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Katherine S. Markham, CHME
Principal & Co-Founder
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As principal & co-founder of ConventionPlanit.com, Ms. Markham is responsible for sales and marketing strategies as well as new business development.
Ms. Markham began her career in group sales with Marriott Hotels and Resorts in 1980. Since then, she has held leadership positions in sales and marketing, both on property and in national sales, for major hotel, convention bureau, and service provider sectors of the meetings industry. Some of her past employers include Renaissance Hotels, Radisson Hotels International, The Homestead Resort, Associated Luxury Hotels and Resorts, Inc., Park Terrace Hotel, Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Expovision. She is also a Certified Hotel Management Executive (CHME).
Prior to launching ConventionPlanit.com in 2003, Ms. Markham was a Principal & Co-Founder of the Alliance Service Network, a national sales office and lead generation firm for service providers. This entrepreneurial step led to the evolution of ConventionPlanit.com.
Ms. Markham was a weekly host of Your Meeting Matters, a segment of the Washington, DC radio program Association Nation, in which she engaged key players in the meetings industry in lively discussions. She is active in committees and local boards of The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), Meeting Planners International (MPI), New York Society of Association Executives (NYSAE) and Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA). Ms. Markham currently serves on the marketing advisory councils for APEX and Event Technology Exposition.
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David B. Markham
Principal & Co-Founder
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| As principal & co-founder of ConventionPlanit.com, Mr. Markham is responsible for operations, in addition to new business development.
Mr. Markham began his career at the Watergate Hotel and Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC, where over a period of several years,
he assumed several management positions of increasing responsibility
within the rooms and operations division. David later joined the
Astor Hotel Management Company to open the Ramada Renaissance Hotel
in Washington, DC, and held management positions in both the operations
and sales and marketing departments of the Renaissance Hotel and
Congressional Park Hotel.
Following his tenure with Astor Hotels, Mr. Markham
assumed the role of Director of Sales & Marketing for the Madison
Hotel Group and Omni Georgetown Hotel, both located in Washington,
DC. From 1992 thru 2000, David was Director of Sales and Marketing
in the Washington, DC office of the David Green Organization, a national
representation company of leading independent hotels and resorts.
Prior to launching ConventionPlanit.com, Mr. Markham was principal & co-founder of the Alliance Service Network, a national sales office and lead generation firm for leading service providers to the meetings industry.
Mr. Markham is a member of The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and Association of Meeting Professionals (AMP's).
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Sandy Lavery
Vice President of Sales
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Sandy Lavery is an experienced sales executive who was most recently Strategic Account Manager for Meeting Professionals International. Before that, she spent 10 years as Sales Representative for the former Greater Washington Society of Association Executives (GWSAE) and then four years as Sales Representative for ASAE following the ASAE-GWSAE merger.
She also has extensive experience in the hotel industry, serving six years as Director of Sales and Marketing for the Park Hyatt Washington and four years as Director of Marketing for the Mayflower Hotel.
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Julie Roberts
Director of New Business Development
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Julie Roberts has extensive experience in sales and marketing
in the hospitality industry. While attending college, Julie began her career in accounting in
hotels and then progressed into director of sales positions with the Cle Hotel Corporation in
Forbes and New Orleans. She joined Marriott Hotels at the New Orleans French Quarter Hotel and
later moved to the Marriott National Sales Office in Washington, DC. Roberts went on to spend
several years with the Washington, DC Convention and Visitors Bureau (now WCTC).
Ms. Roberts then joined SMG in Denver as director of sales and marketing of the Colorado Convention Center. Roberts later
helped open the Harborview Center in Clearwater, Florida, and joined the team promoting the
PGA’s World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida. Before joining ConventionPlanit.com,
Julie represented the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau in the Washington, DC
meetings market. |
Maureen Pickell, CTC
Director of Global Accounts
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Maureen S. Pickell, CTC, has worked in the travel industry for more than 25 years. She has worked as a travel agent as well as in airline sales for five different carriers. Most recently, she spent 21 years with Northwest Airlines as its manager of meeting and incentive sales based in Washington, D.C., specializing in the association market.
Maureen holds a Certified Travel Counselors degree from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents and was called on by the Professional Convention Management Association to author the chapter on Transportation for the 3rd edition of its textbook for planners entitled "Professional Meetings Management." The Potomac Chapter of Meeting Professionals International named her the 2000-2001 Supplier of the Year and she has received numerous sales and marketing achievement awards during her airline career. |
Carol Mills
Regional Director of Sales
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Carol Mills joins the ConventionPlanit.com sales team with strong experience
in telemarketing to meeting professionals, giving her a thorough understanding of their needs and hot-button issues.
