CIC Announces Hall of Leaders Inductees for 2011

Four meetings, conventions, exhibition and travel industry leaders will join 102 fellow inductees in the Convention Industry Council’s (CIC) Hall of Leaders. The individuals were selected from a group of extraordinary nominees representing the most outstanding leaders and innovators in the industry. The honorees will be inducted during the 2011 Hall of Leaders Gala in Baltimore held in conjunction with AIBTM.


“We are pleased to announce the winners of this prestigious award,” said Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP, chief executive officer for the Convention Industry Council. “There is tremendous talent in our industry, and the 2011 class clearly meets the criteria for this award. All have shown leadership and contributions spanning many facets of the industry as well as contributing to society as a whole.”

Nominations were submitted either by CIC member organizations or the general industry community. Only those who have substantially contributed to the industry and whose efforts continue to shape it qualify for nomination into the CIC Hall of Leaders. Nominees must also have proven versatility through a range of actions that have impacted and re-defined meetings, conventions, exhibitions and/or travel. A selection committee, appointed by the CIC Board of Directors, met this month to review the nominations and recommend honorees. The CIC Board of Directors then approved the slate.

The CIC Hall of Leaders was established in 1985. Each inductee is honored at the Hall of Leaders Recognition Pavilion in the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center and on the walls of McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

The 2011 Hall of Leaders honorees are:

Sandy Angus, chairman, Montgomery Worldwide
Nominated by International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE)
Sandy Angus currently serves as chairman of Montgomery Worldwide, a company founded on exhibition organizing, which grew into a broader holding company with multiple interests covering the full spectrum of exhibition and business event production. For over 40 years, Angus has shaped the industry by establishing shows all over the world, fostering the development of an international industry to ensure individuals and businesses have opportunities to meet face-to-face across six continents. He brought standards and professionalism to an increasingly global exhibitions industry, including the production of the first training video for exhibitors. Angus has served as past chairman of Union des Foires International (UFI); International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), Association of Exhibition Organizers (AEO) and was the founder of the Exhibition Industry Federation.

Fay Beauchine, president, Engagement & Events, Carlson Marketing
Nominated by Site
Fay Beauchine currently serves as president, Engagement & Events, Carlson Marketing. Prior to joining Carlson, she served as vice president of sales and customer care for Northwest Airlines. In the 1980s, when the airline industry was rapidly expanding globally and new routes needed traffic development, Beauchine and her marketing staff came in. They learned they could expand faster through partnerships and alliances. Simplified alliance group meeting agreements took the complexity out of working with multiple carriers and NWA/KLM was the first alliance to sign a single carrier corporate agreement in the U.S. This type of collaboration and joint promotion helped destinations bring in more visitors, and airlines fill seats. Beauchine has served multiple industry organizations including Site, NBTA, MPI, PCMA, ICCA and ACTE, and has been named three times by Business Travel News as one of the business travel industry’s top 25 most influential executives

Christian Mutschlechner, director, Vienna Convention Bureau
Nominated by: International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)
Christian Mutschlechner serves as director of the Vienna Convention Bureau and his leadership has been instrumental in Vienna becoming a leading European meeting destination. Mutschlechner’s contributions have been many, but two key areas are education and development of industry statistics. He has a passion for helping educate future leaders and serves as a lecturer at several universities and schools. Mutschlechner was instrumental in demonstrating the value of meetings that the Vienna Bureau sought to attract and he collaborated with a Vienna university to calculate the economic impact of meetings. He also served as ICCA’s lead representative to the United National World Tourism Organization to establish a globally accepted standard for meetings industry statistics.

Cliff Wallace, managing director, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre
Nominated by International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM)
Cliff N. Wallace, CFE has been the managing director of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre since 1995. As a 38-year public venue management veteran, Wallace has planned and managed venues in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. An American by birth, Wallace is a world leader in the adaptation of western business and venue management skills in Asia, initially in Hong Kong and now mainland China. He was also instrumental in the introduction of private management for public facilities. He introduced a radically different financial operating model for government and venue owner/authorities that became an established industry management option and practice. Wallace has served as chairman of UFI, International Association of Venue Managers, Asia Pacific Exhibition and Convention Council, World Council for Venue Management and Hong Kong Polytechnic School of Hotel and Tourism Management.