About Us
Located in various regions across the United States, our program managers are the cornerstone of our success. They are actively engaged in executing your program – from overseeing every budget line item to managing the program timeline ensuring everyone stays on task. We do not have separate account executives that delegate to project managers. Your point of contact is your “go to” person who understands your event program’s special needs and objectives and executes that event to your unique specifications.
We pride ourselves in developing enduring relationships with our industry partners to make your event a success. Whether it’s working with your existing providers or teaming up with ours, it is top priority for us to create a collaborative atmosphere, ensuring your meeting runs smoothly and saves you money!
Our Core Values
Founded by women wanting to create a dynamic, flexible, challenging work environment, About Face Events puts people first. It is not enough to produce world-class events on time and on budget – we want to do so in an environment that supports the people involved, both within our own teams as well as the client’s organization and extended vendors. The biggest factor in a successful event is the people coming together to make that event happen. Understanding each other’s capabilities and strengths and respecting each other’s unique contributions fosters an environment of individuals working at maximum performance levels. Everyone is expected to do great work, that is the foundation of a successful extended team. But the outcome and experience are heightened when individuals feel valued and appreciated and are set up to succeed. Basic human respect paves the way for all of our interactions, whether it be within our company or dealing with outside vendors, and solid communication practices help ensure everyone has the information they need to do their best work. When you invest in your greatest resource in this way, amazing things happen.
We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique.
Managing Partners
Jennifer Fioti
CMP, CTSM
Chicago, IL
As founder and co-owner of About Face, Jennifer brings passion and experience to every facet of the event experience. She is a master at developing long lasting client relationships with a hands-on approach with her team, clients and partners. Her great attention to detail and understanding of all aspects of event management has been the key to consistently executing successful event programs. As an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in meeting and event management, Jennifer has a developed a stellar reputation in flawless execution of events of all sizes, including strategic planning, contract negotiation and management, comprehensive meeting management, logistics coordination, operations, budget management and building partner relationships. With personalized service, open communication and her calm demeanor, Jennifer excels at bringing winning solutions to the table and putting her clients at ease.
Adrienne Fisher
CMP, VEMM, CTSM
McHenry, IL
Adrienne joined About Face as co-owner, and while being an integral part of growing the company's client base, she finds her true passion working in the trenches with hands-on event and meeting planning. She thrives on the excitement of working with her team to execute programs with excellence, from the inception of hotel sourcing, contract negotiation, budget development & management to logistics coordination, and both virtual and live on-site execution. With over 28 years in events, Adrienne has immense experience managing both domestic and global events, and has honed her skills of diplomacy and patience in an ever-changing industry. Adrienne excels in building long lasting partnerships with industry professionals, recognizing that a strong, solid team is the key to making any event successful. She regularly attends industry conferences to stay up to date on the latest trends, and recently completed the Virtual Event Meeting Management certification course. She is an active member of both MPI and PCMA, holding CMP, VEMM & CTSM certifications.
Senior Program Managers
Priscilla Drozd
Las Vegas, NV
Priscilla specializes in project management and development with an unrelenting attention to detail. Strong inter-personal skills and her ability to capture her client’s concepts, style, and objectives are the hallmark of Priscilla’s success. She has contributed to the success of several hotel casinos event programs, including management of a $15 million annual operating budget at the Desert Inn Resort Las Vegas, as Director of Special Events & Entertainment. Following the Desert Inn's close, Priscilla joined The Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas’s first AAA Five Diamond property, and then transitioned to the Red Rock Country Club, Las Vegas’s exclusive member-based country club, as Director of Events & Catering. Her event experience includes social, charity and fundraising, as well as political and corporate events. Her unique mix of organizational skills, acute attention to detail, creativity and flair for the unique has led her to her passion of creating special events. Priscilla’s big smile and calm demeanor have a relaxing effect on her clients.
Jamia Harris
CTSM
Houston, TX
Jamia began her career managing Continuing Education courses for attorneys across Texas through The University of Houston Law Foundation. She then transitioned into the high-tech industry working for Compaq Computers (who merged with Hewlett-Packard during her employment) as the Executive Briefing Center Marketing Manager and later Trade Show Manager. Her main focus was the planning and execution of Compaq Computers’ extensive and large corporate trade shows. Jamia continued to strengthen her event management experience and skills by working for small boutique event agencies as an Independent Planner, planning and managing large corporate functions for clients such as Genesys Telecommunications, McKesson Corporation and Align Technology. Jamia launched her own small-group destination travel company and continues to plan and manage corporate events across a wide-variety of industries.
Elaine Hengler
New Jersey, NJ
Elaine has worked in the planning and travel industry for a collective 30 years. After attending business school for travel and tourism she began a 14-year career at American Express in the hotel and travel department. Elaine has a genuine knack for detail and planning and over her career has established a most diverse planning resume in the pharmaceutical industry as a Meeting Planner for Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and most recently as Director of Meeting and Special events at ADP. Elaine’s planning experience ranges from corporate incentive trips, sales conference meetings, hosting virtual meetings, and in-person executive board meetings. As a motivated planner she ensures all details of programs are professionally orchestrated from conception to onsite execution.
