President's Corner - December 2025

Well, friends, we made it. This is officially my last column as your MPI Texas Hill Country Chapter President. Michele Gonzalez, CMP takes over January 1, and I know she’ll be an amazing leader and advocate for our local industry. 

Those of you who were at the End of Year Celebration heard that this has been a difficult year for me personally full of change and transition. It helped me develop an important goal, though: to advocate for the mental health of meetings industry professionals. We have a difficult job that demands the unattainable goal of perfection and that requires us to take care of everyone and everything else before we take care of ourselves. That’s a recipe for burnout, and that’s bad for us as people and for the long-term quality of our industry. I promise that I’m going to do what I can in my little corner of this world to try to change that and do better. 

I serve one more year on your MPI THCC Board of Directors as Immediate Past President, and I have one big goal for 2026. If you look at our membership demographics, we have lots of members that have been with us five years or less and quite a few that are in the 15-20 year plus category. We do not have a lot of members that are in the middle of their career. #thanksnothanks, COVID. As I sit here reflecting on my 22 years of membership with MPI THCC, I believe that the senior meeting professionals — both planners and suppliers — owe it to the industry that have provided us with an amazing life and wonderful memories to help those who are just beginning their career. For MPI THCC, this could mean establishing active committees, offering leadership development education programs,  facilitating roundtable discussions that bring together planners of all experience levels to exchange ideas and tips, and more. 

If you feel a little spark inside you reacting as you read this, I would really like to continue the conversation with you and hear your ideas. 

Happy holidays, friends, and I’ll see ya in 2026.

Donna Harbers, CMP
president@mpithcc.org
JoyShine. LLC