Outstanding business events professionals from around the world were honoured at IMEX Frankfurt’s gala awards dinner, held May 22nd at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany.
The evening’s awards and celebrated business events pros were:
Tammy Blount-Canavan, president and CEO, Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau, who received the Destinations International Global Ambassador Award. Blount-Canavan has nearly 30 years of service and was recently recognized as one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry. Her organization has made huge strides in sustainability and destination stewardship and is continuing to build an engaged global destination community.
CES (Shanghai) Exhibition Co. Ltd., the team behind CES Asia, took home the IAEE International Excellence Award. CES Asia, the region’s leading tech event, broke records in 2018 with 529 exhibiting companies—two-and-a-half times larger than its inaugural show in 2015—and 46,748 attendees.
France-based Colloquium received the IAPCO Innovation Award for its tool that helps project managers match budgets to accounts instantly and accurately. Christophe Painvin, Colloquium’s projects director, accepted on behalf of the company.
Global Climate Action Summit received the hotly contested IMEX EIC Innovation in Sustainability Award. The Climate Action Summit was the first event in the world to receive ISO 20121 certification by an accredited third-party certification organization. Jeffrey Wexler, COO, and Jaime Neck, head of sustainability, accepted the award on behalf of the event.
Rhonda Brewer, vice-president, Sales, North America of BCD Meetings and Events, took home the Jane E. Schuldt SITE Master Motivator Award. Brewer was honoured for her work with non-profit organizer, ECPAT-USA, around sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Carola van der Hoeff, COO and congress director of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) received the PCMA Global Business Events Executive of the Year Award. Praised for her inclusive approach, van der Hoeff plays a key role in the highly influential AC Forum and is president of a fund that encourages scientists considering organizing international conferences in The Netherlands.
Joachim König, director of Hannover Congress Centrum, was honoured with the 2019 JMIC Unity Award for his more than 20 years of industry advancement initiatives, including his leadership of the Joint Meetings Industry Council and facilitation and hosting of the 2018 Global Summit in Hannover.
Emile Coetzee from North-West University in South Africa was presented with the MPI Foundation/Maritz Global Events Student Scholarship Award, which celebrates and supports the next generation of meeting planners as part of the IMEX-MPI-MCI Future Leaders Forum International University Challenge.
The last awards of the evening, the Paul Flackett IMEX Academy Awards, honoured three women for their long-term commitment to the industry, for pushing back the boundaries around innovation, understanding the importance of impeccable customer service, and knowing how to get the best out of a team. The 2019 winners were:
- Roslyn McLeod, founder and chair, ARINEX
- Madelyn Marusa, DMCP, CIS, vice-president, Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, PRA Business Events, Inc.
- Heike Mahmoud, chief operating officer, Congress Center Hamburg
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