Robin Lerner is the director of special events and membership services for the Charles E. Smith Life Communities, which include the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, the largest assisted-living facility in Maryland. Lerner plans five big fund-raisers, a large board meeting, and roughly eight smaller board-related events in the D.C. area annually. Prior to joining the staff nine and a half years ago, she planned conferences and trade shows for an association management company. Lerner has been in the event planning industry for more than 20 years.
Decor: "We’ve worked with Capital Decor and Events for the last three or four years. They’re amazing—not just at florals, but with the entire decor and helping to theme the entire event. Kelly Jenkins is very creative and listens well. We come to him with a vague theme in mind and he comes up with these totally amazing ideas. He’ll give us a laundry list of a million things to do, then lets us pick and choose—and doesn’t get offended when we want to tweak something. He has a fabulous, funky warehouse—you think you’re totally lost when you get there. There’s a huge amount of stuff, and you can get such great ideas from walking around."
Venue: "Debrajean Overholt at the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd Street is a goddess. The entire team is amazing. We’ve been going there for four to five years now, and they still make us feel like it’s the first time working with them. They go over the top to make sure things are perfect and come up with great ideas."
Audiovisual Services: "We haven’t actually used this company for a few years because our lighting needs were scaled back, but IEP is unbelievable. They’re very creative and very professional. For our annual meeting one year we decided to make it a really over-the-top event, and IEP worked with the space we have on campus—which, believe me, is nothing to look at—and totally re-created the room."
