CEIS Speakers
Steve Dempsey
Publisher & General Manager, Meetings & Incentive Travel
Steve Dempsey has been with Rogers Media for fifteen years and is a recognized expert in the business events industry. Steve wears two hats at Rogers, Publisher of Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine and General Manager, Conferences & Events for the Business & Professional Publishing division.
Meetings & Incentive Travel produces Canada’s leading magazine and directory, the IncentiveWorks show and MeetingsCanada.com. As General Manager, Steve oversees a team of professional event planners who produce over 85 events annually in the financial, pharmaceutical & healthcare, marketing and industrial industries.
Steve is currently President of the Canadian Association of Exposition Management, Interim Chair of the newly formed Business Events Industry Coalition of Canada, Chair of the Canadian Economic Impact Study for Meeting Professionals International Foundation Canada and has volunteered with many other meetings industry associations. Steve holds a degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Western Ontario and has won several awards in the publishing industry.
Doreen Ashton Wagner
Managing Director, Greenfield Services Inc.
Doreen is co-founder and Managing Director of Greenfield Services, a business development and market research firm dedicated to the needs of the meetings industry.
Fluent in English and French, Doreen graduated from the University of Ottawa with a BBA in Marketing. Before founding Greenfield Services, Doreen was VP Marketing for The Sutton Place Grande Hotels Group. She also held various sales and marketing positions with Inter-Continental Hotels, Mariposa Cruise Line, Four Seasons Inn on the Park, Park Plaza Hotel Toronto, and Ottawa's Château Laurier.
Doreen has been a member of MPI since 1989. She began her volunteer involvement in Toronto, joining the Professional Development committee within months of becoming a member. In 1992-93 she took on the presidency of the MPI Toronto Chapter and subsequently served on the Canadian Council of MPI.
After she started Greenfield Services and moved to the Ottawa region, she joined the chapter in Canada’s national capital. Soon she joined the newsletter committee and then the Board in 2004. She became President of the Ottawa Chapter in 2006 and now volunteers on the MPI Foundation Canada Council.
Doreen is an avid reader and fan of historical fiction, but as soon as the weather warms you'll find her tending to a one-acre perennial and vegetable garden at the home she shares with her husband Heinz, their daughter 12-year old Iliana and their cat Tommy.
Joe Nishi
MPI Foundation Canada Chair
Regional Director, The Meeting Encore Group, Inc
Joe began his hospitality career in Japan, then worked for Hyatt Hotels in Vancouver and San Diego for ten years. He joined Starwood Hotels in 2001 and was Director of Sales & Marketing at The Westin Bayshore Vancouver, followed by the Sheraton Centre Toronto. Joe was promoted to Senior Director of Global Sales for Starwood, where he headed up the Global Sales Team in Canada.
After 18 years on the hotel side, Joe was anxious to pursue an exquisite opportunity he was perfectly suited to as Regional Director with The Meeting Encore Group Inc. Celebrating 20years in business, Meeting Encore specializes in meeting site location. Joe’s mission now: to SAVE his clients HUGE amounts of time and money by finding the perfect location for their meetings!!!
Joe is an active member in the industry, currently he is Chair of the MPI Foundation Canada. He is committed to skills development and training for those pursuing the hospitality and meeting planner industries.