Per Ankaer is Managing Director MCI Denmark and Ovation Denmark DMC. He has previous been the owner of ICS - International Conference Services in Denmark and been in the Congress Business for 17 years. He is also a member of the Board of Meetingplace Wonderful Copenhagen and MPI Scandinavia’s Advisory Board in 2021/22. His passion is to secure inspiring events with a focus on interaction, hybrid, sustainability and high client satisfaction.

Magdalina Atanassova is Marcom Director at Kenes Group, where she leads the marketing communications team in planning and implementing brand strategies and activities for the Group. She was recognised by event professionals in the 2020 Eventex Top 100 Most Influential People in the industry, and by PCMA joining the Twenty in their Twenties Class of 2015. Her innovative ideas were put in the spotlight when she became a finalist for the inaugural IAPCO Innovation Award. Magdalina is also a speaker at industry events such as IMEX, IBTM, IAPCO Annual Meeting, and more. Atanassova enjoys writing and she has published a number of articles on different event management topics for leading industry publications.
Magdalina is known for her passion for sustainability - she was part of the international delegation for the development of ISO20121 and is on the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Event Alliance (SEA) since its inception.

Bhojwani was born in India into a family of businessmen and entrepreneurs. Extensive hands-on experience in management, business leadership skills and an overall exposure to different levels of management assisted in making Ajay who he is today. He has been residing in the Middle East for over 25 years now and is a graduate of Osmania University, India and holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Wollongong, Australia.
Ajay currently works with the MCI Group as Regional Managing Director – Middle East. Responsibilities managing an operation run across 5 offices organising events in more than 20 countries.
He has spent a significant amount of time in his early years of career working with market research organisations for looking into various consumer trends and buying behaviour for various FMCG segments. With over 15+ years in the meetings industry, he has a vast experience of managing event portfolios for varied organisations across public and private sector in many countries around the world. He has also in the past years at MCI worked with associations from North America and Europe in developing Go-To Market strategy that have helped these organisations in expanding into new and emerging markets.
In addition to his full-time role at MCI, he has been actively involved in working and supporting various industry associations and organisations that represent the meetings industry globally. Today, he holds several positions, which include being the Middle East Ambassador for International Association of Professional Conference Organisers (IAPCO) as well as Ambassador for The Iceberg – and industry communication publication led by The Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC). He has also spent a considerable amount of time speaking and being part of over 100+ industry events over the past few years.

Keith has more than 16 years of professional conference and destination management experience. He is an active participant in the local and international conference industry and serves on the Board of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) and Council of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO). His financial acumen and project management expertise ensure efficient conference budgeting and financial control, while his partnership approach ensures strong supplier relationships and buying power.

Barbara leads a team of 20 specialists providing holistic solutions for associations, be that classic congress management services or transformational engagement consultancy that supports societies redefine their organisations and shape their tomorrow. Her 25+ years’ experience includes working with societies looking to bid to host an international association congress in partnership with destinations and congress centres across the UK and Ireland.
Barbara is a member of MCI UK’s Senior Leadership Team and a member of MCI Group’s Global Coordination Committee. She is currently co-chair of ABPCO and sits on the Council of IAPCO where she heads up the Task Force responsible for IAPCO’s online education programme, webEDGE.

With more than 20 years of experience in the business events sector, Patricia is a firm believer of the power of business events to transform the people and places it serves. She believes in the need for humans to interact with one another for organizations to rebuild and regroup. Nothing can substitute the creativity and energy that ignites when groups of like-minded people come together to connect, brainstorm and to strategize. Events play this critical role of sparking creativity, generating ideas and inspiration, and connecting people to facilitate positive change in the world.
As Managing Director for Asia at International Conference Services (ICS), Patricia is responsible for driving the company’s ongoing growth in Asia’s event management industry. Based in Singapore, she leads the team in providing boutique-style support, service, and consultation to clients in managing their international meetings here in Asia.
Prior to this, Patricia was the Associate Director, Development for PCMA, where she was instrumental in growing the association’s presence and footprint in the Asia Pacific region. Before this, she led the creation and strategic development of the conference division at Singapore Press Holdings as General Manager; in addition to a number of other management roles in events, sales, and account management.

