2024 Education Forum Speakers
Below are speakers from the 2024 FICP Education Forum that took place June 12-14, 2024 in Chicago, IL.
Christine Bermingham, CMP, Director, Member Engagement, Financial Services Institute
As Director of Member Engagement, Christine works directly with all FSI councils and task forces, encouraging member engagement through thought leadership to identify areas FSI can advocate on behalf of membership interests. She also facilitates the content development and delivery for all FSI events.
Christine brings with her over 20 years of financial services experience. Prior to joining FSI, she served as Director of Corporate Events for Triad Advisors, LLC and part of the events team for Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (currently Osaic) for over 12 years. Most recently, Christine operated as the Project Manager for a boutique 401k firm in Atlanta. She is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and received her Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) certification in 2019.
Christine holds both an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Truett-McConnell University and a B.A. in Public and Political Communication from Georgia State University. Based in Atlanta, she enjoys the outdoors, traveling and all things music.
Kelly Bishop, CMM, CMP, Certified Wellness Coach, Pick Positive LLC
Meet Kelly Bishop, the Chief Positivity Officer of Wellevate Experiences, a dynamic leader with 25 years of experience in curating hospitality excellence. Her journey has encompassed shaping remarkable guest experiences in top-tier hotels and leading a global event strategy team for a Fortune 100 Insurance company. Kelly is on a mission to inspire, empower and motivate individuals to become the best version of themselves. Her profound background in people-centric hospitality and constant commitment to positive well-being ignited her entrepreneurial spirit, leading to the birth of Wellevate Experiences.
A natural leader, Kelly is a coach, mentor, team culture strategist, cheerleader and people developer. She is known for her ability to drive positive team culture, honest communications and the cultivation of meaningful partnerships and relationships.
She resides in a Boston suburb and finds joy in spending time with her husband and three children. An adventurer at heart, she relishes outdoor activities, especially snowboarding. She is captain of her tennis team, an avid golfer, just joined a women’s hockey team and is a connoisseur of travel and culinary experiences.
Nick Borelli, Director of Marketing, Zenus
Zenus Director of Marketing, Nick Borelli, leverages his background in experience design, event tech and digital marketing to help event professionals reach their full potential. His background includes decades of contributions to live and digital communication helping to facilitate his mission: bringing the world together through intentionally designed experiences. To further this mission, he has presented on a wide range of topics internationally, volunteered with numerous industry associations and contributed to dozens of publications. He has also served as a board member for a decade with the meetings and events industry non-profit, The SEARCH Foundation.
Nick has been named a Changemaker by MeetingsNet, awarded International Volunteer of the Year by International Live Events Association and has won numerous marketing awards. He has served as an advisor for associations, conferences, technology companies and event suppliers. Nick is the instructor of the Enhancing Events With AI course with the Event Leadership Institute.
Stacey Hanke, Founder and CEO, Stacey Hanke Inc.
Coming from an entrepreneurial upbringing, Stacey learned early on how we consistently show up and interact determines our success in our organizations and in our lives. Starting with a career in voice-over, she quickly realized how every word matters - every movement of your body matters and every sound you make matters (volume, tone and inflection). All of these combined determines who listens, who stays connected with you, who believes you and then acts on your recommendation.
Stacey then jumped into the corporate world as a trainer for Fortune 500 companies, training every possible topic from motivation to customer service to leadership. She traveled internationally researching the difference between a leader who is influential versus a leader who’s simply a good communicator.
Today, Stacey is the CEO of a highly sought-after consulting and training company where she mentors leaders who want to ensure their employees perceive them as an influential leader – those who are working towards a promotion – and sales professionals to ensure their message and style resonates with their clients.
An inductee into the Speaker Hall of Fame, she has been a featured guest on media outlets including: The New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Thrive, SmartMoney Magazine, The Economist and Business Week. Her client list is vast: FedEx, McDonalds, Google, Kraft Heinz, Nationwide, American Express, Discover and Oracle. Her knowledge leading diverse, high-level teams makes her a sought-after speaker and consultant and she has inspired thousands around the world through her ability to connect with an audience and one-on-one.
With over 20 years of studying influence across cultures and industries, leading large corporate teams makes her the perfect fit for organizations large and small who are ready to influence on a consistent basis. Clients hire Stacey because of her implementable strategies that help leaders get to the point, communicate with confidence and credibility, to build trust and deliver messages that drive action, creating lasting results.
Manuel F. Hernandez, Senior Sales Executive, JW Marriott Anaheim Resort
Currently serving as a Senior Sales Executive at the JW Marriott Anaheim Resort, Manny brings over a decade of expertise in enhancing revenue and nurturing exceptional customer relationships within the hotel and hospitality industry.
