Our Trainers

Betsy Bondurant, CMP, CMM

Betsy Bondurant, President and founder of Bondurant Consulting, holds the respected designations of Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and Certified Meeting Manager (CMM). During her 15 year tenure at the world’s largest biotech company, Betsy developed and implemented a pioneering corporate-wide strategic meeting management program. Prior to her work in meetings managements, she spent 15 years in the hotel and restaurant side of the business.

Betsy holds a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has been an active member of MPI since 1994; having served on many of international committees and as a member of the International Board of Directors from 2005-2008. In addition, she has participated in a number of industry advisory boards, panels, and forums. Betsy was recognized as one of Business Travel News “Best Practitioners of 2002.” In 2004 she was honored as one of meeting News “25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry.”

M. Theresa (Terri) Breining, CMP, CMM

Theresa Breining, CMP, CMM is a principal with Breining Group LLC, whose focus is facilitating, training and consulting in the meeting industry. Terri has been in the meeting planning industry since 1976, and has been responsible for producing meetings around the globe.


Considered by many to be a thought leader, Terri is an activist working tirelessly on the continuous advancement of the level of professionalism in the meeting industry, and has been serving as adjunct faculty for meeting planning programs for universities throughout Southern California for over 20 years. She is a sought after speaker, presenting educational workshops for a variety of business entities, and co-authored a book with Jack Phillips, entitled Return on Investment in Meetings and Events.

She has been recognized professionally many times over the years, including her inclusion several times on the list of “Most Influential People in the Meeting Industry” by Meeting News Magazine. Most recently, she was selected for induction into the Convention Industry Council’s Hall of Leaders for 2010.

Barb Taylor Carpender, CMM, CHSC

In March of 2006, the Meetings Industry Council of Colorado bestowed their 2005 Leadership Award on BT. In July of 2006 she was named MPI’s International Supplier of the Year (SOTY). The MPI International SOTY award recognizes outstanding association and industry contributions, leadership and professionalism.

BT is the founder of Taylored Alliances which offers tailored solutions aligned with clients’ needs and is the benchmark for industry-centric intermediary organizations. Alliances have been established with experts in the areas of industry training, consulting, facilitation, presenting and professional services. A primary alliance has been formed with Global Marketing Services, Inc. (GMS) whose mission is to help organizations develop stronger relationships with their customers through ongoing communication. Their core business is the formation and facilitation of advisory boards, focus groups and strategic planning programs.

Krzysztof Celuch

Lecturer in Business Tourism
MPI POLAND CLUB President 2009-2011

Krzysztof Celuch CITE – manager of Convention Bureau of Poland Polish Tourist Organization, lecturer in business tourism. President of MPI POLAND CLUB, organizer of Student Scientific Conference Future Leaders Forum Warsaw and author of Warsaw Meetings Industry Report. According to The Meeting Professional Magazine one of 30 people under 30 age currently making an impact on the global meetings community in 2007 and 2008.

Laurel Coote

President/ Founder
Pick My Brain Consulting, LLC

After receiving several calls from clients and industry colleagues asking if they could “pick her brain”, Laurel had a brainstorm! The result: the creation of Pick My Brain Consulting, LLC. Combining her experience in business ownership, marketing, training, events and coaching, Laurel created a company that is committed to helping others grow and develop their businesses, resulting in the achievement of their goals and objectives. With over 20 years experience in the meetings industry, Laurel especially enjoys working with entrepreneurs and independent planners.

As President of The Laureli Group, Inc. (TLGI), a full-service meeting management & event marketing firm from 1999 to 2009, Laurel and her team provided services to corporate and non-profit organizations. In 2007, she launched a division of TLGI called Meetings That Give Back – which focuses on Corporate Social Responsibility by creating events that bring companies and communities together.

She is an Adjunct Professor at Glendale Community College in Glendale, California teaching Event Management and Introduction to Travel and Tourism in the college’s Hotel & Culinary School. Laurel also leads youth pilgrimage and mission trips during the summer months throughout the world.

Driven by a passion for excellence, quality service and measureable outcomes, Laurel is committed to making a tangible and positive contribution to her clients, their customers and the world.

Peter Haigh

Hamilton Haigh Associates

Peter Haigh is the principal consultant at Hamilton Haigh Associates, a London based, performance improvement consultancy focusing on the hotels and meetings industries, which he established in 2009. He is a certified evaluation practitioner using the Phillips ROI Methodology.

