Our Organization

Chairwoman

VP Global Conferences & Events, IBM

Colleen Bisconti is IBM Vice President Marketing, Global Conferences and Events. She leads IBM’s worldwide events strategy and the professional career discipline for an extended team of 400+ event marketers across the globe. The team executes 6,000+ in person and digital events including both proprietary and 3rd party activities. She led the ongoing evolution of the overall event strategy that included the creation of IBM’s single flagship global conference, IBM Think, with over 30,000 attendees annually. Colleen has over 25 years experience in the IT industry and is known as an innovative and passionate marketing leader with extensive management experience. She has a proven track record for the successful development and execution of marketing strategy, demand generation programs, event strategy and execution, and channel development to drive revenue results with a long history of leading high-performance teams. She is results oriented and succeeds by working across matrixed environments and external organizations. Colleen is passionate about team culture and creating exceptional attendee experiences.

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Vice Chairwoman

Head of Global Event Strategy, Atlassian

As the Head of Field Marketing & Event Strategy at Atlassian, Amy Walter drives the global Field Marketing team, as well as the strategy, technology, and audience acquisition efforts across the entire global event portfolio including proprietary events, digital events and third party programs. She helped build the first-ever Atlassian European user conference in 2017 as the program lead, and now focuses her time partnering with the global team defining the long-term strategies and goals for their programs. She loves event data and using it to help tell the Atlassian event team’s success stories and to make data-driven decisions shaping the future of their events.

Prior to joining Atlassian, Amy held roles at other tech firms as an event marketer, managed event operations on the agency side, and also worked in catering and sales at a hotel / casino. Her focus on operational excellence paired with her data-centric approach has brought a unique perspective to the programs she’s managed. Amy earned a BS in Marketing and Journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno and currently resides in Reno, Nevada with her husband Anthony, and french bulldog, Winston.

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Secretary

Senior Vice President, Bellwether

A father of five, Richard Steinau is most comfortable in an environment of chaos and improbable schedules, making him a natural fit for the live Events industry where he has held executive leadership roles for over 15 years. His passion for mentoring has produced an impressive legacy of high performing organizations that have consistently delivered growth in both employee satisfaction and revenue. Richard’s teams share an unyielding drive for achieving exceptional customer satisfaction that transforms clients into active brand advocates. A native of San Diego, he relocated near Salt Lake City in 2020 and traded in his surfboard and sunscreen for hiking, mountain biking and raking leaves. In 2022 Richard was recruited to join Bellwether, a company and ownership team he has highly admired for their culture of excellence that has continued to lead the industry in production quality and creativity for more than a decade.

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Financial Advisor

Vice President of Sales & Industry Relations, Teneo Hospitality

Gary Murakami, GTP, GLP, CMP, CMM, DES is the Vice President of Sales and Industry Relations for Teneo Hospitality Group representing a distinct collection of independent and small chain luxury hotels and resorts and DMCs worldwide. A seasoned hospitality sales executive and innovative strategic leader with expertise in the hospitality and hotel and convention management industries, Gary is responsible for raising awareness for Teneo Hospitality Group, as well as developing and maintaining key client partnerships in his strategic territories with the corporate, association, and intermediary/third party segments. Gary’s sales background includes previous sales and leadership positions with MGM Resorts International, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in the group, leisure, and business travel segments.

Gary maintains several industry-recognized certifications and designations, including his Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) certification from the Events Industry Council (EIC), in addition to the Global Travel Professional (GTP) certification and Global Leadership Professional (GLP) designation and certification from Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). He also received his Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM) offered through Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and his Digital Event Strategist (DES) certification from PCMA.

An active member in the global meetings, events and travel industry community, Gary has held a variety of leadership board of directors, committee, and volunteer roles with several industry associations both locally and nationally in addition to CEMA, including PCMA, MPI, GBTA, LGBT MPA, and EIC. He recently served as a Board of Trustee for the PCMA Foundation for 3 years after being on the PCMA Board of Directors. In 2019, MPI awarded Gary the RISE Meeting Industry Leadership Award for his continued commitment and contributions to the meetings & events industry, and GBTA presented him in 2021 the Allied Member of the Year Award, which recognizes a member’s dedication, enthusiasm and hard work that generates significant benefits to the association and the industry.

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Immediate Past Chairman

President, Priority Concepts Group

Paul Coulter, current Vice Chair for CEMA, has been actively involved for years and has served as Treasurer previously. He is President of Priority Concepts Group which specializes in customized hospitality and event solutions, including market research, technology, and facilitation. He founded his company after 17 years in the Convention Sales space working for some fantastic companies including Starwood and Marriott. Currently his projects include preopening sales strategy and customer advisory board development for a 10,000 bedroom resort. In addition, he’s developed marketing plans and facilitated market research for others including most recently a hospitality technology company. Prior to Priority Concepts Group, Coulter spent 15 years in sales at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin and completed his tenure as Director of Group Sales. He has an amazing wife, April and four kids, and loves to eat at the top restaurants and has visited 28 countries so far.

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Board Member at Large

Chief of Staff, Global Events & Oracle Studio, Oracle

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Board Member at Large

Sr. Director of Events, RMS Moody's

Bridgette is a seasoned event professional who is currently leading the industry events and experiences team for Cisco’s Global Events operations organization. During her time at Cisco, Bridgette has worked on events ranging from the Olympics to product launches to advisory boards and Cisco proprietary events.
Prior to joining Cisco, Bridgette worked in the medical device industry and the GPS telenav industry where she made many great contacts that are also CEMA members. Her love of events started early at a startup and has never stopped. No matter the size of the company or the size of the event, the amount of passion and drive is the same!
Bridgette currently lives in San Mateo, California with her husband and 3 kids.

