Meetings Today Names Top Practitioners Of 2004

A common thread runs through the stories of Meetings Today's Best Practitioners of 2003-2004: All of the people involved created comprehensive strategies to elevate the level of oversight of meeting planning activities, and all have started to reap the benefits of greater control. Though each practitioner used a different paintbrush—be it creating a preferred meeting hotel program, implementing mandated companywide policy, developing a global program or applying procurement-based strategies—each practitioner, in his or her own way, is emblematic of a meetings industry seeking the best methods by which to strategically manage its spending.

Meetings Today congratulates its Best Practitioners of 2003-2004: Anne-Marie Christian, manager of travel and meeting services for Eli Lilly & Co.; Michelle Harper, global sourcing specialist for Intel Corp.; Kari Knoll Kesler, travel, meetings and promotions sourcing specialist for ING Americas; and a pair of managers from Lockheed Martin Corp.: director of corporate travel services Richard Wooten and travel commodity manager for global hotels and groups and meetings programs Frank Melesky.

Meetings Today during the spring solicited nominations from readers and the industry at large of meeting buyers whose programs either completed or began to show verifiable results since the beginning of 2003.

We appreciate the cooperation of the best practitioners and those in the travel industry who participated in the process.

~Chris Davis