Peter has worked in hotel sales and marketing for over 30 years at Corporate, Regional and individual property level. Most recently he was Regional Director, Northern Europe for Preferred Hotel Group. Peter worked for Le Meridien as Director of Sales Operations, Europe prior to its acquisition by Starwood Hotels

Peter has also worked at The Ritz Hotel, London, for The Savoy Group of Hotels and Restaurants, Accor Hotels and Resorts and spent 14 years at Marriott Hotels and Resorts working in both the US and Europe at regional and property levels.

Peter has been a member of Meeting Professionals International for 16 years. He has previously served as President of the UK Chapter and the European Council and sat on MPI’s International Board of Directors. He has recently completed MPI’s Train the Trainer Accreditation programme.

Tyra W. Hilliard, JD.,CMP

Tyra W. Hilliard, J.D., CMP is a consultant, educator, and attorney who has spent her entire professional life in the meetings industry. As a multipreneur in the areas of risk management and legal issues for meetings and events, Tyra is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, develops and delivers online education, conducts in-house training, and provides consulting services to the meetings and events industry. In addition to speaking at U.S. conferences, Tyra has presented educational programs to international audiences in countries such as Turkey, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Denmark, Mexico, and Canada. Tyra is also one of very few attorneys who have also earned the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation.

Tyra is actively involved with meetings industry associations. She chaired the Convention Industry Council's APEX Contracts Panel and serves on the Student/Faculty Advisory Council for Meeting Professionals International. She has been an invited participant in Meeting Professionals International's Platinum Speaker Series on risk management, legal, and ethical topics. She was named "One of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry" by MeetingNews magazine in 2004.

As a part-time faculty member at The George Washington University, Tyra teaches graduate courses in meeting and event management in class as well as online. She has also taught courses in a meeting and event management program at UNLV Singapore. Early in her career, Tyra worked in the meetings industry as a meeting planner, a catering manager, and an association executive. Her industry experience gives her a unique perspective on the legal and business aspects of meeting and event management.

Tyra has written risk management chapters in two meetings industry books including the Convention Industry Council Manual (8^th edition). She has also contributed material to other books on topics such as contracts, intellectual property law, and ethics. Her other publications include research articles on hotel safety and security, Olympic Games security, and hotel meeting contracts as well as numerous meetings industry magazine articles on legal topics. She is currently in the process of co-authoring a textbook on event project management.

Miranda Ioannau

Known as the driving force behind “unleash potential,” the factor for development of positive, energizing motivation, Miranda Ioannou is a visionary strategist with broad experience in diverse industry sectors such as the meetings industry, non-profits, IT, publishing, and large scale projects. With an academic background in International Business, Marketing, PR, HR, IT and strategic meetings management, Miranda has more than 20 years experience in multinational organizations, the global meetings industry and the association management business in Cyprus, EMEA and the US. An active member of the meetings industry scene and avid believer in streamlining, Miranda is an engaging speaker. Miranda helps organizations, governmental agencies and associations develop their conferences and their offerings/services, promotes the use of effective meetings as the major means of actively developing strategic business, and is very committed to developing the meeting industry in the Mediterranean area. Furthermore, with extensive knowledge on the region of south Europe and the Middle East, and by combining the perspective of the customer and supplier sides effectively and constructively, she was the key catalyst that helped and continues to help destinations and venues develop their offering for the meetings industry to international standards. As a consultant to the EU Commission for technology, SMB and e-enablement, Miranda promotes the role of meetings in the development of stronger ties, effective networking and synergies for the future. Miranda furthermore lectures on strategic business, management, HR, new media and meeting industry topics.

Ruud Janssen

Ruud Janssen (1970) is Entrepreneur, Educator and Trainer at ©TNOC | The New Objective Collective and founder of ©The Meetings Initiative.

He started the collective with a background as Group Marketing Director for Congrex , a global Professional Conference Organiser and Association Management where he delivered large scale conferences, events and trade shows from Lisbon to Yokohama for Corporations, Governmental Institutions and Associations. With a educational background in services marketing & hospitality management he has spent the first 15 years of his career learning and growing through the management and executive ranks.

Besides his active role in MPI (President 2007-2009 Meeting Professionals International Netherlands chapter, Boardroom coach for MPI Italy chapter), MSI Meeting Support Institute, Cornell Hotel Society and the Centre for Live Communication, he is a guest lecturer at the Hotel Management School in Maastricht and the University of Amsterdam.