Jennifer Oakley
CMP
Indianapolis, IN
Jennifer brings 22 years of experience in the meeting and special event management arena. For 12 years she was the Senior Meeting Manager at Bayer Healthcare and responsible for planning and executing meetings both globally and domestically, including National Sales Meetings, Product Launches, Investigator Meetings, and Advisory Board Meetings. Prior to working in the corporate market, Jennifer was the Director of Programs at several large associations in Washington, DC, and was not only responsible for managing events, but also for the recruitment and management of corporate sponsors. She is a skilled contract negotiator, experienced project manager, and experienced moderator for virtual events. Jennifer is well-versed in Cvent registration platforms.
Phaedra Sterbenc
Santa Cruz, CA
Phaedra is a senior event manager with over 20 years of domestic and international management experience. She has unparalleled expertise in event planning, corporate productions, virtual event production, and multimedia communications. Phaedra has established a track record of success in executing high-profile programs including multi-million dollar events for clients such as 3Com, McKesson, PG&E, Cisco, Polycom and more. Her forte is large-scale, extremely visible client and employee functions, as well as venue contract negotiations. She is sought after for her event management leadership and knowledge. Phaedra has been an essential part of the About Face team for 16 years managing large-scale functions such as headliner entertainment, awards banquets, golf tournaments, creative production, and ancillary events.
Food & Beverage
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Melissa Lamont
Vacaville, CA
For more than 10 years Melissa has been responsible for planning, budgeting and implementation of corporate events with an emphasis on entertainment production and food and beverage services. She has a special talent for understanding and implementing special dietary requirements. She collaborates with a diverse client base and has worked on events ranging from high-end corporate incentive programs to fairs and festivals and everything in between. Melissa helped manage logistics for one of the world’s largest simultaneous coffee tastings ever with 12,000 Starbucks partners in attendance at their opening General Session... an occurrence of this scale is no small feat!
Kristen Radakovich New Orleans, LA
Little did Kristen realize that her degree in nutrition would lead her to the niche world of catering consulting in the meetings and events industry. With her extensive knowledge gained from working with décor and production to pastry school to corporate entertainment, Kristen fully grasps the critical role of food and beverage in the overall success of the meeting. Food and beverage planning and management covers a wide range: from snacks placed at key locations for attendees to fuel up for more sessions, to an assortment of interesting hors d’oeuvres at a cocktail reception, to the perfect wine/entrée pairing at an awards dinner... all while ensuring food is served hot and fresh and within budget. Clients include tech companies, pharmaceutical firms, automotive companies as well as those in the wine industry. With over 20 years of experience managing teams, budgets and client expectations, Kristen is a master in actualizing clients' needs/wants for the food and beverage experience, freeing them to focus their energies on guests.
Michele Tocco
Boston, MA
Michele is a seasoned hospitality professional, extremely well-versed, and detail-oriented. She manages F&B programs for high-profile companies such as BMW, Starbucks and Microsoft. She specializes in getting the most for clients’ catering dollars with her extensive knowledge of catering sales, internal operations, costing, staff ratios, menu planning and much more. Michele’s experience is multi-faceted in all aspects of the hospitality industry from management and planning to execution with airlines, travel agencies, destination management companies, hotels, catering companies, meetings and events and private clubs. Michele has excellent strategic event management skills with an eye for detail and managing client relations.
Graphic Design and Management
Samantha Hansen
Phoenix, AZ
Samantha has over 23 years of experience as a graphic designer, art director and graphics manager. She worked for 19 years at McKesson Corporation, where she developed event branding, booth experiences, exhibit floor signage, keynote presentations and promotional materials for large, multi-million dollar events. She excels at not only designing event graphics and materials, but also at managing the graphics process, working with vendors and printers, and collaborating with clients and fellow event professionals. Samantha is a driven, solutions-oriented creative with a passion for making each event excel beyond expectation.
Transportation
Kevin Fox
Las Vegas, NV
Kevin brings 10+ years of transportation knowledge of major industry and corporate conventions, from single coach or sedan to extensive city-wide programs moving tens of thousands of people. His vast experience and network of transportation companies and professionals allows him to customize transportation programs for each client. Kevin's specialties include the creation and management of the RFP process, culling results into reports for easy analysis, design of the most efficient and cost-effective shuttle route plans, and post-event evaluation. His handling of VIP guests is polished and efficient. Kevin is one of the rare professionals who can effectively manage dispatch with over 100 bus drivers and 10 staff members.
Registration & Event Technology Solutions
Our Alliance Partnership with BW Events, Inc.
Brandon Wernli
Phoenix, AZ
Over 15 years of event technology experience deploying solutions involving an array of registration platforms, BI tools, analytics, integrations, BLE, RFID, attendee journeys, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, wayfinding, proximity-based messaging/personalization, virtual events and more. Responsible for overseeing the global technology deployment and strategy for clients like Google, Cisco, Intuit, DocuSign, and many others. For over a decade, Brandon has consulted agencies, event planners and program managers on their event technology needs. For those planning a virtual or in-person event, BW’s professionals will carefully assess your needs, offer recommended solutions and cover any or all of the following services: architect, project management, design, configure, Q&A, integrate, deploy, support, and analyze.
Mike Sherwood
Atlanta, GA
Mike combines his love of tech and his passion for service by helping clients enrich their conference experiences through event technology. With over 25 years of experience, he has deployed and managed registration solutions for clients such as Cisco, Symantec, and McKesson Corporation. Mike has been instrumental in overseeing the registration and technology strategy for the high-profile event Cisco Live’s EMEA program which boasted the highest customer satisfaction scores for registration and onsite check-in (4.79 out of 5) in the history of the program. Clients enjoy Mike's calm and positive manner and dedication to successful results.