Consultant and Project Manager for Loren Christie Solutions. Clients include DMOs, hotels and associations across North America and Europe.
Loren Christie has 23 years of experience in the travel & tourism industry including 17 years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts based in Toronto where he worked in the international congress market for two of Canada’s largest conference hotels. From 2017-2020 he was the Director of Sales for the Canadian and International Congress markets at Destination Toronto overseeing the International Congress Team and assisting to expand Toronto's ambassador program, The Leaders Circle.  He is a nationally recognized media personality and travel expert as the on-air travel contributor for CTV’s Your Morning and a regular contributor to travel magazines, radio programs and websites domestically. 
He is currently on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario and the Vice-Chair for the Canadian Meetings & Events Committee for the Global Business Travel Association. Loren previously served as faculty for ICCA’s AMP European Education Session in 2019.  

John Daugulis works for Venue West Conference Services as the Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships. John is an Honours graduated from the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business with a double major in Service Management and Entrepreneurship. He first joined Venue West as a co-op student in 2011 and was hired full time in 2012. Since joining the company, he has worked in all facets of the conference industry from finances to project management to business development and company leadership. As the Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships, John is responsible for securing Venue West’s national and international business, along with fostering relationships with partners around the world. Sustainability is very important to John and he was instrumental in developing Venue West’s sustainability procedures and partnering Venue West with 1% for the Planet. Throughout John’s career in the conference management industry, he has given many presentations to association and academic leaders on the benefits of hosting international conferences and to industry members on how they can successfully partner with PCOs.

I am an Account Director within the PCO team at MCI UK. I oversee a range of national and international client accounts and am passionate about working with our clients to help them achieve their goals. I have been at MCI for seven years working in both the PCO and Corporate teams.
I have been in the event industry for 18 years after falling into it completely by accident back in 2002 and never looked back. Prior to joining MCI I worked in a range of roles including in-house, charities and other agencies providing me with a range of experiences.

My passion is for evolving technologies and the applications they offer to the meetings & continuing education industries. As CTO of ICS, I take the best practices of what we have developed from our own subsidiaries and offer them forward to ICS clients. This primarily means transitioning traditional face-to-face meetings into digitally augmented ones by way of audio & video recording, live streaming & commercializing captured content. In regards to our subsidiaries – I manage both GOLD Learning and WebCoast Events. The former is dedicated to the education of maternal-child health care professionals. The latter acts both as an in-house provider to ICS as well as an on-call provider to select conference company partners. Both are dedicated to building virtual learning communities through digital content libraries and executing entirely online conferences and meetings. Utilizing our own proprietary and scalable virtual conference frameworks, our participants have access to live and recorded accredited lectures for their continuing education needs.

Marcel is the Director of Association Solution for APAC at MCI, based out of Singapore. His team leads a wide mix of Societies ranging from Design, Insurance, Finance and Healthcare, each with specific member needs and a wide variety of activities. He has worked his entire adult life in Asia and has a good understanding of the importance of the cultural connectivity of international organisations to each country. He is inspired by building digital communities and exploring new business models. Marcel has guided many clients into the digital age and transforming the traditional revenue sources into new ones. He hails from the Hotel Industry where he graduated in Switzerland and worked for luxury properties around the world, before falling in love with the event and Association sector. Aside from being a dad, he spends his free time training for triathlons, and (normally) participates in many races around the region.

Creating state-of-the-art projects and generating legacy are two core values that lead Florian Fehringer. As the Director of International Projects at Mondial Congress and Events, a PCO based in Vienna, he is responsible for congresses all over Europe and occasionally beyond. His premise is to generate a lasting impact with everything he and his team do, creating something sustainable that extends beyond the usual job description. After gaining his first experience in the events industry in Taiwan, Florian can now look back on more than 10 years in the congress industry. He regularly shares his expertise by giving lectures for students of congress management.

Niels Fundter manages the congress department (12+FTE) at Congress By Design (CBD) is an IAPCO certified full-service Professional Conference Organiser in the Netherlands As a member of the Management Team, Niels is responsible for creating business opportunities with new clients as well as expanding current client portfolios. Furthermore, he consults with societies to identify new and innovative ideas to attract and retain members and delegates. Niels also leads the change management towards the latest innovations and procedures, helping the team to adapt to the new post COVID19 environment via live/hybrid and online solutions.

