WORLD — Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has announced the recipients of this year’s RISE (Recognising Industry Success and Excellence) Awards. The winners will be honoured at an annual luncheon on 3 August 3, 2015, during MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC) in San Francisco.
This year there will be six awards in three categories: individual achievement, community achievement and organisational achievement. Recipients are recognised for innovation, global transferability, impact and influence within the industry, and will join the MPI Community of Honorees.
Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI, said: “These leaders represent the best and brightest of our industry and are selected for their outstanding achievements and measurable contributions. It will truly be an honour to recognise each recipient during the annual awards presentation at WEC 2015 in San Francisco this August.”
The RISE Award for Young Professional will be presented to Kinga Socko of Poland. Socko had a significant role in the development of the Poland Meetings and Events Industry Report, which is used to prepare national and city budgets and influences business tourism in Poland. She also played a key part in the country’s DMAI accreditation process, which has resulted in Poland becoming one of only three European destinations that is fully accredited with one of the most important DMO organisations, opening the Poland Convention Bureau to the North American market. Socko is a member of the MPI Poland Club and most recently served as a project manager of the Local Organising Committee for the 2015 MPI European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC).
The RISE Award for Meeting Industry Leadership will be presented to David Peckinpaugh of St Louis, for his strategic global influence on the meeting and event industry. As president of Maritz Travel Company and co-chair of the Meetings Mean Business Coalition, he has worked to unite the industry in joining together to demonstrate the value of meetings. Peckinpaugh has been at the forefront in the fight to end human trafficking, and as a result, Maritz Travel became one of the first travel companies to partner with ECPAT International, signing ECPAT-USA’s Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct. He currently serves on the board and executive committee for the US Travel Association and is an advisory board member for Tourism Vancouver, Delta Airlines, Taj Hotels, Social Tables, St Louis University’s Hospitality Program, and the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI).
The RISE Award for Member of the Year will be presented to Tara Liaschenko, CMM of St Petersburg, Florida, for her volunteer leadership with the MPI Tampa Bay Area Chapter as well as other MPI chapters. Liaschenko has also provided key leadership support for MPI chapters through her Elite Fleet program, a strategic succession-planning programme that addresses the challenge of succession planning at the chapter level. She contributes to the future growth of the industry, providing internships to local students and those from her alma mater, Stephens College, as well as by underwriting scholarships for two students to become MPI members each year.
The RISE Award for Community Achievement in Knowledge and Ideas will be presented to the Meeting Industry Council of Colorado (MIC) for its MIC Educational Conference and Tradeshow. It also helped to inspire Meetings Week in the Rocky Mountain area, which is held the week of the conference.
The RISE Award for Community Achievement in Marketplace Excellence will be presented to the MPI Potomac Chapter for their annual Flipped Marketplace programme, which is held at their Mid-Atlantic Conference and Expo (MACE).
The RISE Award for Organisational Achievement will be presented to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities for its refined strategy on its use of meetings and events to help support its five key goals while producing fewer, yet more enhanced high quality events with greater member engagement. Each of the association’s events were assessed against a matrix of criteria including attendee reach, member value, profitability, and staff time in order to identify those that could be phased out, combined, or improved to increase value to its members.
