Willie L Benjamin II, CMM, DES
MCFARLAND,WI
Summary
Results-driven Vice President of Meetings and Events with forward-thinking approach centered on company success and growth. Demonstrated record of success in building successful teams and managing profitable operations.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Vice President, Meeting and Events
Credit Union National Association
2019.10 - Current
- Drive all aspects of planning, execution and measurement of all schools and conventions with attendance ranging from 50-6K people and over 3K participating in livestream events while managing team of meeting managers and coordinators in support of objectives and strategies for overall execution of events.
- Established performance goals for department and provided methods for reaching milestones.
- Manage $24M+ yearly budget to maximize impact and return on investment, including tracking financial progress while identifying cost-savings opportunities.
- Increased company growth through collaboration with sales and marketing departments.
- Deliver impactful presentations of event recommendations to internal stakeholders and executives; drive feedback/post-con discussions to ensure buy-in and enhance future events.
- Lead team to collaborate with sales teams, production teams and vendor partners to align on objectives, strategies and KPIs.
- Drive partnership with marketing, communication and sales teams to amplify brand awareness, event visibility and attendee engagement through all channels.
- Identify and recommend conference speakers and entertainment for main stage presentations.
- Ensure events are planned within company guidelines and manage risks associated with events to protect brand; Proactively engage Compliance, Legal, Risk, Communications and other key partners as needed.
- Monitored industry trends, keeping current on latest changes and competition in industry.
- Collaborated with senior management to develop strategic initiatives and long term goals.
Director of Meetings
Credit Union National Association
2013.04 - 2019.06
- Oversaw and planned 70 events ranging in size from 50-6K year.
- Supervised all aspects of annual conferences executing against established organizational and financial goals.
- Served as primary point of contact with hotels in contracting, planning and execution of events in partnership with 3rd party sourcing agent, to include recommending meeting sites based upon history, demographics, and budget, managing room blocks and attrition clauses.
- Developed RFPs and negotiate contracts with service providers, to include audio visual suppliers, entertainment and décor providers, transportation companies etc.
- Managed all internal and external event communications including but not limited to emails and text messaging.
- Analyzed event costs to identify areas of improvement and cost savings.
- Directed ongoing operations of scheduled conferences and meetings to distribute fiscal resources and staffing to support strategic and operational initiatives.
- Oversaw detailed conference specifications for conference sites including food & beverage orders, audio/visual, entertainment, decorations, room sets, tours and ground transport requirements.
- Oversaw event registration process by collecting and tracking attendee information.
Director of Meetings and Exhibits
American Chemical Society
2007.03 - 2013.02
- Directly managed team of event professionals and planned conferences, meetings, incentives and revenue generating events for Chemistry Professors in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia with attendance from 500-15K
- Assume fiscal responsibility for over $30M annual events budget.
- Implemented companywide events calendar, promotional strategy and budget forecasting to increase awareness of meeting spend and savings used across multiple departments and our executives.
- Built sales opportunity pipeline through targeted and subliminal prospecting methodologies.
- Put into practice strategic meetings management program (SMMP).
- Researched new campaigns and industry trends, adjusting objectives and communicating to sales team for future amendments to existing protocol.
- Planned and executed worldwide sales contests and incentives in exciting locations while working within strict budgets ranging from 70K-1M resulting in average of 18% sales revenue post event.
- Built team processes and procedures to streamline event reporting and approval process in effort to meet critical deadlines and targets resulting in efficient planning and cost savings of 20%.
Director of Meeting Logistics
Direct Marketing Association
2004.03 - 2007.10
- Negotiated vendor pricing, developed proposals, and expertly closed transactions with solid reputation for delivering high quality meetings and incentives resulting in 2M in yearly revenue.
- Contributed in largest client implementation that grew from newest client to third largest in one year.
- Implemented central meeting portal (SMMP) bringing awareness to our services and resulting in penetration into other businesses within accounts and increased revenue by 30%.
- Worked in conjunction with C-suite, procurement and applied strategic sourcing principles yielding in average of 20% savings annually.
- Planned logistics for meetings and incentives ranging from 25-12K in attendance from planning, communications, budgeting, final billing, on-site execution, meeting room set up A/V ground transportation, signage etc.
- Worked with budgets from 25K to 1.5M per while staying on target or being under budget.
- Built relationships with all departments and executives within organization gaining trust in company.
- Managed daily operations while overseeing multiple locations to foster increased productivity.
Education
Certified Meeting Management
Meeting Professional International
Dallas, TX03.2023
Certified Digital Event Strategist (DES) -
Professional Convention Management Association
Chicago, IL03.2020
Skills
- Process Improvement
- Business Development
- Staff Development
- Operations Management
- Financial Management
- Vendor Relationship Building
- Contract Negotiation
- Risk Management
- Team Leadership
- Strategic Planning
- Budget Oversight
Timeline
Vice President, Meeting and Events
Credit Union National Association
2019.10 - Current
Director of Meetings
Credit Union National Association
2013.04 - 2019.06
Director of Meetings and Exhibits
American Chemical Society
2007.03 - 2013.02
Director of Meeting Logistics
Direct Marketing Association
2004.03 - 2007.10
Certified Meeting Management
Meeting Professional International
Certified Digital Event Strategist (DES) -
Professional Convention Management Association
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