New initiative brings together leading event professionals to help redefine destination-planner partnerships and advance industry best practices.
SARASOTA, FL (June 18, 2026) — Miles Partnership, a leader in destination marketing and meetings strategy, announced today the launch of its inaugural Planner Influencer Board (PIB), a first-of-its-kind advisory group bringing together some of the meetings industry's most respected planners, strategists and event executives to help shape the future of destination engagement, sales and services.
The Planner Influencer Board represents a significant expansion of Miles' Meetings & Events Strategy practice, reinforcing the company's commitment to helping destinations build stronger, more meaningful relationships with the professionals who influence site selection, event experiences and long-term destination success.
Composed of leaders from the corporate, association and independent planning sectors, the PIB will serve as a collaborative forum where planners can openly share insights, challenge industry assumptions and help identify practical solutions that strengthen partnerships between destinations and event professionals.
"Meetings and events are one of the most important drivers of destination economic impact, but too often the planner perspective is underrepresented in the conversations shaping our industry," said Melissa Cherry, Senior Vice President at Miles Partnership. "The Planner Influencer Board creates a space for honest conversations, meaningful collaboration and real-world innovation that benefits planners, destinations and the broader business events ecosystem."
The launch reflects Miles' strategy-first approach to meetings marketing and destination development. Rather than adapting leisure tourism tactics, Miles has built a specialized Meetings & Events Strategy practice that helps destinations uncover and activate their unique meetings value proposition through research, stakeholder engagement, brand positioning and industry intelligence.
The board's inaugural meeting will bring together event professionals for a series of facilitated discussions focused on identifying industry friction points, evaluating destination communications, redefining the value of destination organizations and co-creating a vision for the destination sales and services model of the future. Participants will also provide input into Miles' industry research initiatives and help identify emerging trends impacting the meetings landscape.
Unlike traditional advisory councils, the Planner Influencer Board is designed as a working group that produces tangible industry outcomes. Key outputs from the inaugural session include a planner-authored framework for destination engagement, a prioritized map of planner challenges and opportunities, recommendations for improving destination communications and insights that will help shape future industry research and destination strategies.
The board is part of Miles' broader commitment to helping destinations evolve their meetings strategies through customer-centered insight, industry research and innovative engagement models. The company's Meetings & Events team combines destination expertise, proprietary research and strategic consulting to help organizations strengthen their competitive position in the global business events marketplace.
"The future belongs to destinations that listen more closely, collaborate more intentionally and create value beyond traditional sales approaches," said Colleen Phalen, Vice President of Meetings Strategy & Innovation at Miles Partnership. "By bringing together some of the industry's most influential planner voices, we're creating a platform that will help destinations better understand what planners truly need and how the industry can evolve together."
The Planner Influencer Board will convene regularly and serve as an ongoing source of insight for Miles' destination clients, industry research initiatives and thought leadership efforts.
Miles’ inaugural Planner Influencer Board members include:
- Jess Brooks, Event Operations Lead
- Kristie Chang, Principal, Mazu Events, LLC
- Chrissy Connolly, Consultant, Connolly Consulting
- Jilien Harvey, Corporate Event Planner, AEG Vision
- Gina Lawrence, Vice President, Event Services, NAACP
- Kate McCarthy, Founder & Principal, k8 events, LLC
- Katia McKennon, Principal, Meeting Management Services, Inc.
- Greg Morris, Vice President, Meetings & Events, Destinations International
- Kirsten Olean, Director of Meetings, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Carlos Pelham, Managing Director, Meeting & Conference Services, American Gas Association
- John Rubsamen, Vice President, Events, Out & Equal
- Noelle Williams, Senior Director, Global Accounts, HelmsBriscoe
For more information about Miles Partnership's Meetings & Events Strategy practice, visit MilesPartnership.com/meetings.
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About Miles Partnership
Miles Partnership is a strategic marketing consultancy focused exclusively on travel and tourism. The company works with more than 150 destinations, hospitality businesses and other travel industry clients worldwide to develop marketing and management strategies that amplify local experiences, boost visitation, improve community relations and increase overall economic impact. Learn more at MilesPartnership.com.
