Five Canadians Receive New Updated CMM Designation

Five Canadians are among the 46 meeting and travel professionals recently presented with a Certificate of Meeting Management (CMM) by The GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), and Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

This is the first group to successfully complete the updated CMM program developed jointly by GBTA and MPI and delivered by the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

The Canadian recipients are:

• Elizabeth Best, Niagara Region, Ontario
• Charlene Forde, Canadian Finance & Leasing Association, Toronto, Ontario
• Barrie Lynch, Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA) BC, New Westminster, British Columbia
• Jennifer Scigliano, Inn at Laurel Point, Victoria, British Columbia
• Vittoria Wikston, Niagara Falls Tourism, Niagara Falls, Ontario

In December 2013, MPI and GBTA first announced that they had joined forces to develop the updated CMM program. The three-phase comprehensive business education program is designed for both meeting and travel professionals. It includes: a 3.5 day, on-site immersion program comprised of business education courses delivered in a participatory learning format by professors from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia; a virtual boot camp with on-demand offerings focused on both meeting management and business travel management; and the development and evaluation of an independent work-based, business project.

The first updated program was delivered in November 2014 with an immersion program in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It received high satisfaction scores from participants for overall programming, on-site support and educational material. Ninety-seven per cent of participants said they would recommend the program to others.

“The teams at GBTA and MPI could not be more pleased with the positive feedback we’ve received from this first class of participants on the redesigned CMM program,” said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. “We commend each of these leaders on this milestone achievement and wish them unlimited success in the future.”

Five CMM classes are being offered in 2015. The first immersion program ran May 31-June 3 in Puebla, Mexico. The remaining program dates and locations are:

• August 27-30, 2015, Denver, Colorado
• October 1-4, 2015, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• October 22-25, 2015, Mexico (city TBD)
• November 12-15, 2015, Anaheim, California

“With MPI, we designed the updated CMM program to help meeting and travel professionals bolster their business management skills and advance their careers,” said Daphne Bryant, GBTA Foundation executive director. “These 46 leaders did just that through the intensive study program we’ve developed that will leave them poised to drive business success in their companies.”

The other 41 CMM recipients are:

• Laura Bell Way, Autodesk, Inc.
• Kelly Bishop, Liberty Mutual
• Heather Borneman, Teleflex
• Jerome Bruce, Association of Government Accountants
• Susan Burruss-Gibson, JBS & Associates
• Carol Cassano, Cleveland Event Solutions
• Nicola Chiappa, PartnerRe
• Matthew Derner, MD Events
• Sandra  Dewberry, Merz North America, Inc
• Deborah Dickerson, American Express
• Jorgelina Diez De Doeyo, Xtreme @Microsoft
• Virginia Dodge, VA Productions, Inc.
• Cristy Donaldson, Baxter Healthcare
• Dave Eckberg, Bishop-McCann
• Debbie Friedman-Hueller, Laureate Online Education
• Margaret Garcia, Farmers Group, Inc.
• Betsy Gonzalez, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
• Kaaren  Hamilton, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group
• Michelle Heller,  McVeigh Associates
• Kyle Hillman, NASW IL
• Shinhye Hwang, International Meeting Partners
• Paulette Jensen, ACTAVIS
• Anthony Kalyk, Telluride Conference Center
• Laura Kesselman, Kesselman-Jones, Inc.
• Sandra  Khoury, LIUNA
• Michelle Manire, Coast to Coast Conferences & Events
• Diana Marinos, Boston Scientific
• Teresa  Matamoros, Meetings Partner LLC
• Elly McCloud, LIGHTFAIR International
• Julie Nack Locke, HelmsBriscoe
• Natalie  Norris, Meetings and More, Inc.
• Lynnette Offen Gerber, HelmsBriscoe
• Joanna  Oliver, EmCare
• Tamara Olson, DJO Global
• Elizabeth Peeler, D-P Planning Meetings & Events
• Dawn Perrone, Sanofi Pasteur
• Whitney Smith, Rice University’s Baker Institute
• Kim Stanley
• Joyce Watson, Events DC/ Washington DC Convention Center
• Lisa Wilson, NCH Marketing Services, Inc.
• Crystal  Zawilinski, Fox Premier Meetings and Incentives

For more information on the program visit www.mpiweb.org/CMM or www.gbta.org/CMM.