Christine Duffy, recognized as one of MPI's "Legacy Contributors" in honor of the association's 50th anniversary this year, shares, in her own words, her history with MPI and what it's meant to her.

I believe I joined MPI in the mid-90s, participating with my local Philadelphia Chapter. I was working at McGettigan Partners at the time and our CEO, John Pino, was involved and one of our sales executives, Linda Layton, who had joined us from the Philadelphia CVB, was also a member. I began attending chapter meetings and was introduced to Kimberly Myer who was the head of education for MPI. She encouraged me to get involved internationally and I began attending the international events and met more people from MPI headquarters. Ed Griffin was CEO of MPI at the time and I had begun working on the idea of establishing a Women’s Leadership Initiative. There were so many women in the industry and there was no forum or development focused on women who wanted to grow their careers.

While I had spoken with other industry associations from PCMA, ASAE, etc., it was MPI who offered to provide staff support and sponsor this initiative.

I was invited to present the idea at an MPI board meeting and Dave Johnson, who was an executive with Wyndham at the time, contributed $300K to get us started. Joann Bedrosian-Ryan with United Airlines also stepped up and we launched with an advisory board that included Charlotte St Martin, who for many of us was a role model for how far women in the industry could go as she had been general manager of the Loews Anatole Hotel which at the time was one of the largest convention hotels in the country! Other female leaders from the industry engaged and we were able to conduct research, deliver programming and networking for women in the industry. Over time this program became integrated into MPI under Marsha Flanagan.

In addition to Dave Johnson, George Aguel from Disney, Hugh Lee from Fusion Productions, Jerry Wayne with Opryland were on the board along with Evelyn Laxgang who was the head of meetings and events for Motorola. I submitted my application and joined the MPI board where I served for eight years, ultimately becoming chair of the association. I also served on the MPI Foundation Global Board of Trustees.

Today, while I am no longer directly in the meeting and event business, I am a big supporter and advocate for the industry. I have always been a big believer in the power of face-to-face meetings and events but today as the way we work has shifted to virtual, remote and hybrid, I believe that bringing people together for in-person meetings, events and recognition will be the primary way to build culture, relationships and networks across organizations.

For me personally, my experience in the meeting industry and with MPI as my primary professional association has allowed me to learn, develop and grow. And, as I have encouraged others by volunteering to serve in leadership roles you are not only giving back to the industry but gaining critical leadership skills that have served me well as I progressed in my career.

The business relationships I developed with both suppliers and clients were enriched by the work we did together as volunteer leaders. Creating a common understanding of the trends, issues and opportunities that faced our industry and our individual businesses were shared by the education and research delivered by MPI. And, as we all know too well, during the major crisis of our times—from 9/11 to 2008 to the pandemic of the past two years—MPI, along with US Travel, has been a catalyst that brings us together with even greater resolve to ensure our industry will thrive in the future.

On a personal note, the very best part of MPI has been the friendships made along the way. I cannot emphasize the power of the MPI network of relationships!