As a Senior Industry Advisory Panel member for Glion Institute of Higher Education in Montreux, Switzerland and for Hoge Hotelschool in Maastricht he advises on the curriculum and delivers post graduate courses for the educators at these institutions. Ruud enjoys training and speaking while engaging his audiences on Conference & Event Management, New Media Marketing and Event Technology. Sharing insights from his natural curiosity and hands on experience as well as gained through his role as jury member of the EIBTM WorldWide Technology Watch are his passion.

Ruud has a Bachelors Degree from the Hotel Management School Maastricht and a post graduate degree from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration. He has lived and worked in the Netherlands, France, the Philippines and the United States he speaks fluent English, French, German and Dutch. He now lives in Basel, Switzerland. In his spare time Ruud enjoys gastronomic cooking, diving, skiing, golf and playing trumpet in a jazz septet.

Dr. David L. Jones Ph.D.

Dr. Jones has more than thirty years of hospitality industry experience. He joined the faculty at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2008. His previous academic experience includes holding the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Hospitality Management at San Francisco State University and Assistant Professor at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He also has taught in the Cornell University Professional Development Program for the past 13 years. His most recent hospitality industry experience was as Vice President of Marketing for the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau (SJCVB) in San Jose, CA. Previously, he held senior level sales and marketing positions with Shangri-la International Hotels in the USA and Asia, Red Lion Hotels, and Marriott Hotels and Resorts. Dr. Jones also does consulting and conducts sales training and service quality management programs for various hospitality industry companies. Additionally, he has been a speaker for a number of industry related conferences. He received his Ph.D. in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His M.B.A. and B.S. degrees are both from Michigan State University.

Jacob Gowland Jorgensen

Adjunct Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School (Communication and CSR)
Freelance Consultant (green meetings, training, CSR, communication)
Former responsible for CSR, Communication and a whole lot of training events in a division in Novo Nordisk (largest pharmaceutical company in the world within diabetes) and Ramboll Management Consulting (largest Danish consultancy company with offices in several countries).

Carol Krugman, MEd, CMP, CMM

Director, Meeting & Business Event Management
Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management
Metropolitan State College of Denver

Carol Krugman has been working in the global arena for 30 years in a variety of positions, including corporate public relations and marketing manager, association executive, senior manager for two global communications agencies and president of her own international meeting management company. As a full time faculty member in the Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management at Metropolitan State College of Denver, she currently teaches undergraduate courses in the planning and management of meetings and business events.

Carol is regarded as one of the meeting industry’s top experts in cross-cultural planning, global meeting operations, and risk assessment, contingency planning and crisis management as they relate to meetings and events. She leads workshops on these topics for hospitality and event management associations throughout the US and abroad.

Carol has successfully implemented programs throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, as well as in the US and Canada. She has lived in France, Mexico and Brazil and is fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese, with a working knowledge of Italian.

Named one of “The 25 Most Influential People in the Meeting Industry“ by Meeting News in 2004, she has written numerous articles for meeting and event industry publications and has co-authored two books: Mexico: A Planning and Information Guide, published by Meeting Professionals International and Global Meetings and Exhibitions, a textbook on international meeting planning published by John Wiley and Sons.

Carol has a BA from Goucher College and an MEd from The Johns Hopkins University. She obtained the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation in 1996 and the advanced Certification in Meetings Management (CMM) in 1998.

Carole McKellar, MA CMM Chartered FCIPD

Executive Director UK and Ireland
HelmsBriscoe – International

Carole McKellar is the executive director, UK and Ireland for HelmsBriscoe with responsibility for associates and business development. Previously, Carole created and managed a group of companies specializing in association management, venue search, event management and training/professional development. She has a particular interest in the development of people and organizations, and, as part of her role within HelmsBriscoe’s International Division; she will develop a global training and development plan for the organization.

Carole’s career progressed from archaeology to training & development, and, in 1993 while on maternity leave, she established her first company which she developed into a team of forty people. She is highly committed to flexible working and creating an environment which allows individuals to succeed in line with their personal goals and ambitions. Carole’s business success has been recognized through the North West Woman of Achievement Award, Duke of Westminster Award for Business and Industry, and Employer of the Year award.

Carole has an Honours Degree in Archaeology, a Master of Arts Degree, the Diploma in Training Management awarded with distinction, and MPI’s CMM certification. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (Chartered FCIPD) in the UK and has been an active member of MPI since 1999, holding a number of volunteer leadership positions.

Daphne J. Meyers, CMM

Daphne J. Meyers, CMM, is the managing partner of RED BARN GROUP, LLC, a firm specializing in strategic meeting, training and event best practices. Daphne's consulting practice has two primary focuses. The first is hands-on coaching of clients to maximize their event investment. The other focus of her practice is education. This includes numerous speaking engagements for a variety of groups on a wide variety of meetings topics. Her educational focus also enables her to teach Events Planning at Minnesota State University - Minnesota.

