M. Theresa Breining, CMP, CMM
President, Concepts Worldwide, Inc.

Susan Butler
Butler Group Event Design

Pierre Charmasson, CMP
Corporate Meetings & Events Manager, Professional Event Solutions, a division of Kleege Industries, Inc.

Lisa DeFino, CSEP
Owner, LD Events

David Wellington Finch, CMP
Manager, Meetings & Trade Shows, Amgen

Mark Fisher
Marketing Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Rachel Gershwin
Director of Marketing & Development, Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego, Inc.

Annette Gregg
Annette Gregg, CMP, CMM

Rachel Peniche
Founder, Plan It San Diego

Annie Revel, CSEP
President, Revel Productions, Inc.

Paige Satter
Maanager, Public Programs, San Diego Museum of Art

Cindy Shtur, CMP
Key Manager and Purchasing Manager, Concepts Worldwide, Inc

Claudia Wehrman, CMP
Regional Director of Sales and Marketing, PRA Destination Management

Jack Boyce is a graduate of Revelle College at the University of California, San Diego, graduating with high honors. He attended graduate school at Arizona State University in experimental psychology, emphasizing experimental analysis and statistical design, and graduated from University of San Diego Law School in 1985. He now practices law with Foster Walsh LLP, a San Diego firm representing more than 475 privately-held businesses and professional practices in Southern California. His law practice emphasizes several areas of law:

• Business Litigation - Jack provides legal counsel to his firm's clients in all forms of business litigation;
• Trademarks - trademarks and service marks, including preparation of federal trademark applications and prosecution of litigation for infringement and unfair business practices;
• Internet Law - domain name disputes, online privacy & user agreements, and preparation of written agreements necessary to do business on the Internet;
• Hospitality Law - Jack counsels businesses in the hospitality industry, including the negotiation of hotel, vendor, or meeting management agreements.

Boyce is "AV" rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is a member of the San Diego County Bar, California Bar, and American Bar Associations and the International Trademark Association. He is an avid baseball fan, and this year completed his first marathon.

Theresa Breining, CMP, CMM is the founder and president of Concepts Worldwide, a meeting management firm headquartered in San Diego County since its inception in 1988. She has been in the meeting planning industry since 1976, and has been responsible for producing meetings around the globe.

Considered by many to be a thought leader, she is an activist working tirelessly for the continuous advancement of the level of professionalism in the meeting industry, and has been serving as adjunct faculty for meeting planning programs for universities throughout Southern California for over 20 years. She is a sought after speaker, presenting educational workshops for a variety of business entities.

A very active member of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Breining has served at both the local and international level, including as MPI's Chairwoman of the Board in 2003-04. Having served as the representative of the convention/meeting planning sector of the meeting industry for the APEX commission, she serves as chairwoman of the commission as of January 2007. The APEX commission is a national body working to develop and implement standards by which the meeting & event industry functions. Her other volunteer commitments include serving on the Board of Directors of Travelers Aid Society of San Diego, the San Diego Convention & Visitor Bureau, as well as on the Advisory Boards for several convention bureaus, a resort, and an international exhibition producer.

Susan Butler, AIFD, has worked in San Diego's special events industry as an award-winning designer and educator for twenty years. She holds degrees in Television & Film, Marketing and Fashion Merchandising. In addition to founding Butler Group Event Design and working in studio and field production at KPBS, she has taught at George Washington University, USD, and Cuyamaca College.

Pierre Chamasson is a broadcast journalism graduate of Northern Arizona University. He is a seasoned meetings and events manager, technical show director, and professional voice talent. He began his career in commercial radio and eventually transitioned his talents into television where he worked for CBS and NBC affiliates in Arizona. He returned to his home town of San Diego, California in the late '80s to become the owner/operator of COGITEK Productions, a corporate video and film company. After a decade of writing, producing, and directing corporate theater, he redirected his talents into the convention & meetings industry and currently serves as the corporate meetings and events manager for Professional Event Solutions in San Diego.

Chamasson served as the director of audio visuals services at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and has directed meetings and events for Fortune 1000 companies across the globe. His extensive experience both in front of the camera and his technical skills behind the scenes have earned him a reputation as a polished meetings and events professional. He is the 2007/2008 president for the San Diego Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (SDMPI) and enjoys sharing his passion for the industry by participating as an instructor and public speaker within the industry.

Lisa DeFino, CSEP has been in the meeting and event industry for over ten years. With an extensive background in event planning and management, Lisa has participated in all types of events from corporate retreats to nonprofit fundraising to national conventions and trade shows. Her work in the special event industry has been published; she has been honored with numerous awards and has received recognition from organizations such as the International Special Events Society.

