Following an extensive six-month executive
search, Dallas-based Meeting Professionals International
hired Bruce MacMillan, right, a 13-year member of the association,
as its president and CEO. MacMillan, who spent the past three years
heading up Tourism Toronto, the Toronto Convention and Visitors
Association, begins his tenure as the 21,106-member organization’s
top staff person this month.
M&C recently asked
MacMillan a few questions.
As a longtime MPI member,
what special quality do you bring to your new
position?
MPI has helped make me successful,
whether it’s learning the key values of creating great meetings for
the attendees and stakeholders, learning from leaders, like David
Kliman and Kitty Ratcliffe, or hearing great speakers like Rick
Pitino.
How could the organization
better serve members?
I’d like to help the association learn
how to make our members as successful as it has made me. MPI has
been amazing for kick-starting people’s careers. Now we need to
understand how we can serve members who have become successful
through the organization. We can bring more value to our senior
members.
What do you see as your
first order of business for MPI?
I’m going to work with the team in
Dallas. Our organization has gone through a long period without a
leader, during which our membership has grown and our retention is
at an all-time high, and that’s thanks to that team. I need to get
to know them, because they’re going to help me deliver the
message.