Becky Kavanagh

Director, Experiential Marketing and Operations, Mandiant

Becky Kavanagh, a long time CEMA member and former Board Member at Large, recently joined cyber security leader Mandiant as Director, Experiential Marketing and Operations. In her new role she is developing a new event portfolio of events under the banner, Mandiant Worldwide Information Security Exchange (mWISE™), which include executive level events and a conference for the broader security community.

Becky has more than 20 years of event marketing experience, and this new role sees her return to the cyber security industry where she previously worked on the RSA Conference for 9 years. She has been fortunate to work on past events with very strong customer fan bases with companies like Workday, Ellucian, and Google. During the pandemic, Becky spent a lot of quality time with her dog Willa and joined the legion of Peloton riders riding the bike that goes nowhere–amazing what you can accomplish standing still sometimes! Becky is thrilled that travel and in-person events are returning. She has a passion for travel and photography and is excited to plan long-delayed trips. Scotland, the Nordic countries, and Greece top the list to explore next.

Executive Profile

Anil Punyapu

Senior Vice President, Enterprise Sales, Cvent

With more than fifteen years of experience in the meetings industry, Anil Punyapu is responsible for guiding the strategic direction of Cvent’s Enterprise Solutions team. Anil launched Cvent’s Enterprise team and combines technology expertise with deep knowledge of the procurement and marketing marketplaces to continuously shape the development of the company’s products. He also leads the division’s strategic direction, including marketing initiatives, sales processes, and training programs.

In addition, Anil built the company’s Partnerships division, which creates channel and agency partnerships globally. As Senior Vice President of Partnerships, he oversees the management of Cvent’s relationships with industry-leading travel and meetings management companies and launched partnerships with companies such as HelmsBriscoe, ConferenceDirect, American Express Meetings & Events, and BCD Meetings & Incentives.

Before Cvent, Anil co-founded Entertainment Ventures, a hedge fund of funds based in the Washington, D.C. area. Prior to that, he served as a Senior Associate at Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR), a full-services investment firm, working in the wealth management division assisting in the raise of funds for venture and hedge funds. Anil holds a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University in Biochemistry and a law degree—Juris Doctorate (J.D.)—from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he graduated with honors.

For more information on Cvent click here.

Newsletter Sponsor

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CEMA Board Looks Ahead to 2023

After solemn contemplation led by Corey Campbell, one of Hawaii’s leading Akamai trainer, the board members then rolled up their sleeves discussing CEMA’s key ’22-23 directives. Each member contributed ideas for growing CEMA’s membership and raising the bar on value to members and the event community. All attendees were treated royally by Kimberly Forte at Waikiki Marriott and Ernie Garcia at Visit Hawaii. If this looks like a great time, be sure to inquire about becoming a board member next year!

Join the Pre-Summit Contest and Take a Bow on the Stage in Nashville

This year, as we ramp up for Summit 2022, we’re running an engaging social contest to promote registrations that is fun and easy to participate in and helps support a great cause. Every member who shares our CEMA Summit ’22 promo posts via their Linkedin page is automatically entered into the contest, and the members who generate the most engagement with the posts via their network will have a substantial number of trees planted in their names.

Entering the contest is simple. Click here to get started. The Start Planting button guides you to log into LinkedIn. You will then see a post with CEMA Summit news that you can share with your network in one click! You can also email or message the post to individual contacts.

The more you share the greater your chance to be on the leaderboard and win the contest. The winner will be recognized on stage at CEMA Summit. The leaderboard standings will be emailed monthly starting in May.

1st Place – 20k trees planted (roughly the size of Central Park)
2nd Place – 5k trees
3rd Place – 2k trees
So, you can spread the word about CEMA Summit and help plant a forest! We hope you’ll join us by clicking here.

CEMA In the News

Driving Growth Through New Data Channels and Unified Experiences | TSNN Trade Show News

Nick Fugaro is founder and CEO of Vivastream, the leading event data analytics platform in the industry.Fugaro brings a refreshing perspective to the events industry leveraging his 25+ years of experience in delivering technology solutions that help enterprises derive customer insights from data.

As seen in

FREE Research

Report for CEMA Members: Getting Back Together Again? Get the Latest Events Insights & Forecast for 2022

As part of Impact Point Group’s full suite of services for clients, we not only continuously observe events objectively to bring the latest trends to our clients, but also to provide an analysis which serves as an extra layer of insight for event strategy as a whole. In our new and inaugural Quarterly Event Insights for 2022, we continued the tradition from our quarterly Digital Event Forecasts which was packed full of analysis and recommendations, and launched a more compressed, fresh take for the future of events.

We found that digital is here to stay, but we see a need to balance this with highly compelling in-person experiences the likes of which we’ve never seen before. As event strategists, we get to shape the long-term future of events by testing and amplifying our integrated strategies throughout the upcoming months. Download your copy and let us know what you think.

For more information and/or to sign up for communications from IPG, contact us.