Lauren Dunnaway, 37, works in Dallas, Texas, as vice president of sales and marketing at Infinix Global Meetings & Events, Inc./Rx Worldwide Meetings, Inc. As a 2019 40 Under 40 honoree, Dunnaway discusses her passion for the events industry.
*Connect with Dunnaway on Instagram.
What I do: I have the wonderful opportunity to lead the global sales, marketing and sourcing effort for Infinix Global Meetings & Events and Rx Worldwide Meetings. Infinix provides full meeting management, partial meeting management, site selection services and incentive planning to their clientele. Our Rx Worldwide Meetings division is consistently recognized as one of the top suppliers for meeting management services internationally with a stronghold in the medical meetings sector.
How I got here: Now an 18-year meetings and events industry veteran, I’ve had experience working for a CVB, hotels on a property and corporate level, a third-party hotel representation firm and now a third-party full meeting management company. I was given opportunities to rise through the ranks to hold the title of director of sales and marketing in my previous positions within the hotel industry while overseeing marketing, group and transient sales, membership and conference services. My background created the prime experience to join Infinix.
Greatest career accomplishments: From 2010-2012, I was asked to serve as Associate Professor at Collin College in the Dallas/Fort Worth area teaching their incredible students Introduction to Meetings & Events and Special Event Design. From 2012-2013 I was proud to serve the Meeting Professionals International DFW Chapter as President and also created the MPI Supplier Sales Blitz Program, which was later honored with a RISE Award for Marketplace Excellence in 2018.
Impressive stats: I’m very pleased to say that we’re experiencing tremendous growth at Infinix Global Meetings & Events and will realize more than 50-percent growth in meeting and event count in 2019 over 2018 as a result of three major new clients brought on in late 2018. This growth comes on top of a nearly 30-year record breaking 2017.
Specific improvement I’ve made: It’s been a distinct pleasure to hire and train the first sales team in our organizations nearly 30-year history. By implementing a strategic sales and marketing plan and CRM technology, we have been able to realize growth that would have previously been unfathomable.
What I am working on now: I’m very excited to be working on the Society of Incentive Travel Executives Board of Directors to build upon our legacy of success by delivering on member value. Specifically, we have a wonderful Technology Summit coming up in April 2019 in beautiful Banff/Lake Louise that is a tremendous hosted buyer opportunity.
What I do outside of work: I am active within the membership committee of Meeting Professionals International and serve the Society of Incentive Travel Executives as President-Elect in Texas. When it’s time to put work down, I love spending time with my family and beautiful three-year-old daughter. I’m a lover of the outdoors and am passionate about running and playing soccer and will keep doing both as long as possible.
