The incentive industry is changing fast, from increasingly sophisticated digital recognition platforms to cutting-edge research on the most effective ways for improving workplace performance. But many aspects of incentives remain as true as they were decades ago: recognition is a powerful tool for motivating workers and consumers; rewards tailored to the recipient are most effective. The individuals on this list reflect this balance of novelty and change. This group of association and incentive house leaders, researchers, end users, and others includes long-time industry veterans and individuals brand-new to their roles. What they have in common is that they are shaping this industry and its direction in important ways while pointing the way to its future.
These 25 people were selected by drawing on input from readers, industry leaders, and our own editorial team. The result is a group of influencers as diverse as the industry itself, each making important contributions to the work of promoting and understanding motivation.
RAY BLOOM
Chairman, IMEX Group
IMEX in Frankfurt and IMEX America have become a vital part of the meetings industry's professional development and knowledge-sharing landscape. With the IMEX shows, Bloom and his team have created and continue to grow a powerful gathering place for members of the global incentive, meetings, and events industry for networking, education, and, of course, business.
In 2018, he is looking forward to the first-ever joint Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Forum in Rome, and to whether 2017's SITE Index trends continue, including growing budgets and planned expansion of personnel eligible for incentive travel awards.
Globalization of the meetings market also continues to be of interest, given the IMEX shows are worldwide. As Bloom says, "The fact that the SITE Index was published in Spanish and Mandarin for the first time says a lot about the future of our increasingly diverse and globalized marketplace."
GREG BOGUE
Chief Experience Architect, Maritz Global Events
As the person charged with turning the latest research and analysis in people sciences into actual programs, Bogue is in some ways where the rubber meets the road for Maritz Global Events. For the past couple of years, a lot of this work took place in Experience Design Labs with clients. This fall, the company rolled out Design Studio, a product that takes that work to the next level by providing "clients with a full set of solutions that are deeply connected to our experience design methodology of delivering a better guest or attendee journey."
Bogue will focus on adding market-specific solutions to Design Studio in 2018, as well as exploring how "changing personal values will impact that meeting and event attendance and behavior." A proponent of what he calls "meetings with purpose," Bogue says, "we're not done with the impact personal and organizational values will have on events." Face-to-face events, he says, "are a perfect place to align and close the gap on 'values dissonance' -- the gap between what the organization deems as important and what its guests, attendees, and delegates believe is important."
DREW CARTER
President, Maritz Motivation Solutions
Carter is a recognized thought leader in digital transformation -- helping companies move from intuition-based to data-and insights-driven decision making. He has a deep background in decision sciences and artificial intelligence, which provide an excellent complement to the behavioral science already ingrained at Maritz.
As president of Maritz Motivation Solutions, a role he assumed earlier this year, Carter is continuing the company's focus on delivering innovative solutions that solve client challenges, combining thought-leadership, analytics, and behavioral science. According to Carter, the companies that survive and thrive will be those that create relevant, smooth interactions with customers, sales forces, and employees to drive maximum ROI. These companies will be using data-driven insights to guide their decision making.
Carter is in the midst of transforming the entire industry, through Maritz Motivation Solutions, into an ROI-focused value-creation machine. As Carter put it, "Measuring ROI is really the only way to define success. Companies that fail to demonstrate real business impact will eventually be replaced by those who do."
ANNE DIGREGORY
Director, Global Luxury Sales, Marriott International Luxury Brands
After more than two decades at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, the merger last year of Marriott and Starwood saw DiGregory named head of incentive sales for the combined companies' luxury hotel brands. Responsible for more than 370 hotels and resorts in Marriott's new International Luxury Brands division, including The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, EDITION, Bulgari, Luxury Collection, St. Regis, W Hotels, and select Autograph Collection hotels in Europe, DiGregory has spent much of the past year focused on integrating and reorganizing the new sales group and its customer events. The goal, she says, is to familiarize both the team and its customers with the new portfolios. "We all know that business is done with people you know and trust," DiGregory says. "Building that relationship between Global Sales, the customer, and the hotel is paramount" in the incentive market.