Laura Gordon is the Director of Operations at International Conference Services, having 15 years of dedicated expertise in event management. Beginning her career in the realm of marketing in the UK, she embarked on a transformative journey that led her to Vancouver in 2012. It was here that Laura's path intersected with the dynamic world of International Conference Services in 2014, where she discovered her passion for the scientific and medical facets of conferences.

Her remarkable tenure within ICS has been marked by astute leadership, strategic vision, and a deep-seated commitment to orchestrating seamless and impactful events. Laura's extensive experience encompasses a spectrum of roles, each contributing to her holistic understanding of the industry's nuances. Her unwavering dedication to elevating conferences, coupled with her adeptness in managing multifaceted operations, epitomizes the fusion of expertise, passion, and unwavering commitment in shaping exceptional conference experiences worldwide.

Christine Hense has more than 20 years’ experience in the meetings industry with INTERPLAN Congress, Meetings & Event Management AG. She finished her Hotel Managing Diploma in Austria and worked in the hotel business in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Her career in professional congress management started 1998 as an assistant project manager. She was promoted to project manager in 1999 and had full responsibility and accountability for more than 50 national and international congresses over the years.  In 2014 Christine joined Interplan’s Management team and is currently Director People & Operations. She served and supported the successful company strategy by establishing a staff development and education program, ongoing change management and implementation of appropriate structures up to today’s world of virtual and hybrid congresses.

IAPCO President - VP Client & Operations, Kenes Group, Israel Ori Lahav joined Kenes in 2013 as AVP Marketing, bringing more than 15 years of marketing experience to the management team. Ori’s expertise includes implementing marketing strategies, ATL/BTL and leading digital campaigns in online/social media channels. He began his career in the communications industry, where he held marketing positions at Internet, voice and mobile telecom providers. This was followed by a senior role in the automotive sector with a start-up that raised US$ 900M to manufacture electric cars. After 4 years in the company, Ori moved to managing the Client Accounts & Operations unit. In the beginning of 2017, Ori also became an IAPCO Council Member (IAPCO – the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers). Ori holds a BA in Statistics from the University of Haifa and an MBA from the University of Derby, UK.

Sissi Lygnou has more than 20 years of experience in the Meetings Industry and has been involved in the bidding and organisation process of major events worldwide.  

Born in Athens, Greece; Sissi graduated from the German School of Athens where she studied Business Administration & Economics.  

In 2001 she joined the PR & Communications team of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, where she was promoted to Communications Manager of the Olympic & Paralympic Village.  

In 2004, Sissi was appointed by the family-owned company AFEA; a leading global organisation in the Meetings Industry and corporate travel sector, where she holds the position of CEO. 

She has been active at IAPCO through various positions, such as Edgineer, Ambassador, member of the Editorial Committee, speaker at WebEdge and other activities.   

Sissi is passionate about her work and serves on several boards to further the development and recognition of the industry and to facilitate best practice through networking and education.   

• IAPCO Council Member (since 2021) 
• HAPCO Board Member – General Secretary (since 2007)
• EFAPCO (European Federation of Associations of Professional Congress Organizers) - former General Secretary (since 2009)  

Nicola established Conference Partners International (CPI) in Ireland in 1998 and the business has since expanded its reach to the UK and Central Europe. With a strong emphasis on partnering with leading researchers and innovators, CPI has bid for and delivered over 500 International meetings. Over the past 19 years, CPI’s portfolio of expertise has grown to encompass Core PCO and Association Management Services. Renowned for her ability to identify opportunities, Nicola’s creative thinking and strategic advice has been sought at the highest level by numerous Associations, Corporations and Industry bodies. Nicola is wholly committed to developing the business tourism industry in Ireland, the UK and abroad. She is a founding member of The Association of Irish Professional Conference Organisers (AIPCO) and was a passionate council member for the International Association of Professional Conference Organisers (IAPCO) for 5 years. Nicola gives generously of her expertise and hands-on skills for the benefit of others and loves to share this experience with rising stars of the global meetings industry.