Daphne is a former Program Manager for Events at Microsoft. During her eight years there, she managed multi-million dollar events for the partner reseller channel and employees. She managed all aspects of highly visible events; prepared 100’s of speakers to deliver content to 1000’s of attendees; managed 100’s of sponsors and exhibitors; facilitated stakeholder groups; and built and sustained successful event teams. Prior to Microsoft, Daphne spent eight years honing her planning skills at a variety of organizations.

Daphne has been a member of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) since 1996. In 2001, Daphne attained her Global Certification of Meeting Management (CMM). From 2004-2005, she served on MPI’s Global Corporate Circle of Excellence and was involved in the writing of three industry position papers on Strategic Meetings Management. From 2008-2010, Daphne is serving as Director and Vice President of Leadership Development for the Minnesota MPI Chapter.

Daphne is a proud mom of Jacob, who is a first-degree black belt among other outstanding accomplishments. Daphne spends her free time with him enjoying their Fargo, North Dakota lifestyle!

Christine Péron

Christine Péron has been organizing international meetings for over 15 years. She worked as a Marketing and Sales Manager for a Convention Center, a Convention Bureau and a European Professional Congress Organizer. She is now consultant and educator, develops and delivers education programs, conducts in-house training, and provides consulting services to the meetings and events industry.

As a part-time faculty member at Université Paris Est – Marne la Vallée, Christine teaches graduate courses in congress, association management, project management, destination and venue management, marketing and sales in class. She is also delivering education at CERAM and PGSM.
As an active MPI member, she has been involved with the global association to support the France – Suisse Chapter in their educational activities. She has been leading the Education Committee from 2007 co-creating regular events with Universities and High Schools to promote dedicated skill assessments to the meeting and event industry, international certifications and students coaching.

Lori Tuma

Lorie Tuma is an instructor at Central Michigan University, teaching in the department of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services Administration, specifically the Event Management Minor.

She teaches and coordinates the production of university-level capstone courses in Special Event Administration, Meetings & Exposition Planning, and Tourism. She also serves as the Chair of the First Year Experience Advisory Council and Chair of the Curriculum Goals Committee for the Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services Administration department.

Aside from her teaching responsibilities, Lorie serves as a keynote speaker and presenter for technical schools, community organizations, and professional associations across the nation delivering power-packed, high-energy presentations on professionalism, event branding, and "entrepreneurship!"

Lorie earned a Bachelor's Degree in Community Development and a Master's Degree in Administration from Central Michigan University. She is currently completing a doctoral degree in Education with a cognate in Teacher Leadership.

Lorie is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada and in pursuit of her doctorate degree, served as a Research Assistant for the Harrah's Hotel College, Tourism and Convention Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has coordinated special events, meetings, and expositions in Nevada and Michigan and continues to collaborate on meetings/conventions across the nation.

Carl Winston

Mr. Winston is the founding Director of San Diego State University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. The unique program was created with a blend of industry professionals and scholars working to create a unique teaching model with a “real world” management emphasis. In 8 years, the program has received prominence and is recognized internationally as one of the “up and comers” in hospitality education.

Prior to working with the University, Mr. Winston had 20 years of experience in a wide variety of hospitality senior executive level industry jobs. Here is a brief summary:

Chief Operating Officer for Trigild Corporation. The company manages assets for lenders who have problem loans on hotel, restaurant and other service industries. Winston more than tripled the company’s revenues in his first two years with the firm by expanding into new markets including restaurants and amusements.

Executive Vice President of Operations for Jeepers! While there, Winston opened new 18 parks in less than two years with a total of 32 parks under management.

Executive Vice President of Operations for Trusthouse Forte; and later Chartwell Leisure. Here, Mr. Winston was responsible for this UK company’s 200+ owned hotels throughout the United States and Canada. The hotels ranged in quality from luxury city center to resorts and roadside motels (Travelodge.)

Prior to these experiences, Mr. Winston started his own hotel management company, was the senior operations executive responsible for a hotel company that grew from 17 to 125 locations in four years, and worked in public accounting (as a consultant) for four years.

He graduated from the University of California in San Diego and later Cornell where he earned his Masters Degree from their School of Hotel Administration.

Mr. Winston is involved with a large number of local, regional and national industry associations and groups where he serves in leadership positions and Boards of Directors, including MPI’s “IBOD.”

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