Back to the full list of 20 changemakers

Donna Foppoli-Patrick, CMP, CMM

PAST Foppoli-Patrick came to Medtronic in 2001 as a meeting planner in the company’s CardioVascular business unit in Santa Rosa, Calif., and soon was promoted to manager of her department. In 2007, she was promoted again and moved from California to Medtronic’s world headquarters in Minneapolis to develop, launch, and manage its SMMP. She has been in the meetings industry for 17 years.

CRED Foppoli-Patrick created a meetings advisory board comprised of internal senior-level planners and managers from various divisions in the company. “I have involved them along the way and asked for their feedback on the improvements we make,” she says. She is now considering an international meetings advisory board to assist with her team’s effort to expand the SMMP globally, which is expected to launch in 2011.

SUCCESS STORY Early in her career, Foppoli-Patrick developed a business plan as part of her CMM certification that detailed improvements she would make to the meetings management process in her business unit. She gave a copy to senior execs and, as a result, was promoted to manager of the meetings team for that division and given the green light to begin implementing her ideas.

GIVING BACK She is president-elect of the Minnesota Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, and still finds time to mentor four Medtronic employees who are interested in getting more involved in meetings management. “We try to meet quarterly to check in and discuss their career paths and what they can be doing to advance in this industry.” She has encouraged them to get involved in their local MPI chapter, network with colleagues, and attend industry conferences.

ADVICE “Be like a sponge and soak everything up. I am still learning. You don’t just become an expert one day after doing this.”

Next Page: Angie Pfeifer
Back to the full list of 20 changemakers