2024 Stella Awards Judges
Meet the select jury of meetings professionals chosen by Northstar Meetings Group to honor organizations that consistently deliver quality service and innovation to the events industry.
Julie Blank, CITP, is the Director of Strategic Accounts at Brightspot Incentives & Events, where she has been crafting unforgettable experiences for clients over the past 18 years. Serving as President of the SITE Texas Chapter in 2023 and 2024, Julie brings leadership and vision to the incentive travel industry, as well as her clients, infusing all she does with creativity and passion. A true wanderer at heart, Julie embodies the saying, "not all who wander are lost.”
Sarah Buchbinder, Regional Director, Meeting Broker Division for Meetings Made Easy, is thrilled to serve as a judge for the Stella Awards, bringing her 20 years of expertise in meeting planning, sourcing, negotiating and hotel sales knowledge to the table. As the reigning "Meeting Broker of the Year" for four consecutive years, she excels at recognizing the best in hotels and identifying the perfect fit for client events. With a keen eye for excellence and a talent for finding ideal venues, Sarah's insights are sure to spotlight the best in the industry.
Kate Cardoso, Founder, Travel with Purpose Pact, is a corporate event planner with 20+ years of both agency and in-house experience. Kate has overseen all aspects of design, planning, and execution for her clients’ events. To Kate, who received her Global MBA from Suffolk University in 2010, entrepreneurial thinking is a way of life. It means constantly evolving and innovating and making change a tradition. The most recent opportunity for change that Kate is focused on is getting more companies to include corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in their group travel programs as a way to give back and do well by doing good. Kate founded the Travel with Purpose Pact in 2023 to make CSR initiatives easier for companies to do and more impactful for people in need all over the world.
Shawn (Yih-Hsing) Cheng is a self-described Events Nerd. Driven by decades of experience and a passion for crafting transformative experiences across sectors, he is one of the most sought-after strategists in the industry. As the Lead Event Strategist at Curious Bear Management and the senior project manager at Spark Event Collective, Shawn continues to push the boundaries of how we deliver events. As the co-founder of #EventProfsBreakShit, he is a leading community voice on event technology exploration. Part of the "40 Under 40" by Connext x BizBash, Shawn was honored with recognition as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Event Technology professionals by Eventex in 2023, a testament to his reputation as a thought leader in the business event landscape.
Tiffany Cohen, CMP, CITP, Senior Vice President of Incentives and Global Sourcing at Opus Agency, is renowned for her mastery in crafting exclusive, authentic, destination-centric experiences for the world’s most influential brands. With an illustrious career spanning over two decades, Tiffany has honed her expertise across the realms of hospitality, operations and event management, consistently propelling global brands, their stakeholders and teams toward unparalleled success.
Megan Henshall joined Google in April 2019, and serves as the Global Events Solutions, Strategic Lead. She partners across Google to understand how events drive business, build communities and promote cultural continuity, informing strategy for a global team of amazing event professionals. She co-leads the Google Experience Institute (Xi), focused on the futures of human-centered, multi-modal experience design and is the founder of The Neu Project, a global initiative to advance neuroiniclusion in the events, experience design and hospitality industries.
Liz Lathan CMP, is the Co-Founder of The Community Factory, an attendee engagement and micro-event consultancy, and Club Ichi, the fastest-growing community for B2B Event Marketers. Liz and her co-founder Nicole Osibodu are the inventors of the Spontaneous Think Tank and the creators of the World's First Secret Business Trip. After 20+ years in corporate event marketing, now Liz helps companies create community at their events and keep it running all year long through Community as a Service offerings.
Cindy Y. Lo is an event-obsessed professional; world-traveler; and professional speaker focusing on starting a business with no investors while figuring out how to raise a family and be a supportive partner in life. She is the CEO of RED VELVET & Strong Events, and the author of Behind the RED VELVET Curtain, a guide to “professional event planning greatness.”
Huong Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Shiloh Events, a full-service agency that specializes in managing large-scale corporate events for global brands. As the leader of a dedicated team of event professionals, Huong oversees all aspects of event planning, execution and evaluation, ensuring high-quality results and client satisfaction. She also leverages her expertise in digital marketing and community relations to amplify the impact of events through social media, content creation and influencer outreach. Huong's passion for events stems from her belief that they are powerful tools for storytelling, connection and innovation.
Edward Perotti , CMP, CMM, is a multi-award-winning event designer, public speaker, facilitator, author, television personality and Principal at EP Events & Experiences. Throughout his 28-plus years of event production, Edward’s central ethos has always been to create an immersive experience. Through his incorporation of philanthropic opportunities and the latest green initiatives into every production, Edward is spearheading change in the events industry.
Mike Rowan currently serves as an Event Strategist for Maritz Global Events. Mike boasts 20 years of experience working in hotels and has spent the last 20 years on the events management side, acting as an intermediary between group event clients and hotels and venues. His depth and breadth of experience brings a unique perspective to his work.
Brett Sterenson is President of Hotel Lobbyists, a site selection firm he founded in 2007 that places nearly 500 groups and meetings all over the globe each year; his background includes hotel sales experience from both Millennium Hotels out of Boston and Kimpton Hotels out of Washington, DC. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and contributor to industry publications.
David T. Stevens is a veteran event planner with over 20 years of experience, recognized as the “Fittest Male Event Professional” six times, and co-founder of Olympian Meeting. He holds certifications in wellness and event design and hosts the web series “Return on Wellness.” Since 2022 he has spoken at over 20 events, including IMEX and SXSW, focusing on integrating wellness into meetings.
Tess Vismale, CMP, DES is an award-winning trailblazing innovator reshaping the event industry landscape. As the visionary Founder and CEO of iSocialExecution Inc. (iSocialX) and a pioneering Tech Whisperer for DAHLIA+ AGENCY, Tess fearlessly pushes boundaries, harnessing cutting-edge technology to create immersive, transformative experiences that redefine what's possible in the world of events.
Alex Zapple is an experienced business event strategist with over 17 years of experience in leading events from 10 to 14,000 people throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She has held various planning positions at the American Society for Nephrology for nine years and currently is the Senior Director of Meetings. She previously served as an event manager at SmithBucklin.