Commencing his journey as a Group Sales Intern, Manny swiftly ascended through the ranks, showcasing his aptitude for innovation and strategic leadership. He swiftly transitioned to a full-time role as a Group Sales Manager representing over 100 Marriott Hotels in the Southwestern United States. Progressing further, Manny assumed the position of Regional Sales Manager in 2018, garnering numerous accolades including the honor of Sales Manager of the Year for 2018 and surpassing monthly and quarterly sales goals by 115% in 2019. His trajectory culminated in his current role as Senior Sales Executive at the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort, where he continues to build relationships, surpass expectations and establish new benchmarks of excellence.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Manny can be found spending quality time with his daughter, cycling through Southern California, and embarking on adventures at Disneyland.
Tracy Judge, MS, CMP, Founder & CEO, Soundings
Tracy Judge, Founder & CEO of Soundings, is an accomplished entrepreneur shaping the future of talent solutions in events, hospitality, and non-profits. With a people-first ethos and passion for connecting professionals, Tracy founded Soundings with the mission of making professional freedom accessible to all by revolutionizing the way companies work with talent.
She has a master's degree in hospitality and tourism from San Diego State University and over 15 years of business events experience holding roles in operations, sales, and executive leadership. Tracy is a known thought leader, visionary, and connector. She founded Soundings in 2018 when she recognized companies had the need for agile, on-demand talent solutions, and industry professionals wanted more flexible work arrangements that they were also passionate about. By creating a platform to connect talent and organizations, everyone could win.
Today, Soundings boasts its Thrive community of 2,600+ freelance professionals representing 50+ specializations. The members-only community centers around a proprietary method of analyzing talent’s experience, skills, strengths, and personal attributes to ensure roles for clients are filled with the most relevant for the project. Tracy is passionate about devising agile talent strategies that maximize profitability, magnify products and services, and increase talent retention for organizations, while creating opportunities for talent to be professionally free.
As a certified Women-Owned Small Business, Soundings proudly serves female-dominated industries and champions diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Tracy is an advocate for women in the events industry and is actively involved in industry associations locally and globally including Meeting Professionals International, SITE, and PCMA.
Deborah Kane
Bio coming soon!
Jessica King, CMP, Associate Director, Meetings and Events, First Command Financial Services
Jessica King currently serves as the Associate Director, Meetings and Events for First Command Financial Services in Fort Worth, TX. She leads a team of amazing meeting planners who executes 300+ events per year for the companies Advisors, District Advisors, Staff and Home Office Employees. Graduating with a degree in Hospitality Management from the University of North Texas, Jessica’s professional journey started in 2009 as a wedding venue manager. Along the way she worked as a private events director for country clubs and business clubs then ultimately landing in corporate meeting planning in 2017 where she found her true passion within meetings and events. She obtained her CMP in November 2019.
In her free time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and two small children, reading, traveling and enjoying the great outdoors.
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Edeline Larkins, CMM, Meeting & Event Planning Manager, Wells Fargo
Edeline Larkins is a Certified Meeting Manager with 20+ years of experience in the corporate financial services industry. She is currently an Executive Director, Event Management for Wells Fargo’s Corporate Investment Banking and Wealth Investment Management executive teams and, also leads the bank’s tradeshow program.
Edeline manages a team of elite meeting, event and tradeshow professionals who partner with the different Wells Fargo lines of businesses and support teams to design, plan, and execute over 500+ best-in-class programs each year. Attendees include employees and customers across the enterprise’s footprint both domestically and abroad.
Graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in Marketing, Edeline found her passion in event marketing and creating strategies to align with a company’s objectives for events. She began her planning career working for Club Corporation of America managing member retention and planning social events. Edeline made her transition to corporate planning in 2004 when she joined Wachovia Bank.
Over the last 20 years Edeline has supported all Wells Fargo businesses which has provided her the opportunity to learn the nuances of each one and to develop her planning and leadership skills in a highly complex and matrixed corporation. Her dedication to coaching and career development, analyzing business intelligence, identifying opportunities to develop plans to help businesses achieve their goals and building strong relationships has earned Edeline the respect as a trusted strategic leader and business partner across the organization.
In her spare time, Edeline and her husband Corey enjoy shuttling their five children around to their many extracurricular activities, from gymnasiums to stages across the greater Eastern seaboard.
Taylor Laws, CMP, DMCP, Regional Director of Sales, Destination South Meetings & Events
Taylor Laws, CMP, DMC, is impeccable at relationship building and has established herself as a force in the South’s hospitality scene. After earning her B.S. in Hospitality from Oklahoma State University, Taylor moved to Atlanta without knowing a soul. Pairing her hotel experience with a passion for events, it was a natural progression for Taylor to move into destination management.
