Aleka Garcia, CMP, CMM Account supervisor
Pacific Communications
Costa Mesa, Calif.

PAST Meeting planning was pretty much the last thing she expected to do when Garcia was hired at Pacific Communications. Having spent five years on the road as a planner with CME Inc., she wanted to stay put for a while. But it quickly became apparent that her planning expertise was just what Pacific needed, and within six months, she was on a plane to manage a meeting in Barcelona. Just a few years later, she is an account supervisor, overseeing a staff of five to head the agency's Strategic Meeting Management group.

CRED Garcia created the SMM department herself “to strengthen the agency's offering while integrating all components of a program, beginning with the concept of the meeting through the final reconciliation of the program.”

Her department is considered a core competency at the agency and billed as an offering to clients. This means she is included in monthly business planning meetings and client pitches.

SUCCESS STORY Garcia most enjoys seeing her staff get kudos from clients. “When a planner on my staff is recognized and thanked by the client for management and execution of an event, I start gushing with joy! It's an amazing thing to watch a coordinator/planner grow and evolve.”

FORWARD THINKING Garcia realized early on that the key to getting a seat at the table was to talk the talk of her superiors. In particular, when Craig Sullivan, vice president and director of client services, joined the company, Garcia educated him on where her skills fit with the bottom line, even developing a billing matrix showing different client projects and how much more money handling meetings in-house would bring in.

“It was a little bit trying at first to learn the lingo, because he was a [marketing] guy,” she recalls. “But the minute I could show the money that we were making, he was all over it.”

Return to 20 Changemakers