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Katherine S. Markham, CHME
Principal & Co-Founder
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Katherine Markham, CHME is the Principal & Co-Founder of ConventionPlanit.com, a multimedia search channel and RFP portal. She is responsible for marketing strategies and new business development. An innovator for her time, Ms. Markham created ConventionPlanit.com in 2003, when online bookings for the meetings industry were not yet widespread.
Her vast knowledge of the hospitality industry combined with a desire to solve a problem sparked the creation of ConventionPlanit.com. The concept was simple: provide meeting planners an easy way to access information while helping suppliers reach more buyers. An Advisory Council of meeting planners assisted in outlining the search functionalities of the website, truly making the website a tool designed by and for meeting planners. With a vision to position buyers with sellers through technology at the forefront, the website is an industry favorite for original meeting planners who prefer a commission-free environment and easy sourcing tools. Today, ConventionPlanit.com boasts a strong industry endorsement by Senior Planner Industry Network (SPIN), and partnerships that include the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association (HSMAI), IMEX and IBTM. Additional digital offerings for suppliers have grown over the year to access hard to reach buyers.
Ms. Markham began her career in group sales with Marriott Hotels and has held leadership positions in sales and marketing for Renaissance Hotels, Radisson Hotels, Homestead Resort, Associated Luxury Hotels and Resorts, Inc., Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Expovision. She is also a Certified Hotel Marketing Executive (CHME). Prior to launching ConventionPlanit.com in 2003, Ms. Markham was Co-Founder of the Alliance Service Network, a lead generation firm for service providers. 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. Ms. Markham served 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.
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Maureen Pickell, CTC
Director of Global Accounts and Media Relations
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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. |
Alice Turner
Director of Business Development
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Alice Turner is an accomplished award winning sales and marketing professional with over 30 years of expertise in key account management, national sales and partnerships.
Alice began a hospitality career during college as a clerk for a resort gift shop and city hotel front desk. After college she landed a dream job in Washington, DC as a hotel group and transient sales manager. She is honored to be a USAF brat which gave her a creative personality and diverse skills to include operations. She has worked for major brands, independent organizations, associations and non-profits and 10 years ago started marketing her skills under Turner Solutions. Her heart is in the commercial marketplace to excel in customer success using her core values of honesty, trust and integrity.
Alice has worked in several channels on both sides of sales vs operations and supplier vs planner. She has been a hospitality industry leader with MPI, Potomac Chapter, AMPs, AAHOA, Hotel Brand Owner s Associations and an industry expert to include her favorite as a travel advocate on Capitol Hill. She held a CMP designation from 2001-2006. During her 10 year tenure at USA TODAY, Travel Circulation Division, she worked closely with large volume accounts and partnered with a variety of hotel brands and management companies.
Alice holds a B.S. degree in Marketing, School of Business, from The University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL and an A.A. from The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. She enjoys helping those in career transitions after her many years volunteering at CNM-Career Network Ministry in McLean, VA.
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Leslie Miller
Director | Marketing Services
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Leslie brings a creative and strategic approach to the ConventionPlanit team, with over 17 years of marketing experience spanning wellness, hospitality, and the arts. She spent more than a decade at Canyon Ranch Wellness Resort, where she held a range of corporate and property specific roles—including leadership positions—focused on elevating guest experiences through thoughtful marketing and brand development.
Her career is also shaped by her longstanding involvement in theater, both onstage and off. As a director and educator, Leslie has taught youth camps and classes, and helped to create curriculum that inspires confidence, collaboration, and creativity.
At Conventionplanit, Leslie combines her strategic mindset and creative perspective to support marketing initiatives that elevate brand presence and drive engagement. She is passionate about crafting thoughtful, effective messaging that speaks to the needs of both planners and partners. |
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Muzette Randall
RFP Valet Liason
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Muzette Randall has more than 25 years of advertising sales, marketing and management experience. Her career has included broadcast, direct mail and interactive media as well as direct print and advertising agency sales development.
She got her start in newspapers, where she held several advertising sales positions culminating with a regional and national advertising sales assignment with Landon Media representing newspapers across the country, including publications in every major city in Georgia. Randall served as President of the Atlanta chapter of the Newspaper Advertising Sales Association. She was a pioneer in the industry s effort to streamline multiple newspaper placement and billing through her efforts with The Newspaper Network and The Associated Press.
Randall launched her own consultant company, Ten20 Marketing, where she has taken on several internet marketing initiatives involving online news, manufacturing industry resource sites, and real estate consumer marketing. She has worked closely with a wide variety of clients from small family-owned business to Fortune 500 companies. Her hospitality clientele has included cruise lines, major hotel chains, and national travel services.
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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. |
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