Finding Calm in Chaos: Navigating Current Geopolitical Effects on Business Meetings and Incentive Travel

Annette Gregg, CMM, MBA is CEO of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), leading its 2500 global members. She has an extensive background in the meeting and hospitality industry, serving in executive level positions for corporations, associations and non-profits. She regularly delivers keynotes on topics including diversity and unconscious bias, promoting women in the workplace, and a variety of professional development topics. Annette has taught at several universities including leading San Diego State University’s Meeting and Event Certificate Program, and is currently instructor in Leadership for their Masters in Meeting and Events Program. She was elected Instructor of the Year at SDSU, and inducted into the Center for Business Intelligence’s Circle of Excellence for her training and speaking. She is an honoree for Women in Tourism and Hospitality, and has won the Coach Award for the Association of Women in Events, Smart Women Industry Leader Award, and Planner of the Year for MPI San Diego. Annette served on MPI’s Board of Directors, the board for the Kim Center for Gender Equity, and San Diego Commission for Women and Girls. She was named to the MeetingsNet Changemakers list for her work in women’s empowerment. Annette received her undergraduate degree in International Relations at the University of California, Berkeley and later received her MBA from California Miramar University in San Diego. She lives an active life with her husband and son in San Diego.

Jerry Cito is Executive Vice President at New York City Tourism + Conventions-the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for New York City—where he is responsible for developing NYC as a premier business events, incentives, meetings and conventions destination, highlighting the world-class products and services of the company’s members and the diverse offerings of the overall destination.

A hospitality professional with over 20 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry, Jerry oversees New York City Tourism + Conventions network of global sales representatives, including the NYC-based staff, as well as a regional office in Washington, DC, plus dedicated global MICE representatives in the UK, Latin America and China.

Cito is a respected member of the tourism world who served as a trustee on PCMA’s Foundation Board, is a founding member and current Executive Committee member of USTA’s Meetings Mean Business Coalition, the Events Industry Councils Leadership Council & Covid-19 Business Recovery Task Force Member, sits on Destination International’s Sales & Marketing Committee, is the treasurer for the local chapter of NYIAEE and a board member of NYSAE among additional industry involvement.