Looking ahead, DiGregory sees strength and confidence in the incentive travel business, which she says is "humming along." She adds, "the world is smaller now than ever before and that lends itself well to incentive trips. It's now possible to ensure you are taking exactly the right group on exactly the right trip that meets their objectives [and can] deliver personal experiences to attendees." In 2018, DiGregory will be focused on getting her team and customers educated with all the new choices, including properties that have been underutilized in the past. "I am realigning our account deployment, because as we grow, we still need to give our customers the high-touch, personal service that is required of a luxury sell," DiGregory says. "It is important for us to know our customer, and also our hotels, to the utmost level of detail."
MIKE DONNELLY
President, Hinda Incentives
Under Donnelly's leadership in 2017, Hinda launched the Hinda Partner Portal to enable its reseller partners to better understand and elevate the solution side of their businesses. The Partner Portal contains more than 10 hours of training and sales support videos as well as customizable marketing collateral, white papers, ebooks, and how-to guides. The initiative also provides subject matter expertise and business development support for Hinda's partners, and it has engaged more than 250 new partners in the past year.
"The response has been tremendous and our business development team is excited by the interest and enthusiasm of our new partners. We have transitioned Hinda from a former stocking rewards distributor to a full-service, technology-enabled and solution-focused marketing services agency that helps our reseller partners provide the best in incentive and loyalty engagement solutions for their end clients," says Donnelly. "We are focused on providing solutions that engage, inspire, and reward employees and customers, along with delivering customized and branded rewards-delivery experiences. We call it 'the future of engaging rewards,' and I'm excited our team is driving the industry forward."
HOLLY GLOWATY AND KRISTEN THIRY
Co-founders, Flourish: The Growth of Branded Currency; Co-founders, K+H Connection
The gift card sector offers plenty of exciting developments and opportunities for motivation, but these can often get lost at larger incentive trade show and conferences. Which was partly why this year, Glowaty and Thiry launched Flourish: The Growth of Branded Currency, based on what these veterans of the financial technology sector call "the hypothesis that our industry needed a forum that challenges us to look at products like gift cards, promotional codes, and stored value beyond their traditional use-cases, and as part of a larger value proposition."
They succeeded in doing just that, bringing together major players in the industry and experts in the financial technology sector for lively discussions, while providing actionable solutions for attendees. Glowaty and Thiry are now lining up the speakers and experts for the event's second iteration in April of next year, leveraging their knowledge of alternative solutions and nontraditional channels to help broaden the conversation around this segment -- including the term "gift cards" itself.
"A gift card is more than a gift," say Glowaty and Thiry. "Promotional value has value that extends beyond the use of that code. Thinking of these products as vehicles for larger engagement can create innovative programs, experiences, and technology that can revolutionize not only incentives, but the wider FinTech community as well."
MARC SIMON
CEO and Director, HALO Branded Solutions
As a recent IRF study pointed out, far more companies of all sizes have relationships with promotional products distributors than they do with national marketing organizations and distributors of name-brand merchandise awards. Which is why the purchase this year of nearly 50-year-old Michael C. Fina Recognition by HALO Branded Solutions, one of the largest promotional products firms in the country, could make 2017 a turning point for the recognition and rewards business. With Fina renamed HALO Recognition, the acquisition "put many key operational elements in place to become a truly comprehensive and universal recognition and rewards provider," says Simon. By leveraging its existing contacts, the HALO acquisition has the potential to dramatically increase the market for brand-name merchandise awards.
The time is ripe because an increasingly mobile and remote workforce is boosting the need for incentives and recognition programs that "engage employees through multiple channels across large networks," says Simon. "Incentives and recognition used to be two separate things, but are becoming one as these technology platforms are now widely available and companies look to consolidate their efforts."
