PORTLAND, ORE.—The Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), the global community solely dedicated to sustainability in the meetings and events industry, not only through education but also by spearheading research, policy and standards, announced on July 1, 2010, a transition in Board leadership for the organization. Founders Amy Spatrisano and Nancy Wilson are retiring from the Board. The new leadership team is led by Guy Bigwood, group sustainability director of the MCI Group as president of the Board; and Paul Salinger, vice president of Marketing for Oracle as president-elect.
Amy Spatrisano and Nancy Wilson, co-founders of both MeetGreen and the Green Meetings Industry Council, leave behind a legacy of vision and leadership for GMIC. Recognizing early on the significance of green meetings, a term that has now evolved to mean responsible meetings management and sustainable business, the two have led the organization since inception and leave a legacy of recognition for sustainable meetings and a solid foundation for the continued growth of GMIC.
GMIC is one of the fastest growing organizations in the meetings and events industry, experiencing 300 percent growth in the last two years. GMIC members are recognized subject matter experts in the field of sustainable meetings and include award-winning members for the work they have done to make meetings and events more sustainable and to bring sustainable meetings and events into the mainstream of event planning.
Chapters Outside North America Planned
With this solid foundation, GMIC is now poised to increase global awareness and partnerships. New chapters in Europe and North America will add to that rapid expansion. In partnership with the Convention Industry Council, GMIC has developed the APEX Green Meeting Standard and will deliver the first certificate training at MPI’s World Education Congress. The CIC has given GMIC the mandate to develop training curriculum that will lead to certification for green meetings.
“It is a tremendous honor for us to take the helm of an association which has been defining green meetings for the last seven years,” Bigwood says. “Today, GMIC members are among the foremost leaders in the movement for a sustainable society and industry. They are the early adopters and the visionaries, who today are recognized as driving more sustainable, more effective and more successful events and businesses.”
“My goal is to lead the association to a new era of business sustainability with greater international representation, global influence and the industry’s best resources for inspiring sustainability,” Bigwood added. “This week’s report by Accenture shows that 93 percent of global CEOs see sustainability as critical to the future success of their businesses. At present, the meetings industry is behind that curve. At GMIC, we see it as our challenge to accelerate the transformation and implementation of sustainability into the global meetings arenas. GMIC has a unique role to develop the industry’s understanding and knowledge of integrated business sustainability: people, planet and profit.”
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