Joan L. Eisenstodt
Joan L. Eisenstodt will provide information and facilitate the discussion among our peers. She is Principal, Eisenstodt Associates, LLC, a 35+ year old meetings consulting company based in Washington, DC. Joan has been honored by MPI, PCMA, NSA (speakers not spies!), IACC, and, in 2004, was inducted into the EIC Hall of Leaders. She has experienced what can go wrong in her work as an expert witness in industry disputes and through her research.
Jessica Gibbons
With over 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry working in business development for luxury hotel companies and boutique hoteliers, Jessica excels at new business growth, deepening client relationships and embraces complex deals. A Cornell University graduate with a keen eye for mutually beneficial initiatives, she creates and manages fruitful partnerships between C2 Montréal, C2 International, Movin’On and their partners. It was an Uber ride with a C2 exec that drove Jessica to C2. Well, sort of – the latter had gotten into the car she had ordered. The encounter led her to learn more about C2, the wide range of industries it engages and the way it creates change. From then on it was a done deal: Jessica joined the company in 2015.
Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM
Christy is the founder of and Master Strategist at Strategic Meetings & Events, an international, award-winning strategic planning firm. A lifelong learner, intellectual philanthropist and author, Christy taught college-level strategic planning for 10 years which helped inspire her book, “The Strategic Planning Guide for Event Professionals.” Forbes, Fast Company and Entrepreneur online have interviewed Christy, who has also been featured in AMEX OPEN and UPS Store videos. For the last decade her focus has centered around disrupting the meetings industry. She is teaching planners to evolve into meeting strategists, who think with curious minds and learn to create meeting environments that shorten sales cycles and influence attendee’s behavior. Christy is deeply committed to giving back to everyone she meets and strives to contribute as much positive energy and effort as she can to the world.
Kristina Nichols, CMP, CMM
Kristina Nichols is a Strategic Account Consultant within the Client Services team at Cvent. She partners with Fortune 1000 customers as they integrate technology and best in class business practices in support of their Strategic Meeting Management Programs. Prior to her current role, Kristina spent 10 years as a Meeting and Event Manager for MassMutual, Harvard Law School, and CIC. Passionate about the meeting industry, Kristina is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and earned her Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM) in 2015. Kristina is a graduate of Lasell College, earning a Master’s in Communication, as well as Endicott College where she earned a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management.