People 5-1-2000

> Meetings & Conventions: People May 2000

EDITED BY AMY DREW TEITLER

As marketing programs manager for the software products and platforms division of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems, Marguerite Michels, CMP, juggles 25 to 30 events each year. Most of these events are “licensee days,” at which people who have purchased licenses for Sun products get to meet the company’s engineers and learn about upcoming innovations. Michels also handles product launches and Sun’s trade show booths.

What was your college major, and how does it help you as a planner?
I wanted to go into marine biology, but then I started taking chemistry, and that was my downfall. So I majored in sociology. It helps me interact with and read people. That’s why I like to deal with people face to face, because in a phone conference, you aren’t able to see body language and expressions.

How did you get into meeting planning?
About 10 years ago, when I was in the writing department at the Benham Group [a mutual fund company], we handled every piece of marketing material that left the building. We worked in conjunction with the meeting planning department. The woman who was managing that department moved abroad, so I expressed interest in the position. They said, “Here ya go!” It was like jumping in the deep end without a life preserver.

Is there something about you that would surprise people who only know you professionally?
I ride horses. I do eventing, or combined training, which is three different disciplines of riding: dressage, cross-country and stadium jumping. There’s nothing like jumping a three-foot fence on horseback or flying cross-country on a horse. In many ways, it can compare to meeting planning. You have to be able to think fast but remain calm when a horse acts up.

Do you own a horse?
I’m looking to buy a horse, possibly an ex-racehorse. Thoroughbreds are great for eventing. Often, horses that are too slow for the track are plenty fast for what I want to do. I’ll board him at the ranch in Los Gatos where I ride, which also has an equestrian drill team that I ride in. Even though we have the room, our property is not zoned for horses.

SARAH J.F. BRALEY

PLANNERS

GLYNN AND ROJAS FORM BOSTONBASED
Ruth M. Glynn, CMP, and Terri Rojas, CMP, have partnered to create BostonBased, a meeting and special event management company in Swampscott, Mass. The two planners previously worked at the Manchester, Mass.-based Professional Relations and Research Institute, an association management company serving 25 medical/surgical societies. Rojas was director of meetings and conventions; Glynn was assistant director of meetings and conventions. Both have 18 years of experience in the planning industry.

ROSSI, CMP, OPENS THE ULTIMATE EVENT
Kaye Rossi, CMP, has formed The Ultimate Event, a meeting planning company in Newport Beach, Calif. Her most recent position was with Taco Bell Corp. in Irvine, Calif., where she served as corporate meetings consultant. She has been working in the planning field for 14 years.

SUPPLIERS