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Board Member at Large

Sr. Director, Global Event Marketing, Splunk

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Board Member at Large

Global Technology Marketing Executive

Stefanie Maragna brings more than 25 years of event, sales and marketing experience to the CEMA board. As the VP Corporate Marketing & Events at Sage, Stefanie is responsible for the Customer Advocacy, Partner Marketing, Analyst Relations and Field Marketing Events for Sage Intacct. With more than 25+ years in sales, marketing and event experience, the backbone of her career has always been within the technology event space working with Mincom (in Australia), before moving to the USA with Mark Logic, Host Analytics, Sage Intacct and Sage.

Stefanie or Stef as she prefers, has an infectious personality, and strategic focus and passion for CEMA and the events industry, and her diverse background has allowed her to better understand the needs and motivations of all the stakeholders who are involved with events, from marketing to sales to partners and executives. Her love for events has given her many opportunities to bring new and unique experiences to customers and colleagues across all event marketing programs. She enjoys mentoring and supporting the next generation of event “marketeers” and was named as one of SmartMeetings’ “100 Women Who Inspire Us” and “Hall of Fame”.

When Stef takes time away from the corporate scene, she lives on her Sonoma County ranch with her husband, 5-year-old little boy and Australian cattle dog Cody. You will find her cooking, gardening, beekeeping, raising chickens, supporting many local charities, and drinking wine of course! Stefanie loves travel and when she is not spending time in her home country Australia, she takes the opportunity to travel the world learning and experiencing new cultures.

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Board Member at Large

President, MC-2

ith over 20 years of experience in the event space, Ben Nazario is no stranger to building unique and strategic programs around any brand and its industry tailored to the identified customer segment. Currently with MC² as its Chief Growth Officer, Ben’s primary focus resides in overseeing the company’s domestic and international growth through multiple facets of the business including Sales, Business Development, Marketing, Creative and Strategy. With Ben’s addition to the board, CEMA will see a leadership figure challenge the means of normality through his charisma, energy, and passion for reaching new heights.

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Board Member at Large

Global Account Executive, Global Sales Organization, Marriott

Global Account Executive, Global Sales Organization, Marriott International
Based in Denver, CO, Dan is responsible for the leading the global relationship with Marriott’s top strategic partners. Originally from Phoenix, AZ, Dan spent 12 years in San Diego before relocating to Denver in 2015. Along with his wife, Courtney, and 3 young kids, Dan enjoys taking advantage of the Colorado outdoors, attending concerts, or cheering on his favorite hometown sports teams.

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Board Member at Large

Senior Director of Strategic Events, Salesforce

An accomplished Global Event Professional with 20+ years of experience and expertise in event planning and administration, broadcast production, global account management, and large-scale project oversight. I have worked with Salesforce for the past 13+ years on various global and national strategic marketing events. I have a proven track record of quickly comprehending and articulating complex information and effectively communicating with audiences from a variety of educational, economic, and cultural backgrounds. My main focuses have been on keynote production, broadcast and film production, and global events. I completed my undergraduate degree from The University of Southern California, and my MBA from Anderson University. When I am not traveling for work, I love snowboarding at various mountains in the US, hanging out with my two golden retrievers and spending time on my home lake.

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Board Member at Large

Vice President of Operations, Lenos Software

Jodi Morrison is Vice President of Operations at Lenos Software, heading up global customer support and professional services. She joins Lenos with 20+ years corporate event leadership experience overseeing technology and operations for Oracle Open World, NetSuite SuiteWorld, Modern Business Experience, and Modern Customer Experience, to cite a few. Jodi's work has taken her around the world managing the production of Oracle’s global live events. She is now applying her experience and expertise to assist enterprise customers with their adoption of a holistic enterprise-wide marketing, meetings, and event software solution platform.

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Board Member at Large

Senior Director, Global Event Management & Strategy, Illumio

Professionally, Leslie Hasvold has been in the Bay Area event industry for 25 years and her career has spanned from small surgeon trainings to large scale technical user conferences. She has had the pleasure of working across the globe and in all elements of the event programming cycle. She has established herself as a leader in her organizations both literally and by the virtue of her breadth of expertise. Finally, she is a virtual event hipster, having supported those since before COVID-19 made them cool.

Personally, she divides her time between CA, NV, and OR. She has four dogs to love, has been an avid traveler since long before she found this amazing career, and has a LEGO obsession that is inappropriate as a childless middle-aged woman.

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Board Member at Large

Director, Strategic Events, Ring Central

Sara Straw, CMP is no stranger to the event marketing industry having spent the last 14 years immersed in all the fun and chaos of all we love and do. As the Director of Strategic Events at RingCentral, Sara is responsible for developing the company’s global event strategy as-well-as overseeing a team of rockstar event marketers who manage all internal, hosted, and 3rd party events. Prior to joining RingCentral, Sara was responsible for a portfolio of global events at leading SaaS companies, F5 Networks and Sage Software, plus leading background screening provider, Sterling Talent Solutions.

When she is not busy producing lead generating events, Sara enjoys spending time with her 21 nieces and nephews and running her solo travel coaching and design company, STW Planning LLC. Sara is the founder of the Solo Travel Woman Society, a global community of women focused on sharing knowledge and empowerment as it relates to travel. In 2020, Sara published The Ultimate Solo Travel Woman Guide, and became the host of The Solo Travel Woman Podcast.

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