Taylor now serves as the Regional Director of Sales at Destination South Meetings + Events, where she loves forging alliances and collaborating with partners from the Skyline to the Shoreline in Atlanta, Savannah and Charleston.
She consistently brings fresh inspiration and expertise to her team, as she is always out and about, actively exploring and savoring the South. Taylor’s vibrant personality and hospitality toward everyone she meets make her the ideal Regional Director of Sales for Destination South’s team.
When not busy networking, Taylor spends time with her husband, daughter, and golden retriever. She enjoys planting her vegetable garden every spring, frequenting the local farmers market, and of course, eating her way through Atlanta’s ever-changing food scene.
Melissa Majors, Human-Centered Leadership Consultant, Melissa Majors Consulting
Melissa Majors has spent 25+ years of her career optimizing the business impact of education, innovation, inclusion, and leadership. She started Melissa Majors Consulting to drive better strategic decision-making in these areas and works with organizations across the country to effectively measure their inclusion and diversity performance. She has extensive experience at Meeting Professionals International, Ellucian, and other organizations, in improving profitability, boosting organizational performance, and optimizing inclusion strategies.
Melissa is the author of "The 7 Simple Habits of Inclusive Leaders". In this book, she reveals how great leaders enjoy superior team performance and drives much higher profitability by incorporating inclusive practices.
Melissa Majors is a crowd-pleasing speaker who masters brain-friendly talks that engage her audiences and spark not just inspiration but action.
Sarah McCabe, Director of Northeast Regional Sales, Visit Austin
Representing Visit Austin from Boston, Sarah McCabe has passionately considered Austin her home-away-from home for more than 17 years. As Director of Northeast Sales, Sarah is charged to expose Austin’s one-of-a-kind culture while driving the economic impact the meeting industry provides.
Currently the local resource in the Northeast market, Sarah managed the Chicago/Midwest market for 13 years and is the direct liaison to all things Austin.
As a Midwesterner, Sarah began her journey in hospitality with a Minneapolis-based incentive firm. Her curiosity and love for adventure guided an opportunity to move to Hong Kong where she spent two years working for a DMC. Overseas she experienced immense personal growth along with unforgettable exploration all over China and Southeast Asia.
Back in the states, Sarah discovered the value of the DMO community and was smitten with Austin’s culture and innovation during her first trip in 2005. Since joining the team, she has witnessed the evolution of Austin, while seeing it remain true to its roots, which captivated her during her tenure with Visit Austin. Sarah is passionate about the “Austin” brand and experience and greatly enjoys sharing Austin with clients.
Sarah’s family of five enjoys hiking + skiing in New England, Crane Beach, Massachusetts’ Saturdays in late summer and long visits to see extended family back in Wisconsin on Lake Michigan.
Travis Pham, CMP, Global Business Director, 360 Destination Group
Travis has over 15 years of experience in the corporate events industry. He focused his career in global hotel sales, destination services, and event management. His unique experience enables him to connect all the dots required for producing events large and small; live and virtual. As Global Business Director at 360 Destination Group, Travis is laser-focused on ensuring collaboration among all partners to seamlessly deliver on his client’s vision. He is an advocate for our industry and is an active member of FICP, MPI, ILEA, HSMAI and currently serves on the MPI Greater New York Board of Directors.
Cara Pratt, CMP, DMCP, DES, Vice President of Business Development, CSI DMC
Cara Pratt has designed and executed hundreds of events in greater Boston over the last 15 years. As a past board member for ILEA Boston and MPI New England, and the past president of PCMA New England, Cara is actively involved in the local events community. Cara was named Top 20 in their Twenties by Professional Convention Management Association International, 2016 Rising Star for the Association of Destination Management Executives International, as well as 40 under 40 for Connect Meetings Magazine. In 2018, Cara became a partner at CSI DMC, where she was able to use her extensive experience in planning events in Boston to help grow the CSI team and open three new offices around New England. When Cara is not networking and showcasing New England, you will find her on a boat ride with her son and fiancé or enjoying time with friends at her family’s bar.
Diana Voto, Northeast National Sales, Disney Meetings & Events
Diana serves as the National Sales Director for Disney Meetings & Events. In this role, she spearheads the B2B sales strategy, focusing on the Northeast Market Place and cultivating strong relationships with Insurance and Financial clients.
Diana's academic journey includes a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA from Fordham University in New York City. Beyond her professional pursuits, she resides in New York City with her husband, Paul, and their two sons. Outside of work, Diana finds joy in running and spending time with family and friends.