ON THE MOVE
PlannersEckberg joins Bishop-McCann David Eckberg, CMP, is the new program manager for Bishop-McCann, a meetings, incentives and events company based in Kansas City. Before joining Bishop-McCann, Eckberg spent six years planning events for A-S-K Conference Management Group.
Ziebarth moves up at Chicago’s rEvolution
Nick Ziebarth has been named director of events at rEvolution, a sports marketing, event management and media agency. Ziebarth was promoted from the position of senior manager of events.
New association management company formed
Symbiotix Management Strategies LLC, an association management firm serving health-care industry associations and medical societies, recently was formed in Lexington, Ky. The company has named Brian Doty, CMP, to be its executive director, responsible for overall company operations. Previously, Doty worked for the parent company of SMS, Symbiotix, serving as executive director of programming.
SuppliersMichael Gallo, CMP, CASE, is now director of sales at the 1,147-room Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel. Previously, he worked in sales at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel.
The Convention Industry Council has appointed
Richard W. Hunter Jr. as director of the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX), a best practices initiative for the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry.
David S. Keamy, CMP, has been named director of sales and marketing for the new 471-room Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel. The property will open in December.
Sharon Klaschka is now director of sales and marketing for the recently renovated 546-room Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Maui, Hawaii.
Linda Norman has been appointed general manager for the new 757-room Hilton Baltimore. The convention center hotel is under construction and will open in August 2008.
If you would like notice of a career move considered for inclusion in this column, contact Kaylee Hultgren, People Page, M&C, 100 Lighting Way, Secaucus, N.J. 07094; fax: (201) 902-2032; e-mail:[email protected] 
"I don’t let anything
scare me, such as
things I’ve never
done before."
Louise D. Paul, CMP, CMM, project
manager, Global Meeting Solutions for San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco
Systems won the tech company’s 2006 meeting planner of the year
award. She works in Cisco’s Research Triangle Park, N.C., office,
and is actually an employee of third-party meetings management
company StarCite. Paul worked on 450 Cisco events last year.
Was there one event that won
you the award? No, I think I won because of my overall
work, my attitude and my work ethic. Plus, I earned my CMM last
year.
What type of meetings do you
work on? I did mostly short-term events last year, what we
call turn-and-burn. I didn’t travel for those, obviously; I would
never be home. Now I am doing larger programs, where I’ll be
traveling. I got promoted from meeting manager to project manager
soon after I got the award.
What’s the most challenging
event you’ve done for Cisco? College Days: Within a period
of about six weeks, in four locations, we bring in probably 1,500
college recruits and interview them for positions. It’s every day
for six weeks. The hardest part is dealing with immature college
kids and the constant turnover of attendees.
Have you always worked on tech
events? No. I’ve been planning for 25 years. I’ve had my
own business. I’d been in the medical field, so coming to Cisco two
and a half years ago was a total change in industry for me. But I
don’t let anything scare me, such as things I’ve never done before.
I take chances -- well-thought-out chances.