RHEA STAGNER, CIS
Division Vice President, Sourcing and Supplier Relations, Maritz Travel -- A Maritz Global Events Company; SITE Foundation President 2017
Stagner's substantial title at Maritz Travel doesn't even cover all of her roles at the leading event management company, where she also supervises sales support and business intelligence. As president of the SITE Foundation, she has overseen growth in both the quality and breadth of its research and education. Along with its premiere SITE Index, the organization also completed a job study, created the new content and case study hub "Motivate," and is rolling out a new advanced industry certification, the CITE. Beyond that, Stagner is co-founder of a new organization called The Above and Beyond Foundation (TAABF.org), which was created to recognize and reward people employed in the hospitality industry.
Looking at 2018, Stagner wants to get TAABF partnered up with other industry organizations and will be involved in implementing the new organizational structure of SITE and the SITE Foundation. Like other individuals on this list, Stagner sees 2018 as a year in which the impact of ongoing industry consolidation will be an even bigger challenge. "With air, it made pricing less competitive and some could argue it has decreased the level of service," she says. And with hotel consolidation and venture capital investment in DMCs, size and relationships with supplier partners "will be key to ensure the best experience we can for our clients."
DONNA ST LOUIS, CRP
Service Award Enterprise Administrator, The Boeing Company
This has been a busy year for St Louis as she has worked to improve Boeing's employee recognition experience through improved customer service, a redesigned recognition platform, and continual process improvement. She has become a member of the Recognition Professionals Board of Directors, co-chair of the Recognition Professionals International (RPI) Nominating Committee, participated on a Request for Proposal (RFP) Panel as a practitioner at the RPI Conference, and contributed input and ideas, along with other board members, to a strategic action planning session.
In the future, she plans to be a co-chair of Best Practice Awards for Recognition Professionals International (RPI) and to continue working as a member of the RPI Board of Directors. She will also continue working to improve the recognition culture and to drive engagement at Boeing.
Looking at the incentive industry as a whole, she says companies want to save money while at the same time continuing to recognize their employees. There will continue to be increased demand for non-cash rewards and recognition, she adds.
JANA STERN
Assistant Vice President, Director of Meetings and Events, Voya Financial
In 2017, Stern was tasked with bringing seven different distribution channels together for an inaugural One Voya meeting. Previously, the sales meetings were held on different dates and in different cities. Orchestrating one combined meeting and leading her team in planning for the pre- and the post-meetings, was the kind of puzzle that Stern enjoys doing in her job at Voya Financial.
"More and more we are combining meetings and incentives; bringing attendees across divisions to network together and build on best practices. It's not just happening at Voya Financial, it's across the industry," she says.
RODGER STOTZ
University Curriculum Advisor, Former Chief Research Officer, Incentive Research Foundation
Having overseen the IRF's research for a decade, Stotz has been central to making the organization what it is, and paving the way for its continuing growth in research output with the goal of incorporating material on non-cash awards into hospitality and business schools' curriculum. Under his guidance, the IRF has converted research into valid, actionable insights for the industry and business community, through white papers, infographics, webinars, social media, and more. For example, recently the IRF supported a new Meetings, Events, and Incentive Travel certificate program at the University of South Carolina. Stotz has helped expand its Academic Network to include more than 50 academics, and it is now deepening its study of international programs.
More broadly, Stotz has championed the use of credible, objective research in the industry for years, and his success in pushing for this can be seen in the wealth of studies that have been conducted and published beyond the IRF itself. Over the past decade, the incentive industry has seen significant growth in the demand for data to back up claims about how rewards and recognition impact motivation and performance.
MELISSA VAN DYKE
President, Incentive Research Foundation
Over the past eight years at the helm of the IRF, Van Dyke has helped to triple the organization's footprint in terms of education and research. She has worked to make it the go-to resource for actionable research, and the IRF continues to follow its "Vision2020" mission to guide the industry with education through "unity, universal resources, and university efforts," as Van Dyke puts it. The effort has led to an expansion of the organization's relationships with almost 40 partners and a current pipeline of 17 ongoing research projects as well as the launch of a new series of university research grants, and will be introducing five "Signature Studies" next year.
