Meeting Professionals International (MPI) began implementing an organization realignment this week to better position the association for long-term, strategic growth, which involved the creation of new leadership positions, realignment of management responsibilities, and the restructuring staff roles and teams.
“We have made so much positive progress transforming our association over the past few years and our membership satisfaction scores, market feedback, and community and revenue growth confirm we’re on the right track,” said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. “Our focus has been to increase member value and grow our community with the introduction of the MPI Academy and new educational offerings, the launch of our new membership and chapter infrastructure models, the acquisition of Plan Your Meetings, and other strategic initiatives. However, we recognize there is more to accomplish including becoming more efficient with our operations and we believe this realignment will improve our organization.”
The leadership appointments, which include two new hires and two promotions, are as follows:
Marianne Strobel – Senior Vice President of Marketing & Community
Strobel is charged with managing MPI’s Membership, Chapter Operations, Creative Services, Brand Marketing and Communications teams. She is a seasoned executive with 25+ years of experience in strategic marketing, sales and communications, and has previously held leadership positions with Alorica, AT&T and Sprint. Strobel has served as a consultant for MPI for the past few months and will assume the new role on October 3rd.
Matthew Marcial, CAE, CMP – Vice President of Education & Events
Marcial previously served as MPI’s Senior Director of Events and has been with the association since 2014. He now has oversight of MPI’s global events portfolio and the MPI Academy educational products, experiences and professional certificate programs. Prior to MPI, Matthew previously led the Meetings & Education Department at NAFA Fleet Management Association and the Meetings & Events Department at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Evan Casey – Vice President of Sales
Casey previously served as Senior Director of Business Development. He was with Plan Your Meetings for 16 years before MPI acquired it in November 2015. In this new role, Casey is responsible for leading the association’s business development team in global sales efforts.
Bernie Schraer – Vice President of Revenue & Channel Development
Schraer has served as a consultant for MPI for the past 18 months. In this new role, he manages MPI’s Strategic Alliance, Plan Your Meeting Audience Development, and Publishing teams. Schraer was previously with Northstar Travel Media for 24 years, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President/Group Publisher and was responsible for global media sales and strategic vision.
“We are confident the realignment as well as the additional appointments we made will position MPI very well for long-term financial sustainability. The decision to restructure our organization was not made lightly, but we believe it will strengthen our team so we can better serve our members and the industry,” added Van Deventer.
In addition, Diane Hawkins, MPI’s Vice President of People, Performance and Administrative Services has assumed responsibility for the Volunteer Experience Team, which manages board relations and governance. Jodi Ann LaFreniere Ray, MPI’s current Vice President of Membership and Volunteer Experience, will depart in mid-November; she has been selected as the incoming Executive Director and CEO of the Texas Society of CPAs.
