President's Message

2023

President’s Message

I am still overwhelmed by our community of meeting/event and hospitality professionals that came out in droves to support Meetings Academy 2023 towards the tail end of April. It was an incredible honor serving with our volunteers to plan, organize, execute, and resurrect Meetings Academy at my home venue at the USF St. Petersburg campus. For those who volunteered and/or attended, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for coming out to celebrate our industry and enjoy a day of reconnecting with friends and colleagues.

I want to express my sincerest gratitude to ALL of our sponsors' support! To Beth Ziesenis of Your Nerdy Best Friend, Shannon Tarrant of Wedding Venue Map, Chief David Hendry of the USF St. Petersburg Police Department, Major Richard Mills of the City of Tampa Police Department, Chief Anthony Holloway of the City of St. Petersburg Police Department, and Mark Wells of MW Ideas, LLC, THANK YOU ALL for sharing your expertise, insights, and advice on the events and meetings industry.

I would also like to extend a special ‘thank you’ to Dean Cihan Cobanoglu of the USF School of Hospitality & Tourism Management for speaking to the audience about the expansion of the school, as we continue to engage the hospitality community across the entire Tampa Bay region! We cannot wait to see USF continue to expand and be a major player in the hospitality industry with the relationships you and your team have built in our region.

To our chapter’s Board of Directors for 2022-2023, JC York, Charlene Liu, CMP, DMCP, Danielle Coker, CMP, Angelic Hodnett, Mary Katsougrakis, Nevar Campbell, CMP, and our fantastic chapter administrator, Xiomara "Cee" Clarke-Butler, thank you for helping me rebuild this chapter and re-engage our members in the wake of the pandemic. It is challenging to pull these types of events off without our volunteers; thank you, thank you, thank you all!! Stay tuned for the slate of upcoming events from MPI Tampa Bay coming soon, but here’s a sneak preview:

June 23, 2023 - Night of Legends
July 20, 2023 - Monthly Education
September 7, 2023 - SOS After 5
October 18, 2023 - Monthly Education
November 9, 2023 - After 5
January 18, 2024 - After 5

Andy Dang

MPI Tampa Bay Area Chapter President 2022-2023