This year, Van Dyke oversaw the inaugural Leadership Insights Forum, and next year will be at the center of things as IRF celebrates its 25th annual Education Invitational at The Grand at Moon Palace Cancun, in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
TODD ZINT, CMP, CMM
Director of Corporate Travel, Meetings & Events, Mutual of Omaha; Past Chairman, FICP; Member, IRF Board of Trustees
Zint has been successful leading high-performing teams, maximizing strategic meeting management initiatives and implementing "high-touch" experiential events throughout his career. He is an active member with the IRF, serving on the Invitational committee, which has contributed to increased attendee participation and revenue for the foundation. He also actively participates on industry panels and regularly contributes industry articles that offer actionable insights. "The event industry continues to evolve and requires the patience and fortitude for ongoing listening, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing," says Zint.
Questions or comments? Email [email protected]
This article appears in the November/December 2017 issue of Incentive.
SHERRI K. LINDENBERG
Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications, Crump Life Insurance Services
Lindenberg is one of the top incentive planners working in the insurance industry. As a board member at Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals she has been a thought leader for the past two-and-a-half years. The incentive programs she plans for Crump Life Insurance Services reflect a professional who keeps up with what's happening at destinations and properties, yet also realizes the true heart of programs comes from staying current with trends in the insurance industry, the MICE industry, technology, and pop culture.
"I have seen a general shift toward incorporation of personalized experiences -- whether for gifts, by expanding on the traditional Maui Jim Sunglasses format to include things like the Blue Jeans Bar, Bose Experience, or OluKai sandals selection, or for food and beverage, with creative and customized meals to meet various dietary differences," she says.
TONY LORENZ, CMM
Chief Executive Officer, AlliedPRA
This past year, AlliedPRA realized unprecedented growth through talent and business acquisitions, and continuation of its ongoing plan initiatives. The company plans to continue building its business through talent, technology, partnerships, service extensions, and acquisitions.
"Our sector of the industry is critical, and yet does not typically realize a broader view of its strategic importance. We will necessarily have to earn that view through closer alignment with market needs," says Lorenz. "Services, partnerships, pricing models, talent delivery, are all roads to a more prominent place in the business events industry. As leaders, it is our responsibility to redefine our sector."
MARTY MACKAY
President, Hosts Global
2017 was a big year for MacKay. She was named president-elect of the Association of Destination Management Executives International (ADMEI); her company won 10 ADMEI awards, two BI WORLDWIDE Inspirational Partner awards, and was recognized as the Supplier of the Year by both Experient and Maritz Travel; she personally appeared on numerous industry "top professionals" lists; added three new international destinations (Romania, Australia, and New Zealand) while increasing DMC member standards; and increased her industry involvement and service on industry boards including SITE, ADMEI, and HSMAI.
MacKay is predicting a busy 2018 as well. According to MacKay, "there may be some shifts in destination selection but incentives will continue to be on the rise and meetings are continuing to book, and book farther out, due to lower inventory in the marketplace."
BOB MILLER
President and CEO, One10 LLC
When Bob Miller and two partners bought industry giant Aimia's Proprietary Loyalty U.S. and its Canada Meetings & Events divisions, they instantly became leaders in the North American channel and employee engagement industry (to say nothing of meetings and events). Miller is a veteran of Carlson Marketing Group and Excellence in Motivation -- the two companies that formed Aimia's non-consumer-focused business. The firm's clients include the world's largest retailer, six main global auto manufacturers, and a bevy of global pharma, tech, and financial services firms, among others. After spending much of the year focused on minimizing disruption to clients and employees, One10 is getting ready to "pivot toward pursuing our aggressive growth plans," in 2018, Miller says. "Nurturing our culture is my primary goal because it will become the foundation that will enable us to execute our strategies."
One of the trends Miller sees dominating the industry in 2018 is consolidation, and he intends to be one of the consolidators, noting, "for large clients, scale and stability matter and will become increasingly important factors in the buying decisions." Another is the growing recognition by corporate America that connections matter. This means recognizing that employee engagement is a key differentiator, but also that "creating connections between individuals, groups, and brands is at the core of this industry," he says. Miller adds that he intends to intensify One10's "focus on data-driven results analysis combined with a renewed emphasis on creativity and excitement."
