After a two-year break, the Professional Convention Management Association reinstituted its Global Meetings Executive of the Year Award, honoring Patrizia Semprebene Buongiorno, vice president AIM Group International.
Buongiorno received the award during the IMEX Frankfurt Gala Dinner on June 1, where IMEX and other industry organizations celebrated outstanding industry leaders with a variety of awards aimed at overall excellence as well as specific achievements in sustainability and inclusivity.
PCMA’s Global Meetings Executive of the Year Award recognizes a business-events strategist who has demonstrated vision, commitment, and passion, and Buongiorno’s 30-year career checks all the boxes. Noting her initiative and volunteerism, Sherrif Karamat, PCMA’s president and CEO, called Buongiorno a “fearless leader with a drive for continued innovation and commitment to developing our next generation of industry leaders.”
In addition to serving as vice president at AIM Group and as president of AIM Communication, Buongiorno teaches event organization, green meetings, tourism management, and marketing and communications at universities in Rome and Milan, Italy, and elsewhere. She also volunteers as secretary general of FIMAC, a non-profit working to improve the health conditions of people in Central Africa.
Here are six other awards presented at the IMEX Frankfurt Gala Dinner:
• The Innovation in Sustainability Award, presented by IMEX and the Events Industry Council, went to the Copenhagen Legacy Lab. The CLL connects international congresses held in Copenhagen with local business and science communities. Bettina Reventlow-Mourier, Copenhagen CVB’s deputy convention director, accepted the award for the program.
• The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence’s Jane E. Schuldt SITE Master Motivator Award honors a member who upholds the highest standards for creating and delivering incentive travel events, and who supports the global incentive travel community. The 2022 award went to Paul Miller, CIS, CITP, managing director of Spectra, a U.K.-based DMC.
• Adam Burke, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, was honored with Destinations International’s Global Ambassador Award. Burke was noted for his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices, and strong leadership in the community.
• The MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award went to Panashe Mahakwa, a student at Vistula University in Warsaw.
• The International Association of Professional Congress Organizers honored Ezpmp, a PCO in South Korea, with the IAPCO Innovation Award for the carbon-neutral delivery of The P4G Summit, a South Korean government virtual event.
• The International Convention and Congress Association’s Global Influencer Award went to Thomas Reiser, executive director of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis and chair of ICCA’s Association Advisory Committee.
