MPI’s Head of Meeting Innovation Jessie States, CMP, CMM, received the Events Industry Council’s 2018 Young Professional Pacesetter award during a special event at Jewel Nightclub at Aria Resort last night.

States’ achievement is the first Pacesetter award to ever be received by a member of the MPI staff. A “young professional” perhaps, but States has been a part of the meeting and event industry and MPI for more than 12 years. In that time, she’s navigated numerous challenging fields within the world’s largest association for meeting and event professionals.

“Over the past few years, I have watched friends, peers, mentors—my industry heroes—receive Pacesetter Awards—Amy Spatrisano, Mariela McIlwraith, Dan Berger.” States said in her acceptance speech. “It is an honor to be included among these next-gen leaders.”

In 2017, she was named one of the 25 Most Influential People in Meetings and Events by Successful Meetings magazine and a Trendsetter by Meetings Today magazine. Expect to see her continue to grow as she helps event professionals prepare for the likely futures of the industry.

“Many of you know the passion and vigor with which I have embraced the role that our associations play in creating an industry that is future-ready, that has the skills necessary to survive the next tech revolution, that is spry and agile, strategic and thoughtful, change-ready and not adverse,” she said. “I will continue to promote the necessity of creating a future-ready industry that focuses on the competencies required to design impactful experiences in addition to the future-proof skills that will qualify meeting professionals for leadership roles and jobs in the next 10 to 20 years.”

States also addressed the challenges that women in the meeting and event industry still face.

“It’s incumbent upon us as industry women to encourage, fight for and support one another as we continue to search for wage and workplace equality, leadership roles and seats in the C-suite. I’m so proud of the progress we have made; however, there is much more that can and will be done. I’d like to publicly thank Paul Van Deventer for your commitment to women’s equality as evidenced by all you do to support the women you serve. Thank you.”