A Charter and Life member of MPI, Rod Abraham has been involved with the association since before it was formed, meeting with a small group of planners who identified the need for an organization that became MPI. Over the past 50 years he has been a passionate advocate for many initiatives, both with the MPI Philadelphia Area Chapter, which he helped form and later served as its president, as well as numerous roles at the association’s international level. It should, therefore, be clear why MPI members selected Rod for inclusion on the association's "50 Legacy Contributors" list in relation to MPI's 50th anniversary this year.
Highlights of his decades of service include twice chairing the MPI Foundation—including its first major fundraising campaign. He is still active, serving as an advisor to MPI’s Small Business Owners Council, which he also co-founded.
Throughout his career, Rod has been a strong advocate of volunteerism including mentoring others coming up in the industry. When asked about his motivation, he always includes in his answer the summation, “the more you give, the more you get.”
“MPI has been important to me in so many ways,” Rod says. Some of the most important aspects, include “networking opportunities that have enabled me to develop lifelong friendships and business resources and counsel, education that has helped me succeed in my life’s work and created opportunities to ‘pay it forward’ as a volunteer and mentor.
Some of Rod's activities and achievements in the meeting and event industry
- MPI Charter and Life Member;
- Two terms as chair of the MPI Foundation Global Board of Trustees;
- Member of the MPI International Board of Directors;
- Co-founder/co-chair of MPI’s Small Business Owners Community;
- Recipient of MPI’s first-ever Appreciation Award;
- MPI International Planner of the Year;
- Served on MPI’s Governance Task Force that developed plan for restructuring volunteer governance;
- Founder and Past President of the MPI Philadelphia Area Chapter;
- Named Planner of the Year by his Philadelphia-area MPI peers;
- Advocated for and chaired the MPI Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (early 1980s);
- Trustee of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives Foundation;
- President of the Delaware Valley Society of Association Executives;
- Board Member, Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau;
- Advisory Board, Clearwater, St. Petersburg & Beaches Convention/Visitors Bureau;
- Guest Lecturer at Drexel University, Widener University, UNLV and UNC-Charlotte;
- Served on advisory boards for Disney, Omni, Sonesta and Westin as well as the International Association of Conference Centers and Certain Software;
- Many years as regular meetings industry speaker, lecturer; passionate advocate for helping meeting industry small business owners start, survive and succeed in their business.