TALBOTT ROCHE
CEO and President, Blackhawk Network
It has been a busy few years for Blackhawk. It's been making a long series of acquisitions, culminating with CashStar this past August, expanding the global financial tech company's already substantial footprint in the incentive gift card market, particularly in the mobile and digital sector.
Most relevant to the incentive industry, this year saw the organization launch Hawk Incentives, growing from supplier to actual incentive house. Recently, it announced a new-to-the-market, digital-wallet-enabled Mastercard, allowing clients to connect incentives or promotional rewards to a mobile wallet. The company plans to keep exploring innovative ideas in the future.
"Mobile wallets are often underutilized channels for brands to engage with consumers because most don't provide the same functionality as a leather billfold; they don't provide added value by storing credit/debit cards, gift cards, loyalty information, rewards, etc.," says Roche. The organization continues to expand its rewards portfolio, offer original research and incentive content aimed at meeting clients' goals, and to expand SaaS incentive solutions that are cost-effective and easy to implement.
ROY SAUNDERSON
Chief Learning Officer, Rideau Recognition
"Better recognition skills lead to better performance and people results," says Saunderson, and through his efforts, Rideau Recognition has brought cutting-edge technologies to its clients, providing them with analytics data that clearly measures ROI. He has designed the prescriptive learning content that allows clients to target key behaviors they seek to recognize and develop in incentive program participants.
An influential thought leader in the industry, Saunderson has leveraged as many outlets as he can to spread the word about what he calls "Real Recognition," including social media posts, streaming videos on Facebook Live, recognition-focused books (he is currently completing), and, of course, his monthly columns for Incentive. Under his guidance, Rideau is also developing some new Vistance Learning Modules to add to its Vistance Analytics and Prescriptive Learning platform.
"Few companies understand the power behind creating a solid, sustainable recognition strategy as a leveraging tool to achieve their overall business goals," Saunderson says of his work with Rideau. "In the months ahead I think incentive industry members need to become far more strategic. Research is increasingly showing reduced budgets for incentives and recognition because leaders feel there is insufficient ROI."
JONATHAN GREY
Founder and CEO, Ovation Incentives; President, IMA Europe; Board Member, Incentive Marketing Association
As the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) transitioned its IMA Europe special interest group into a chapter this past year, its new president, Grey, took up the challenge of overseeing its growth, which has been impressive. This focus on internationalizing the recognition and rewards industry is in many ways what he has been doing at Ovation Incentives, the London-based performance-improvement company of which he is founder and CEO. "Ovation has had tremendous success in recent years by remaining focused on solving the more complex incentive challenges for our clients -- namely the cross-border, multi-language solutions," Grey says, noting that 70 percent of his firm's revenue comes from outside the U.K.
From his post at IMA Europe, Grey says the chapter board's main goal for 2018 is to spread the passion its members have for the industry "to all corners of Europe in the coming year. It is [essential for] us to develop the next generation of incentive marketers, and to do that we must continue our traditions of bringing people together to connect and learn and trade with each other."
JEFF GRISAMORE
President and CEO, EGR
International & BlackLab Media
In his role as president and CEO of EGR International & BlackLab Media, Grisamore has been one of the key thought leaders in shifting the incentive industry to a more engagement-based view of motivation, having been an early proponent of connecting the disciplines such as employee motivation and training, marketing, and customer satisfaction into the overall strategy of engagement.
Under Grisamore's leadership, EGR & BlackLab Media have had an extraordinary year in 2017, capping a nearly eight-year run since its pivot into being a fully functional global engagement agency, offering clients end-to-end solutions that focus exclusively on custom engagement solutions that produce tangible, measurable ROI.
The company has an international client base with as many customers located overseas as in the United States, which reflects both the global position of both the company and the ever emerging global economy.
"We are excited about the future and believe that customized engagement solutions that are altruistic will continue to lead every industry segment, and we are proud to have our company's 47-year legacy be tied so closely to the incentive industry," says Grisamore. "Incentives continue to have a force and effect that makes a difference in the ongoing challenge of how to engage and motivate a new and ever-changing generation of individuals."
