Meetings Beat - 2002-07-15
PCMA Names Kushner President, CEO
The Professional Convention Management Association last month capped a five-month search by naming medical association head David Kushner its new president and CEO. Kushner, previously chief executive of the Chevy Chase, Md.-based Community Hospital Education Alliance, has a long history in the field.
"His proven track record in membership service, organization development and business leadership is a perfect match for PCMA," said Lisa Block, chairman of the board of PCMA directors and director of meetings and conferences for the Society of Human Resource Management.
Kushner replaced interim CEO Jay Donahue, who returns to his role as PCMA senior vice president of operations. PCMA was without a permanent CEO since the firing of David DuBois in January. DuBois landed on his feet the next month as the new CEO of the Meeting Professionals International Foundation.
Certain Links Software, Online Reg
San Francisco-based meeting technology company Certain Software last month released a new version of its Meeting Planner Plus software suite that includes online attendee management functionality. The company bought nascent online registration company Register 123 in December and integrated its offerings into its solution set. Certain actually released three versions of its software at the same time, each with escalating capability, the most robust of which will connect the desktop software directly to the online reg system and prepopulate forms.
"I'm confident the technology we released is the most advanced on the market," Certain CEO James Pappas said. The move is the latest development in the meeting desktop software segment, as those companies seek to move some of their offerings online while growing the capabilities of their desktop products (Meetings Today, April 22).
~Chris Davis