Minding Their Own Business

Balancing Act: Before launching their own company, Marcy Manley and Jessica Weinberg spent 10 years working side by side in the Chicago offices of XA, the Experiential Agency. The two met at XA, where Manley, then the event and PR firm’s president, was Weinberg’s boss. Together they produced such high-profile events as the Green Tie Ball and the grand opening of the W Hotel Chicago. Weinberg left XA in March 2007 to spend more time with her family (she has triplets) and started event production company WPI Event Partners last May. Wanting the balance of work and family that Weinberg had achieved, Manley soon joined her. “It’s all about a better quality of life,” Manley says. “Do we like what we do, and do we want to keep doing it? Yes, but we want to choose quality of events over quantity.”Experience, Times Two: For clients that include Fortune 500 companies, fashion houses, and PR firms, WPI’s services include research, strategic planning, event design, and destination management. Manley is the “macro” partner—her experience is in audiovisual and technical production, marketing, and sales—while Weinberg’s expertise lies in the details: the financial, operational, and communications side of the business. “We combined our collective knowledge into a collaborative team,” Manley says. Because of the partners’ combined 25 years of experience producing events, the company has relationships with international vendors and suppliers and can also advise clients about local tax laws and other site-specific glitches.

Production Pros: A few of Manley and Weinberg's favorite past projects include a four-day employee event for a financial company at a private home in Camelback, Arizona, and a 7,500-person corporate concert at the United Center starring Hootie and the Blowfish and Poi Dog Pondering. “Our events are anything but cookie-cutter,” Manley says. “We take the time to do the research and custom tailor every program to leave a lasting impression.” For a recent installation of sculpture and other works by Shinjo Ito, a 20th-century Buddhist master and artist, WPI worked with national PR and marketing firm Public Communications Inc. to plan several events at the Chicago Illuminating Company, including tea ceremonies and yoga sessions, to coincide with the exhibition. “WPI showed an unfailing enthusiasm, creativity, and attention to detail throughout the entire project,” says PCI senior vice president Remi Gonzalez. “And the fact that they pulled it off with very little budget and three weeks’ lead time was unbelievable.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct an inaccurate reference to the timing of the company's founding.