People News: Fern, CNTV, Visit Milwaukee and More Make New Hires, Expand Leadership
August 25, 2021
The trade show, events and destinations industries are continuing their hiring and promoting sprees at organizations far and wide. Check them out:
Fern
National exhibition and event services provider Fern has hired hospitality industry veteran Angi Van Berg as senior national sales manager.
As part of Fern’s national sales team, Van Berg will focus on business development related to key trade show and association business across North America while also representing Fern at select industry events. She will join the company on Sept. 13 after a successful 25-year career at Louisville Tourism, where she most recently served as vice president of trade show sales.
CNTV
CNTV, a leading full-service production company for the exhibitions and events industry, has named Jeff Davis as its chief sales officer. As the newest addition to the leadership team, he will be responsible for driving the next stage of accelerated growth at the company.
Davis brings more than 20 years of experience driving revenue and performance in the media and events industries. He most recently served as vice president, sales and business development for Informa Markets, where he led revenue and client-solutions teams for the company’s extensive event portfolio.
In 2011, Davis joined Hanley Wood Exhibitions, where he built out the group’s digital products, sales and marketing capabilities. After Informa’s acquisition of Hanley Wood in 2014, he continued on in a variety of sales, strategy and product leadership roles until 2021.
VISIT Milwaukee
Twenty-year hospitality industry veteran Erin Keedy has joined the VISIT Milwaukee sales team as a national account executive representing VISIT Milwaukee in the Washington, D.C. market. In her new role, she will work to grow strategic partnerships and showcase Milwaukee as an emerging city for meetings and major events.
A resident of the Washington, D.C. area for the past decade years, Keedy comes to the CVB from Marriott International where she worked in several roles for the past nine years, most recently in the national sales office.
GES
Global experiential marketing partner GES has expanded its leadership team with the appointment of Jeff Stelmach as global president, brand experiences. Bringing more than 30 years of deep experience in growing successful agencies in the event marketing space, his appointment bolsters the firm’s growing experiential marketing practice.
Stelmach has worked with top-tier agencies including Mosaic, Geometry, EMI and at Opus, where he most recently served as its president. He has worked with leading brands including Samsung, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Oracle, and is one of only two people in the world to win the coveted Grand Ex Award for the best experiential marketing campaign of the year, twice.
The company also recently welcomed Mike Haarvei as vice president of client relations. Bringing more than 25 years of leadership, business development and healthcare program management experience to his new role, he will lead a sales team tasked with expanding GES’ healthcare client base while offering best-in-class experiential marketing solutions to GES healthcare clients.
Most recently, Haarvei served as vice president of strategic accounts for Sparks, where he provided leadership and management for healthcare program accounts.
Banzai
Leading SaaS-based engagement marketing solutions company Banzai has appointed Ashley Levesque as its new vice president of marketing. She comes to Banzai from webinar platform Demio, which the company acquired in February, starting as an executive assistant and working her way to senior executive in just five years.
A results-oriented, impact-driven communications professional, Levesque’s expertise in generating customer success, building marketing organizations from the ground up and creating high-energy engaging marketing programs will be put to great use to complement Banzai’s strategic growth strategy.
LeftField Media
Pop culture event organizer LeftField Media, a division of Clarion Events, has appointed anime industry veteran Lance Heiskell as manager of guests and programming for its Anime NYC and Anime Frontier Japanese pop culture festivals. He will work to amplify the fan experience at the events, including developing new curated content, expanding the roster of top-tier guests and working closely with anime and manga publishers in both the U.S. and Japan to foster richer and deeper participation.
Previously, Heiskell worked at Funimation for 13 years, overseeing strategy and marketing for more than 400 anime titles, and establishing the brand voice of Funimation, emphasizing a direct and active relationship with its devoted audiences. He also served as brand manager, marketing director, and director of corporate strategy.
Louisville Tourism
Louisville Tourism has added staff and announced several promotions recently.
Lauren Johnson has been promoted from national sales manager to senior sales manager, responsible for booking large trade shows requiring 801 peak hotel rooms and above in the trade, business, commercial (TBC) segment, which include major events such as Mid-America Trucking Show, GIE+EXPO and Utility Expo. She replaces Angi Van Berg, who retired July 31.
Michelle Clark has been hired as a national sales manager, covering TBC requiring 800 peak hotel rooms or less as well as the legal/government, hobby and reunion segments with varying peak nights. Clark is returning to the Louisville area from Houston, where she held leadership positions with Hilton and Hyatt hotel properties.
Courtney Pickett has been promoted to convention sales manager, responsible for 300 peak or less for the education, culture, labor unions, health/medical, scientific/engineering, legal/government, public affairs and wedding sales segments.
Promoted to convention sales coordinator, Morgan Kemmeling will support the CVB’s sales administration team, the senior vice president of convention development as well as one of the organization’s senior sales managers.
Additionally, Mallory Cappelli has returned to the Louisville Tourism team as a convention sales assistant after previously serving in this role as well as in a convention sales manager capacity, and Zoey Wohl has also stepped into a convention sales assistant role after previously serving as an intern.
BeyondLive
Digital experience and virtual event platform provider BeyondLive recently welcomed Nadav Shifman as business development director, responsible for building a nationwide team to develop and cultivate relationships with clients. Based in Austin, Texas, Nadav is an accomplished business development executive with more than 15 years of dedicated experience in consultative sales, event technology platforms and SaaS sales.
Grip
Event engagement platform provider Grip has appointed Wayne Crawford as vice president of account management. With more than 30 years of event industry management and executive experience as an organizer and technology supplier under his belt, Crawford will work to expand the company’s U.S. operations. He is actively involved in industry organizations, committees and boards and is a frequent speaker at industry events.
Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority
The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA) recently announced two major promotions on its marketing and finance teams.
Bringing more than a decade of experience in brand development and implementation of the marketing and communication strategies for the Reno Tahoe region, Christina Erny has been promoted from director of marketing to vice president of marketing. She is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic marketing initiatives and overseeing programs related to integrated marketing, research, advertising, media buying and negotiating, official publications and collateral, web strategy, social media and event marketing, as well as lead the day-to-day operations of the marketing and communications teams.
Courtney Jaeger has been promoted to vice president of finance, responsible for overseeing the RSCVA’s budgeting, financial reporting, cash management, treasury functions, capital projects, and debt management. She will also monitor the CVB’s laws and regulations compliance and manages multiple operational areas including accounting, room tax collections, human resources, payroll, IT and purchasing. A licensed CPA, Jaeger joined the RSCVA in August 2020 as the director of finance, bringing more than a decade of management experience in local government finance, accounting and auditing to her position.
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Partner Voices
Less than six months ago, Lisa Messina joined the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) as the first-ever chief sales officer after leading the sales team at Caesars Entertainment. A 12-year Las Vegas resident, Messina is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and serves on MPI International’s board of directors.
TSNN had a chance to catch up with this dynamic leader and talk to her about her vision for the new role, current shifts in the trade show industry, creating more diversity and equity within the organization, and advice to future female leaders.
Lisa Messina, Chief Sales Officer, LVCVA
With Las Vegas becoming The Greatest Arena on EarthTM, what are some of the things you’re most excited about in your role?
Our team was at The Big Game’s handoff ceremony earlier this month, and I couldn’t help but think, “We’re going to crush it next year!”
These high-profile events and venues not only drive excitement, but also provide unmatched opportunities for event planners. Allegiant Stadium hosts events from 10 to 65,000 people and offers on-field experiences. Formula 1 Grand Prix will take place in Las Vegas in November, after the year-one F1 race, the four-story paddock building will be available for buyouts and will also offer daily ride-along experiences that will be available for groups. And, of course, the MSG Sphere officially announced that it will open in September, ahead of schedule, with a U2 residency. It’s going to be the most technologically advanced venue as far as lighting, sound, feel, and even scent, and it will be available for buyouts and next-level sponsorships inside and outside. There’s no ceiling to what you can do when you’re doing events in Las Vegas.
Allegiant Stadium
As the trade show and convention business returns to the pre-pandemic levels, what shifts are you noticing and how do you think they will impact the industry going forward?
Our trade show organizers are very focused on driving customer experience. Most of our organizers are reporting stronger exhibitor numbers and increased numbers of new exhibitors, with trade shows proving to be almost or above 2019 levels. Now our organizers are really doubling down on driving attendance and focusing on the data to provide that individualized, customized experience to help attendees meet their goals and get the best value. Some companies continue to be cautiously optimistic with their organizational spend when it comes to sending attendees, but I think it will continue to improve. As the U.S. Travel Association makes more progress on the U.S. visa situation, we also expect a growing influx of international attendees.
What are some innovative ways the LVCVA helps trade show and convention organizers deliver the most value for their events?
We focus on customer experience in the same way that trade show organizers are thinking about it. We got rave reviews with the West Hall Expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), so over the next two years, we will be renovating the North and the Central halls, which will include not just the same look and feel, but also the digital experiences that can be leveraged for branding and sponsorship opportunities.
Vegas Loop, the underground transportation system designed by The Boring Company, is also a way we have enhanced the customer experience. Vegas Loop at the LVCC has transported more than 900,000 convention attendees across the campus since its 2021 launch. Last summer, Resorts World and The Boring Company opened the first resort stop at the Resorts World Las Vegas , with plans to expand throughout the resort corridor, including downtown Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium and Harry Reid International Airport. The LVCVA also purchased the Las Vegas Monorail in 2020, the 3.9-mile-long elevated transportation system that connects eight resorts directly to the convention center campus. This is the only rail system in the world that integrates fares directly into show badges and registration. For trade show organizers, these transportation options mean saving time, money and effort when it comes to moving groups from the hotels to LVCC and around the city.
Also, the more we can focus on building the infrastructure around the convention center, the more it supports the customer experience and ultimately supports our trade show organizers. Scheduled to debut in Q4, Fontainebleau Las Vegas will offer 3,700 hotel rooms and 550,000 square feet of meeting and convention space next to LVCC.
What are some of the plans for advancing DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) within your organization?
We’re currently partnering with instead of working with a leading consulting firm, to lay the foundation and create a solid DEI plan and be the leader when it comes to DEI initiatives. The heart of that journey with the consulting firm is also talking to our customers about their strategic approaches to DEI and driving innovation in this space.
What are your favorite ways to recharge?
My husband and I have an RV and we’re outdoorsy people. So, while we have over 150,000 world-class hotel rooms and renowned restaurants right outside our doorstep, one of my favorite things to do is get out to Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire, and Lake Mead. Five of the top national parks are within a three-hour drive from Las Vegas, so there’s a lot you can do. We love balancing the energy of Las Vegas with nature, and we’re noticing that a lot of attendees add activities off the Strip when they come here.
Valley of Fire
What advice would you give to women following leadership paths in destination marketing?
I think it’s about being laser-focused on what you want to accomplish; building a team around you that lifts you and helps you achieve your goals; and being humble and realizing that you do it as a group. No one gets this done alone. Thankfully, there are a lot of women in leadership in this organization, in our customers’ organizations, and in this city that we can be really proud of. We’re a formidable force that is making things happen.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
This article is exclusively sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. For more information, visit HERE.
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