US Leadership Team | MCI United States | EN

Tom Gibson is CEO of MCI USA and a member of the MCI Group’s Global Business Board. He is the founder and CEO of Coulter Companies, which MCI acquired in 2015.

Erin Fuller leads MCI USA’s team of more than 200 nonprofit management professionals, and assesses business-development and partnership opportunities that advance our mission and model. Through her work with MCI USA’s consulting clients, Erin and her team have delivered expert guidance to high-profile national and international nonprofits on topics including governance redesign, comprehensive marketing, branding, and communication plans, and non-dues revenue development.

Blake Kotenbrink joined MCI USA in 2011 as Vice President, Corporate Experiences and in 2015 was elevated to President, Black Flower Agency. In this role, Kotenbrink leads a team which conceptualizes and delivers tailored events and experiences to top luxury brands and their most valued clients. Corporate sectors served include fashion, culinary, automotive, sports, theatre, and financial services.

As President of MCI USA’s Strategic Events, Meetings & Incentives (SEM&I) business unit, Shawn Pierce leads a 130-person team that delivers strategic solutions to the meetings and events industry. Pierce steers five divisions from the Plano, Texas-based office – Strategic Event Management, Corporate Meetings & Events, Incentive Events, Convention Housing & Registration, Site Selection, Lead Cultivation, and MCI’s Investment & Management Partnerships.

Carrie Hartin brings her years of experience to bear on making good decisions in helping our client partners generate advertising revenue through new products and emerging media. She intuitively knows that in today's evolving association marketplace, media sales is about finding new and creative ways to align advertisers' messages with audiences valuable to our clients.

Michele Jerome joined MCI USA as a Senior Associate in 2006, serving as Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Executive Director of NAWBO’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Development. In 2008, she agreed to lead MCI USA’s operations team. As our Senior Vice President of Enterprise Operations, Michele is responsible for building and managing effective and streamlined systems, including financial, accounting, information technology, human resources, and physical infrastructure.

Kate O'Donnell oversees marketing and communications initiatives for MCI USA, creating experiential communications and building brands from concept to fruition. Kate leads the marketing and creative strategy and planning for dozens of MCI’s national and global clients, including branding, campaign messaging, website, social media, events, and advertising.

With more than 25 years of leadership experience in technology and event services, Ross Sawai brings a wealth of knowledge and business acumen to the company.

Adam Patterson provides both tactical and strategic oversight to MCI USA’s corporate and luxury experiential events business units. He also provides business forecasting and analysis for all enterprise-wide operations. Additionally, he is responsible for MCI USA’s strategic acquisitions as well as client banking and investment operations.

Angela Fiorini brings proven experience in creating and driving HR innovation, programs, and policies to her role as Vice President of People and Culture, with expertise in business partnership, talent acquisition, total rewards, talent management, compliance, and mergers and acquisitions. She ensures that MCI USA’s organizational design and HR strategies and priorities align with our business imperatives to deliver enhanced performance — and ensure future success in our business objectives, values, and mission.

Craig Sondalle is Executive Vice President of Association Solutions. As head of the MCI Chicago office, his strategic thinking and innovative ideas on membership engagement, stakeholder relationships, community engagement, and marketing and communications provide direction for both MCI USA and its Association Solutions clients.

Amy B. Lotz serves as Executive Vice President of Association Solutions, including serving as chief of staff for all talents allocated to full-service association management. Amy also serves as chief of staff for two of MCI USA’s clients, the International Copper Association and the Copper Development Association.

Sara Meier serves as Senior Vice President of Credentialing, Standards, and Professional Development, working with organizations to determine performance objectives for learning management systems and credentialing programs and assess how structure, content, delivery, and metrics can align with organizational objectives. She also serves as Executive Director for two MCI USA association management clients, ARIAS•U.S. and the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC), overseeing all aspects of both organizations’ operations and strategic initiatives.

Amy Lestition Burke serves as Senior Vice President of Member Engagement — MCI USA’s go-to expert for membership retention and recruitment strategies, plus consulting in areas ranging from strategic communications and marketing to organizational development and change. She also serves as Executive Director of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), a nonprofit international organization for information professionals and their strategic partners, working collaboratively to position SLA for long-term growth and renewal.

Lee Lowery currently serves as Managing Director of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA) and Psychiatric Rehabilitation Foundation, overseeing PRA’s three-day annual conference, certification and training program, and train-the-trainer network; as Executive Director of the Interstitial Cystitis Association (ICA), representing the voice of interstitial cystitis patients through various advocacy efforts, overseeing a multitiered individual giving program, and administering a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and as Management Executive for the North American office of the Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM), which is responsible for staff stewardship of four global committees, fundraising for SCDM’s annual conference, and fulfillment for 80 percent of SCDM’s membership.