CHRIS HARRISON
National Sales Manager, KleerWest, LLC; President, Incentive Manufacturers Representatives Alliance
As national sales manager at KleerWest LLC, a national marketing organization that carries top brand-name awards ranging from Dooney & Bourke handbags to Ibanez guitars, Harrison has 17 years of experience in the incentive merchandise award business. As president of the Incentive Manufacturers & Representatives Alliance (IMRA), a special interest group of the IMA, he has a broader remit as the face of one of the main industry groups advocating the use of non-cash awards.
A key goal of IMRA in the last couple of years has been to expand the market into more of the nearly 1.4 million small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S., slightly more than half of which already use merchandise awards, according to an Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) study that IMRA sponsored last year. Those businesses spend more than $16 billion on these awards, but frequently buy them at retail or online, rather than through the incentive channel. On the other hand, 85 to 90 percent of those companies work with promotional products distributors.
JOHN HORNBOGEN
President, Incentive Marketing Association; Vice President, Business Development, RPG Card Services
"Staying ahead of change" is how Hornbogen describes his priorities, both in his efforts with RPG Card Services -- where the organization has launched a new distribution center as well as in-house gift card print-on-demand service and high-speed individual fulfillment -- and more recently in his elevation to president of the IMA.
In this new position, Hornbogen is now putting the finishing touches on the IMA's new strategic plan. He and the rest of the board are making education and outreach a top priority and enhancing the organization's Circle of Excellence Awards to better spotlight how well-designed programs help organizations meet and exceed their business goals. This comes as the IMA has seen steady growth in the number of those acquiring IMA Certifications -- with almost 100 new Incentive Professional (IP) and Certified Professional of Incentive Management (CPIM) designations awarded in the past two years. A new Industry Experts Bureau is aimed at making it easier for industry members to find educational resources to help strengthen their hand in making the case for incentives. Under Hornbogen's leadership, the organization continues to find new ways for members to demonstrate the benefits of incentives through its education and trade show exhibits.
JOE KELLER
President and COO, MotivAction
Under Keller's guidance, this leading engagement, events, and incentive company (which counts 26 Fortune 500 companies among its clients) recently showed the way for a new kind of recognition platform with the launch of Encore. As more companies are moving away from departmental silos and seeking to streamline multiple programs on one platform, this highly social and mobile tool for global firms shows one way to make it easy to recognize desired behaviors throughout an organization. The results have "exceeded our expectations," according to Keller. MotivAction has seen substantial growth in its business over the past several years while holding a 99 percent client retention rate.
Keller also is putting attention on growing MotivAction's sales and channel incentive business, enhancing the Encore platform to more simply deliver the applications that drive channel engagement and improved sales performance. The organization was certified as a Veteran Owned Business and qualifies for supplier diversity programs -- truly setting an example other incentive houses should consider following.
RAJEEV KOHLI, CIS
Joint Managing Director, Creative Travel, New Delhi, India
Wrapping up an unprecedented second year as president of SITE, and its first from Asia, Kohli has focused on expanding and strengthening SITE's global footprint and influence, and the results have been impressive. It is educating and advocating for incentive travel in a growing number of countries, from Chile and Slovenia to Egypt and China. He has also overseen a strengthening of SITE's finances, expansion of partnerships like the SITE + MPI Global Forum, and launch of the SITE Knowledge Center. That's on top of his role as senior vice president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, and joint head of the most globally awarded DMC in South Asia.
Looking ahead, the 23-year industry veteran intends to focus on building a network of SITE leaders to act as advisors, consultants, and mentors, particularly in emerging destinations. Kohli says 2018 will be a good time for that, noting that the latest SITE Index survey not only shows optimism and budgets growing, "the perceived value of incentive travel as a motivational tool has significantly strengthened in the eyes of the buyers and suppliers alike." And while safety remains a big concern, "both buyers and sellers report that it's not a deterrent to a strong incentive market."