She is able to pass along this intelligence in her sales conversations with destinations, convention centers,
hotels, resorts, and other suppliers. She also spent 15 years as an elementary school teacher, giving her patience
and the ability to project a positive attitude. She has excellent attention to detail and is dedicated to delivering
strong value to clients. |
Steve Langley
Director of Global Sales & Business Development
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A seasoned travel industry professional, Steve Langley began his career as a travel consultant at the Thomas Cook Travel world headquarters in London. He has since held key management positions for various cruise lines and tour operators on both coasts of the USA. These positions included oversight of the group market which included everything from large family gatherings to full ship charters and Fortune 500 incentive groups.
Steve recently spent eight years with media giant Gannett Co. as Director of Sales & Marketing for their travel websites Hawaii.com and 101Thingstodo.com. In addition to these Hawaii websites, he was also responsible for the design and promotion of MustDoTravel.com, a worldwide travel web site with booking capabilities that was used by several Gannett newspaper websites, including The Arizona Republic and USA Today.
The past two years Steve has been a global business consultant to the travel industry sharing his expertise in online sales, web site design, social media, global relocation, mobile and digital technology.
Steve is responsible for assisting suppliers in the meeting & convention sector increase their group business, he is primarily focusing on Arizona, California, Hawaii, Britain and Europe.
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Jean P. Mills
Director of Marketing Services
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Jean P. Mills is a seasoned meeting planner with
more than two decades of experience in conference management, exhibit
hall, and sponsorship development. She began her career as Director of
Meetings and Operations at the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society.
She went on to become Director of Meetings and Operations at the Association
of Biotechnology Companies and later Director of Meetings at the Biotechnology
Industry Organization.
Ms. Mills was later a consultant in event management
and sales for three years before joining ConventionPlanit.com as Director
of Marketing Services. |
Al Rickard, CAE
Director of Communications
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Al Rickard is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with 30 years of experience in communications, marketing, publishing, public affairs, and association management. He is president of ASSOCIATION VISION, a communications company that provides services to a large client base of associations and corporations that sell to associations. He launched this company in 2000 following a long career working for major associations in the Washington, DC area.
In the late 1990s, Rickard served as Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives (GWSAE), where he integrated the public relations, government affairs, and publishing operations into an expanded Communications Department.
He also led a major division of one of the nation's largest trade associations, serving as Senior Vice President for Member Services & Marketing at the National Food Processors Association.
He also served as Vice President of Communications and Government Relations at the International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (now the Destination Marketing Association International), where he spearheaded association involvement in the first-ever White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, developing and implementing a strategy to nominate and install 235 CVB executives as delegates to the conference.
Rickard spent several years as Vice President of Communications at the Snack Food Association, where he created and launched a consumer public relations campaign, National Snack Food Month and published Snack World magazine.
Earlier in his career, Rickard was the first Section Newsletter Editor at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and was the first Editor of USAE newspaper, an independent trade journal covering the association/meetings/hospitality industry. |
Daniel Shipman
Webmaster
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Daniel Shipman is Vice President of Interactive Media at SRJ Marketing Communications. He honed his web programming skills through hands-on experience in interactive marketing. Mr. Shipman has supervised and personally created a wide range of technologically advanced websites for a wide range of clients. As soon as a new technology is introduced, Mr. Shipman carefully assesses it before integrating it into his development processes. He has advanced programming knowledge of Flash, PHP, MySQL, PERL, CSS, DHTML, and HTML. Mr. Shipman attended Wayland Baptist University. |
Debbie Carter
Director of Administrative Services
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Ms. Carter began her career in office management
with Prudential Insurance in 1975. Upon moving to Southern Florida in
1982, she worked in sales and office administration for Nautical Furnishings
and later, in the same capacity with Coldwell Banker. Before joining ConventionPlanit.com,
Ms. Carter previously worked part-time in
sales and office administration for INESS, a telecom equipment sales
and marketing firm in the Washington, DC area.
As Director of Administration, Ms. Carter performs a myriad of tasks relating to marketing and office
administration. |
Ashley Chalmers
Director of Internet Operations
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Ashley Chalmers has been involved in the hospitality industry for her entire professional career. She has experience in Web design, marketing, event planning, and sales -- a strong combination for this industry. At ConventionPlanit.com, she handles company operations, maintains social media and the ConventionPlanit.com blog, e-newsletter, and some internet marketing. Chalmers also assists meeting planners with RFP distribution through the popular RFP Valet® program and is the primary staff contact for member ad fulfillment, press releases and listings.
She is an active member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), especially through the Under 30 Gateway, a group for young industry professionals. She sits on the national council for this group and is the Vice Chair of the Washington, DC chapter. Chalmers has co-presented educational sessions for both meeting planners and suppliers for The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and The Potomac Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI). Chalmers attended the University of Maryland. |
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