Corporate Meetings:
Opportunities & Future Growth Prospects

Christine Duffy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Maritz Travel Company

Christine Duffy is president and chief executive officer of Maritz Travel, one of the largest meeting, event and incentive travel management companies in the world. Headquartered in St. Louis, Maritz Travel combines industry insight with the art of motivation and the science of technology to develop customized events that deliver targeted business results.

Managing more than $500 million in revenue, Duffy is responsible for ensuring the highest level of service quality is delivered to clients, to help them achieve their unique business objectives.  Duffy is very active in the meetings industry. Through her expertise, vision and approachable communication style, she is empowering meeting professionals around the globe to elevate their profession and prove their strategic value to their company’s bottom line.

She has been invited to numerous industry conferences to share her knowledge and experience around: trends in the meeting and incentive industry, meeting effectiveness, outsourcing and strategic meetings management.  She has served on the Meeting Professionals International MPI Board of Directors for six years and was appointed 2005-2006 Chairwoman of the Board.   Duffy founded MPI’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, served as its inaugural chairwoman, and has been a regular speaker for the industry on women’s leadership.  She also is a member of the Committee of 200 (C200), whose mission and Foundation is to foster, celebrate and advance women’s leadership in business.

Most recently she has been added to the Executive Committee and board of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and US Travel Association Board of Directors.

Duffy is a founding member of the Meetings, Events and Incentives (ME&I) Coalition, the formation of which she announced at the 2009 MPI Conference MeetDifferent.   Duffy took the stage with US Travel Association President Roger Dow to stand up against attacks on companies, which received assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and their use of meetings and incentive travel.  On behalf of the ME&I Coalition, she has been a strong and active voice in the media and on Capitol Hill to communicate the business value of meetings and incentive travel, and their impact on the economy and more than one million American jobs.  As a coalition member, she co-authored industry guidelines for meetings, events and incentive/recognition travel, based on corporate best practices and designed to ensure transparency and accountability.   

Duffy has been recognized several times over for her work at Maritz and as an industry leader.  In 2008, Business Travel News recognized her as one of the “25 Most Influential Executives of 2007.”  In 2006, the St. Louis Business Journal recognized her as one of the “25 Most Influential Business Women,” and she was once again named one of Meetings News magazine’s “25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry.”  She previously was recognized by Meetings News in 2000, 2001 and 2005.  And, she was named one of Corporate Meetings and Incentives magazine’s “Top 10 Women Leaders in the Meeting Industry” in 2001.  Duffy was inducted into the Convention Industry Council Hall of Leaders in 2007.

Duffy had served as President and Chief Operating Officer of McGettigan Partners when that company was acquired in November 2001 by Maritz Travel.  While there, she grew sales more than 154 percent between 1996 and 2001 through organic growth and acquisition.

For more information on Maritz Travel, visit www.maritz.com.