MPI Initiative Putting a Crack in Glass Ceiling

Meeting planning appears to come naturally to women. With their propensity for multitasking, attention to detail and organizational skills, it's no surprise that they've succeeded.

If the membership of Meeting Professionals Intl. is any indicator, that success is justified: According to MPI, this year two out of three of its 22,500 members are women. But how many of them are running the show, and how many are still answering to men?

In 2002, MPI had 5,000 male members, with 30 percent identifying themselves as executives. Only 11 percent of the 15,000 female members did.

Puzzled by this dichotomy even before those figures were released, in 2001 Christine Duffy, president and CEO of Maritz Travel, decided to get to the bottom of the issue. Gathering other successful women leaders together, Duffy organized a group of 15 like-minded individuals who wanted to change things. Enter the Women's Leadership Initiative, created to come up with solutions to the leadership imbalance in the meetings industry.

Cary Broussard, a former vice president of marketing for Wyndham Intl. who now has the same position with MPI, remembers the motivating force behind Duffy's vision for the initiative. As founding chairwoman of the Women's Leadership Initiative, Broussard worked closely with Duffy.

"Christine knew from experience (what it was like) to fall into the profession as an administrative assistant, then to make it to the top of an organization," Broussard said. "She wanted to raise the bar for female meeting planners, those who were in charge of millions (of dollars) in business, but were not recognized at an executive level. She wanted both male and female meeting planners to see a (successful) career path they could emulate."

After Duffy established a board of directors and raised some money (through the MPI Foundation and Wyndham Intl.), she commissioned Michigan State University to do a research study on the specific leadership qualities required to excel in the industry.

As a result, several initiatives were put into place: Many U.S. and Canadian MPI chapters organized WLI divisions, a major scholarship program was launched and two additional research projects were conducted to further pinpoint leadership strengths and make comparisons of female meeting planners in America and Europe. The Ladies Professional Golf Assn. even offered clinics to help women learn how to play a game that is often perceived as a key to career advancement.

Six years into the initiative, it's hard to quantify progress. Broussard noted that three out of the last five MPI chairs were women.

Plus, she said, "the head of the MPI Foundation is a woman, the COO is a woman, two of the top three positions are headed by women and the volunteer chair incoming is a woman."

While WLI cannot quantify exactly how many women are now in leadership positions because of its initiatives, it continues to prepare them for opportunities. A number of female meeting planners interviewed for this story spoke positively of the initiative's scholarship program.

Barbara Broome, conference service manager with the Prince George Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was able to get her registration fees for her first MPI conference in New Orleans this past January waived. She claimed she couldn't have attended without the help, and plans to apply for another grant to help her attain a Certified Meeting Management designation. A meeting planner for 20 years, she is a believer in the WLI.

"This initiative has made an impact," Broome said. "The WLI has been an incredible asset for not just women, but men also. (It has allowed) industry leaders to nurture individuals and continue their passion in learning and giving back to this incredible industry."

Dawn Townsend, Transplant Games program director for the Natl. Kidney Foundation in New York, has been in the industry for 15 years. Thanks to a partial scholarship, she will attend a CMM program this fall. She said the more education women get, the further they go in the industry, and the better off the events business itself will be.

"I believe that there is a direct correlation between the prevalence of women in this industry and the ongoing effort to validate meetings and events as a profession," Townsend said. "As leadership training and career development opportunities continue, the members of the industry will be increasingly able to demonstrate our expertise and value to other business sectors."

As the sole meeting planner for the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Assn., Lisa Lanting, a meeting planner from Madison, Wis., has received two scholarships.

"The educational programs I have attended and the contacts I have made through MPI have helped me produce higher-quality programs, become a better negotiator, streamline processes, generate new ideas, and affirm my value as a professional," Lanting said. "I also believe (the WLI) will encourage younger women to venture onto the leadership path."

Though the WLI was created to help women land leadership positions, it hasn't excluded men. Krzysztof Celuch, a marketing manager at the Warsaw Convention Bureau, is pursuing a doctorate in journalism and political science at Warsaw University, thanks to two grants from the WLI.

"WLI surprised me a lot," Celuch said. "I didn't know I could get such huge support from this foundation. Only 25 percent of scholarships can go to men, but I am one of the lucky ones. My dream is to open a Polish MPI chapter and involve many people, especially women."

Since 2001, the Women's Leadership Initiative has raised $500,000 for its programs, 60 MPI chapters have participated in its activities and (through the end of 2006) $230,000 in scholarships had been distributed to both women and men.