, Vice President, Unicomm LLC

Jill Birkett, Vice President, at Unicomm LLC, which is a boutique, communications company specializing in originating and managing world-class trade shows and conferences in underserved and nascent markets is located in Milford, Connecticut. Birkett began her hospitality and meetings career with S&H Motivation in Hillside, IL, where we was an on-site specialist in foreign destinations. Moving into sales with Marriott Hotels, Birkett re-located to Boston where we was then recruited to manage conferences and expositions for Expocon Management Associates (EMA). She rose to Chief Operating Officer before the company was acquired by Advanstar Communications. At Advanstar, Birkett was responsible for operations and logistics for approximately 100 conferences and trade shows in the U.S. Because meeting technology emerged as a leading factor in building successful events, Birkett joined b-there.com as a founding employee, leaving the company during its acquisition by Star-Cite in order to co-found Unicomm LLC. Birkett has produced events ranging from 20,000 sq feet to over 250,000 sq feet with thousands of exhibiting firms.

 

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Speaker: E. J. Siwek, CMP, President FLASHpoint Technologies, LLC

EJ is president and founder of FLASHpoint Technologies, a company providing research, training and consulting on technology solutions for the meeting industry. He is the Founder of MeetingMatrix finding the original company in 1986. He has since moved onto leading the development of an industry-wide data standard through his work with the Convention Industry Council where he serves as chair of the Technology Advisory Council for the Convention Industry Council's APEX Initiative, an industry-wide effort to drive best practices on the use and application of technology. He is co-author of the, The Meeting Spectrum, published by HRD Press. Active in the industry for 25 years as a planner, publisher and consultant, EJ has been selected by MeetingNews as one of the Top 25 Influential Leaders in the meetings industry for his efforts in educating and informing meeting professionals on industry technology.

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Linda McNairy, Vice President, Global Account Management, StarCite, Inc.

As Vice President, Global Account Management, Linda leads and manages StarCite's relationship with its largest customers ensuring successful technology deployments and widespread planner adoption levels. Linda joined StarCite in 2005 as Regional VP of Sales (mid-west) and was very successful in identifying new business opportunities and working with new corporate clients to identify their meeting technology needs.

Linda has over 15 years of experience in the meetings industry and held management positions with Navigant Meeting Services and SGI, Inc. prior to joining StarCite.  Linda was a member of Navigant Meeting Services National Round-table responsible for its Meeting Technology Task Force. She also managed the integration of meeting, incentive and special event divisions of all Navigant acquisitions within the North Central Region.  She began her career at an Indianapolis based recognition jewelry company as Marketing Manager where she planned and coordinated national and regional trade shows, annual national sales meetings and other strategic meetings.

Linda has a passion for the meeting industry and is driven to constantly elevate its professionalism and make meeting strategies an integral part of the overall organizational success. She is she has served on several committees within the Indiana Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, and has served on the IMPI Directors beginning in 1998 serving as Treasurer, President-Elect, President, and now on the Council of Past Presidents.

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Doug Melinn, CMP, Director of Customer Loyalty, Passkey

Mr. Melinn, is a fifteen-year veteran of the hotel industry. he brings experience from major hotel chains including Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton in both operations and sales. Previous positions at Passkey include serving in the client services group and most recently as Regional Business Development Director. Mr. Melinn has spoken on various industry issues such as attrition, housing best practices and emerging meeting planning technologies at industry events such as PCMA, SCMP, and ACOM.

 

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Mark A. Fite, President/CEO, Option Technologies Interactive, LLC

Mark A. Fite is President of Option Technologies Interactive, a division of iDNA, Inc.  He has spent more than twenty years as a corporate manager and business development leader.  Mark has been involved in founding and growing six companies focused on various aspects of meeting and classroom technology and has held senior leadership roles at firms involved with presentation software and hardware, survey systems, staging, video production and satellite communications.  Mark has been a leader in the interactive response business since 1991 when he helped to co-found MeetingNet Interactive Systems, Inc., a pioneer in offering wireless handheld group response systems.

 

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Roger Lewis, Senior Vice President , Alliance Tech, Inc.

Roger is a Senior Vice President of Alliance Tech, a technology company focused on marketing intelligence and analytics. He has 15 years of event marketing experience and is a veteran meeting professional analyst. Under Roger design and execution companies such as IBM, Dell, CA, Cisco and others have benefited from Alliance Tech technologies and gain insight into event marketing analytics. Mr. Lewis has won several industry awards for RFID and Lead Management including the prestigious CEMA’s 2006 Tech Shoot-out. Roger is an acclaimed speaker for using technology to measure and understand marketing performance metrics for meetings, conferences, and events.

Prior to Alliance Tech, Mr. Lewis enjoyed a 12 year successful career with IBM. He left IBM to form a start up in which he lead sales and the company was recognized as 148 on Inc. 500 list of Fast Growing Companies.

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Kate Swanson , Business Development Director , Leverage Software

For the past nine years, Kate has been involved in various areas of the meeting planning and event industry. In 2005, she joined the sales and marketing team with Leverage Software with a primary focus on their Connect products, today's leading social networking platform for events and ongoing communities. Over the past four years, Kate has consulted with more than 100 clients in a variety of industries including technology, association, media, financial and healthcare; to help them leverage matchmaking, online community and social networking solutions. Kate has worked closely Microsoft, HP, McKesson, IDG, and Oracle, among others.

Prior to her time at Leverage, Kate spent several years in R&D, Sales and Marketing at third-party planning houses including McGettigan Partners, Pacific Agenda and Enterprise Events Group. In these roles, Kate has assisted with the creation of conferences and incentive programs. Kate brings the unique experience of being on the planning and evaluation side of events as well as the technology side. She is involved in local chapters of PCMA and MPI.

 

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Bill Flagg, President, RegOnline

Bill Flagg is the President and co-owner of www.RegOnline.com the leading online event registration system. For over ten years RegOnline’s web-based system has made registration easier for corporate meeting planners at companies such as American Express, Sony, and Oracle. With Flagg’s help, the company has grown ten-fold over the past three years. RegOnline now powers the registration and attendee management for over 25,000 corporate meetings and events annually. Mr. Flagg frequently speaks at meeting industry conferences about how to attract more registrants and make event management easier.

Prior to RegOnline, Flagg built a national advertising company called Word of Mouse. He also worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Harris Bank in Chicago. Flagg received his BS from the University of Michigan.

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