Rosa is the Meeting Architect of Kenes Group, where she advises clients and internal teams on how to design effective congresses and measure the results. She has a vast and varied array of experience as a practising event architect, designing association and corporate events. She uses session formats, technology solutions and facilitation methods to create events that boost participant engagement and learning retention.
Rosa is a certified Digital Event Strategist and has created award-winning events such as new conferences for PANLAR, the Pan-American Society of Rheumatologists. Prior to joining Kenes Group, Rosa was a partner of the Event ROI Institute, where she trained event planners at ROI Foundation Certificate programs.
She is also a lecturer and speaker at several universities and industry events. In 2013, Rosa was included in PCMA’s ’20 in their twenties’ inaugural class, which honours the top young professionals in the industry

Stephen Noble has over 18 years' conference, expo and event management experience and is a key member of The Conference Company's senior management team. Stephen joined The Conference Company in 2007 as a Conference Manager after many years working in the professional sporting world. He has led the Conference and Events team and was instrumental in the growth of the company's operations throughout the region.
Based in Sydney as Manager Asia-Pacific he draws daily on this extensive hands‐on conference management know‐how to lead The Conference Company's operations in Asia and Australia. Part of his role involves ongoing discussions with key clients to understand their drivers and strategies and adapt solutions to accommodate those. These discussions also include bidding for international or Asia-Pacific meetings, where he has worked with clients in New Zealand and Australia in successful bid outcomes. Stephen still looks after a blue‐chip list of international multi‐day conferences and their associated exhibitions where he enjoys the challenge to bring latest thinking in meeting design and use of technology.
Stephen is an IAPCO Ambassador, a member of IAPCO Training Academy faculty and in 2019 he was voted one of The 100 Most Influential People in the Event Industry globally.

Annalisa Ponchia Baccara, has 30 years of international experience in events management and deep roots in the meeting industry, having organized conferences and events around the globe for the corporate sector, government and associations. She spent nearly 12 years guiding the ESOT as CEO during which she gained substantial knowledge of the association environment and processes.
She joined AIM Group International as Director of Innovation and Customer Experience, and recently appointed Director of International Congress Development, a new strategic position within the Company, with the task to drive the innovation across all the company’s functions and stakeholders and raise the added value offered to clients.
Her career includes previous 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur running her own PCO company specialised in medical meetings. Ponchia is a certified meeting professional, with CMP and CMM designations, and is active as a speaker at numerous association and industry events.

Mathias Posch is Chairman and President of International Conference Services (ICS). With its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada and branch offices in Toronto, Denver, London, Vienna, Barcelona, Singapore and Tokyo, the company manages conferences around the globe – in 38 countries on 6 continents thus far. Mathias is past President of IAPCO and as such leads the organisation’s expansion and outreach programme. He is a respected industry expert and has been invited to speak at numerous international and national conferences around the globe. Further, he also serves on a number of Advisory Boards and consults international scientific and medical associations on their global strategy.

Leonie Postma

Senior Account & Programme Manager, Conference Partners International

With over 10 years' experience as a conference professional, Leonie has guided associations and societies in the medical and technical sciences in the successful delivery of their conferences with complex and intricate programmes.

Giulia has been active in the Meetings Industry since she was 17. She worked at congresses and events as a hostess during School and University and later graduated with merit with a thesis on the German Meetings Industry Approach to Sustainability. Her passion for the industry brought her to have a one-year experience at a small DMC and Event Management Company in Milan, assisting the team with the organization of VIP weddings, corporate events and leisure travel. After that she joined AIM Group International, premier company in the organization of congresses, events and communication at a global level. She assisted the Marketing & Sales division first, while learning Corporate Communication skills on the job. More than five years have gone since she joined the Company and she is now a Creative Specialist at AIM Communication, the newborn society of the AIM Group. Moreover, she is an active member of the IAPCO Engineers, one of the MARCOM team members at INCON, International Conference Partnership, a recipient of the PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) 20InTheirTwenties Class 2019 Recognition and the Winner of the first IAPCO Hero Award 2019.

Jan Tonkin is the founder and Managing Director of The Conference Company, the only accredited member of IAPCO in New Zealand. Formed in 1990, The Conference Company is today one of Australasia’s most reputable PCOs, with 35 staff, offices in three cities in New Zealand as well as one in Sydney, Australia. Jan has more than 25 years’ experience managing conferences, exhibitions and awards programmes in Britain, New Zealand and Australia. She is IAPCO Immediate Past President, and Chair of the Association’s Training Academy. She is a frequent speaker at IAPCO EDGE Seminars, including EDGE, EDGE Advanced and Bespoke EDGE, throughout Asia and worldwide.