Denise Jackson serves as Vice President of Client Partnerships and Performance, leading the transition management of incoming organizations and providing strategic and operational oversight of MCI USA’s Association Solutions division. She is an experienced association executive with extensive background in building and maintaining relationships and client growth in the nonprofit, hospitality, and event management sectors

Kevin Baliozian serves as Vice President of Association Solutions for MCI USA’s Chicago location. He is a go-to expert in engaging association volunteer and staff leaders to forge a bold path to success through value creation, innovation, change management, volunteer engagement, and efficient operational excellence.

With multiple graduate degrees plus experience in advocacy and public relations, Alison Teitelbaum leads MCI USA’s team of government relations and policy specialists, generating action and advocacy for MCI’s association clients. Alison also serves as Executive Director of the American Health Quality Association (AHQA), where she is leading the development of a comprehensive strategic marketing and policy plan to strengthen AHQA’s brand and industry position.

Jen Smith joined MCI USA in 2005 and guides the editorial and design teams to plan, launch, sustain and assess association communications—both in traditional print and emerging new media formats.

Elisa Perodin specializes in event-management services for all MCI USA nonprofit management clients. She oversees the events department in the coordination of logistics and deliverables for conferences, trade shows, workshops, award ceremonies, and other programs.

Agnès Canonica joined MCI USA in 2017 as Global Account Director to lead the Corporate Meetings & Events division across multiple industry sectors.

Anne Albright has experienced more than four decades in the incentive travel, meetings and convention industry participating in and executing every aspect of the business. She has always focused on value and creative design, finding ways to extend client dollars and to deliver the most memorable experience possible.

Jim Forlenza established himself as a global business leader of events well before it was chic to enter the international market. An entrepreneurial spirit, the enjoyment of working in pressurized environments, and strong team-building and leadership skills, have been at the backbone of his successful career. Jim’s experiences provide a unique skill set that is rare among other event leaders. Jim has a highly successful understanding of both volunteer-driven, non-profit organizations, as well as for-profit entities on both the domestic and international stages.

James serves as Director, Onsite, Lead Retrieval & Business Development. He leads and develops MCI USA’s expanding onsite and lead retrieval teams while helping the company drive registration business. Kelley joined the team from Experient, where he held positions over the course of 19 years as Account Executive, Senior Account Executive, Strategic Account Manager and Director, Onsite Services. His vast array of experience and knowledge were utilized to drive all onsite registration products and services.

Keith McKenna joined the MCI USA family in 2002. As Vice President, Registration & Lead Services he is responsible for the operational delivery of MCI USA’s registration offering. Keith leads a team of event professionals who provide registration and lead solutions for events of all sizes and sectors.

Jeff combines his 20 years of IT experience with 15 years in the events industry to bring best in class technology solutions to attendees, exhibitors, and event organizers. Bringing event goers the best experience possible means offering a variety of innovations, often times from many different vendors. Jeff has positioned MCI to uniquely offer this type of rich integration between service providers to allow for a seamless, engaging, and fun event for everyone.

Jason Ware joined MCI USA in 2018. He leads the tactical direction for both our housing operations and contracting support teams, positioning these groups for scalable growth and alignment in support of our Strategic Event Management (SEM) plan. Jason’s 20-year meeting and events industry background adds an enhanced dimension and muscle to our housing operating teams as well as support to our registration and sales groups. Jason was previously the Director of Meetings for the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and also served as Director of Meetings for the American Heart Association (AHA).

Adam Haas brings to the MCI team over ten years of experience in the events industry. His expertise is in designing innovative and dynamic events, interactive brand activations and managing all aspects of large-scale production for Fortune 500 companies, luxury brands, food festivals, tradeshows and national association conferences. Adam currently serves as Director of MCI Productions, the creative production division of SEM&I, providing customized services for clients in the corporate sector and tradeshow market.

Brittany Shoul serves as Vice President, Director of Sales for MCI’s Sales Solutions and Services business unit. She leads the full-service sales team that partners with associations to deliver outsourced media, advertising, sponsorship, and exhibit sales. Brittany oversees transition management for incoming association relationships, training and development of sales talents, and sales management for full-service sales clients.

A veteran of the industry, Jay Blankenship brings 20 years of experience designing sales and marketing strategies that deliver proven revenue growth, tangible marketing results, and positive customer experiences.

Todd Gilmore is recognized as a relationship builder with a record of providing business solutions for organizations, initiating and implementing full sales, marketing, and operational directives.