DeFino has been an advocate for education in the meetings and event industry, and has been a guest speaker and presenter at universities and industry conferences. She is an instructor for the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at San Diego State University, and is currently the program advisor for the Meeting and Event Planning Certificate program at San Diego State, where she has been teaching classes since 1998.

David Wellington Finch, CMP, is manager of meetings and trade shows at Amgen with 20 years experience as an association, independent and corporate meeting planner. He received his recertification as a meeting professional (CMP) in 2005 and has planned meetings, trade shows, and special events in over 30 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He is entering his fifth term on the board of directors of Meeting Professionals International Southern California Chapter as vice president of finance.

Annette Gregg, CMP, CMM has a diverse background in the meeting and hospitality industry. She began her career at the Food Marketing Institute in Washington DC. After planning conventions in Mexico, Hong Kong, and throughout the US, she went on to plan corporate and fundraising meetings and events. Annette has managed several successful teams including: the fundraising events team at UCLA, the 250-person event staff at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the 200-person convention team at the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, and currently the sales and purchasing team for Concepts Worldwide, a meeting planning company specializing in pharmaceutical meetings. She has taught meeting planning at universities for several years, and is actively involved in PCMA and MPI. Annette likes to spend her "unplanned" time at the beach with her husband and son.

Rachel Peniche is a San Diego native and graduate of the University of San Diego High School. She attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2000, she began working in the Special Event industry when she coordinated the celebrity and VIP arrangements for The Governor Gray Davis Committee at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. That same year, after training in event management and meeting management & special events planning, Peniche started Plan It San Diego, an event planning and coordination company specializing in weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and other corporate, political and charity events. She is a member of the International Special Events Society (ISES), San Diego Chapter where she has also served on the board of directors.

Peniche teaches at SDSU and USD, and co-chairs the 2009 Wedding Lunch for The Special Event Conference being hosted in San Diego in January 2009, and is also involved in many philanthropic organizations such as Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, The Thursday Club, and The Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Most recently, she served as the Event Coordinator for Vista Hill, a local nonprofit serving those with substance abuse, mental health issues, and developmental disabilities.

Today, as president of Revel Productions, Inc.(RPI), she remains on the forefront of the latest trends in the industry. She has expanded RPI to include consulting and training workshops/seminars, and continues to develop standards of excellence in the event management industry with other top professionals.

Paige Satter is the public programs manager at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Since 2002, she has been responsible for the planning and implementation of all public programs including concerts, lectures, film series, dance performances, symposia, and literature programs. Prior to joining the museum, she served as production manager for the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in arts management from California State University, San Bernardino and has been working in the arts for nearly 20 years.

Cindy Shtur, CMP, brings over 24 years of experience in the hospitality/meeting industry. She started her travel industry experience as a travel agent and financial travel manager before joining one of the largest travel agencies, Rosenbluth Travel, where she was the meeting manager handling their largest client accounts. In 1993 she was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Student of the Year Award from the Sawyer Business School from which she graduated in 1981. She has served on the MPI Pittsburgh Chapter Board (1993-1999) as director of education and vice president of membership. In 1995, she received her CMP and headed up several CMP study classes from 1996-1999. In 1996-1997 she was awarded the MPI Presidents Honor Roll Award. In 1998, she developed a meeting planning division for the largest travel agency in Pittsburgh.

In 2000, she joined Concepts Worldwide as the director of operations and also held the position of manager of site selection as well as national account executive and purchasing manager. Currently her new role with Concepts Worldwide is key account manager.

Claudia Wehrman, CMP, started with PRA San Diego in 1996 as a national sales manager who came to the company with over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She has won numerous industry awards, including the San Diego County Hotel-Motel Association's Gold Key Salesperson of the Year Award, which she won in 1987 and 1993. The San Diego State University graduate is the only two-time winner in the history of this award.

Before joining PRA, Wehrman was director of sales and marketing at L'Auberge Del Mar Resort and Spa from 1995-96. From 1988-95, she served as director of sales and marketing at San Diego's four-diamond Pan Pacific Hotel (currently the Wyndham Emerald Plaza Hotel). From 1986-88, she helped open the Omni San Diego Hotel (currently the Westin Hotel Horton Plaza) as director of sales. And for three years prior to that, she served as director of group sales at what was then the Intercontinental Hotel (now the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina).

Wehrman is consistently #1 and #2 in sales volume for PRA system-wide and was recently honored by her co-workers with a Creativity Award.