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PCMA Names 2015 Professional Achievement Award Winners

The PCMA Education Foundation has chosen a trio of meeting professionals with a combined one-hundred years of service to the industry to honor with its 2015 Professional Achievement Awards.

The 2015 Meeting Professional Honoree, Kati S. Quigley, CMP, is a notable strategic thinker with more than 25 years in the meetings industry. As senior director of partner community marketing for the Microsoft Corporation, Quigley is responsible for content, marketing, experience design, and the digital-engagement strategy of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference — a meeting with 15,000-plus attendees from 156 countries. Quigley has also been active in PCMA throughout her career, serving as chair of the PCMA Board of Directors and in various officer roles. (While chair, she visited almost every chapter, helping to reinvigorate chapter leaders and drive attendance at their events.) She’s currently a member of the PCMA Education Foundation Board of Trustees, and has been key to growing PCMA’s membership of senior-level meeting professionals.

Educator Honoree George G. Fenich, Ph.D., spent 15 years in the hospitality industry before migrating to academia in 1985. Now a professor in the School of Hospitality Leadership at East Carolina University, Fenich has taught more than 15 higher-education courses on meetings, tourism, and hospitality field; written or edited more than 10 textbooks; and published more than 40 research articles and studies, including “Making Sense of the Millennial Generation,” released by PCMA in 2012. Fenich has also served (or continues to serve) on a range of industry-related committees, including the PCMA Faculty Task Force, the PCMA Student Task Force, the PCMA Annual Meeting Program Committee, the MPI Foundation Board of Trustees, and the DMAI Faculty Task Force.

Supplier Honoree Anne Hamilton is a true champion of the meetings sector. A 35-year industry veteran, Hamilton has spent more than two decades advocating on behalf of the meetings industry, serving on the boards of directors for both PCMA and MPI as well as volunteering throughout the industry. She’s currently a member of the PCMA Board of Trustees. As vice president for resort sales and services for Disney Destinations, Hamilton leads a team of 170 representatives who are responsible for meetings at Disney properties and theme parks. She has been instrumental in growing Disney Destinations’ sales. She also serves on boards in industry, government, and academia. In addition, Hamilton has been named an ASAE Fellow.

Quigley, Fenich, and Hamilton will be honored at the PCMA Education Foundation Dinner Celebrating Professional Achievement at the Marriott Marquis Washington, DC on April 8.

Corin Hirsch

Corin Hirsch is a writer who specializes in food and drink.