Educating event management professionals since 2011

Muffi Ghadiali

Entrepreneurship and product management

• Lecturer, Stanford University

A seasoned entrepreneur and management leader, Muffi brings over two decades of experience in building successful businesses, products and services that delight consumers. Through his career he has managed a range of consumer products, including software, consumer devices and online services. Muffi’s career spans a roster of start-up and Fortune 500 companies including OUYA (acquired by Razer Inc.), ChargePoint Inc, Lab126 (a part of Amazon.com), Hewlett-Packard Co., Synaptics Inc and IDC Research. Muffi has been a lecturer at Stanford University in California since 2012, teaching programs in Entrepreneurship, Online Businesses, Product Management and Agile Development. He brings a broad, multi-cultural experience, having lived and worked in India, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States.

Mei Lin Fung

Customer relationship management and service organization

• MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• BSc (Hons), Australian National University

Mei Lin Fung is chairman of the Institute for Service Organization Excellence. She was an early pioneer in customer relationship management, and designed and conducted the first Customer Service Apprenticeship program registered by the US Department of Labor. Avaya and Oklahoma State University were awarded the Phillip B Crosby Medallion for Leadership and Teamwork by the American Society for Competitiveness for implementing a program designed by Mei Lin Fung and Dr. Casey McNeal. She is a member of the Federal Health Futures Group sponsored by the US Air Force Medical Service. Mei Lin serves on the board of the National University of Singapore America Foundation and holds a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Management and a BSc (Honors) in Mathematics from the Australian National University.

Naeem Zafar

Entrepreneurship and innovation

• Faculty, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

A member of the faculty of the Haas business school at the University of California Berkeley, Naeem teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the MBA program. Naeem is the founder of Concordia Ventures and focuses on educating and advising entrepreneurs on all aspects of starting and running a company. Naeem holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Brown University (magna cum laude), Rhode Island, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota. Naeem has been associated with some of the largest conferences in Silicon Valley including TieCon and OpenForum and has played a pivotal role in the success of these events. Naeem is a charter member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and also a charter member and former President of OPEN Silicon Valley.

Petra Johannsson

B2B events, sponsorship and speaker acquisition

• MBA, Lund University

Petra is the founder of events company TwistedTree, and also one of the co-founders of 2Pears, specialists in events and networking for creative and start-up companies in tech, music and media. Petra holds an MBA from Lund University in Sweden and has more than 13 years experience from the B2B events industry including event management, marketing, speaker acquisition, sponsorship, media and delegate sales at organizations including IIR Conferences (now Informa Group), Incisive Media, and Financial News. Petra’s event experience spans many B2B industry sectors including technology, media (digital and social), financial services, pharmaceutical, biotech, telecoms and creative industries.

Chip Stockman

Event marketing and industry community

Chip Stockman is an independent marketing professional based out of suburban Philadelphia, providing online marketing and membership services to i-Meet.com, an online community for people who plan meetings and special events and for the suppliers, locations and service companies that serve them. As Marketing Manager at StarCite, Destination Solutions Division, from 2004 to 2008, he marketed international destinations to corporate meeting planners based in the USA via websites, email campaigns, downloadable files, and traveling city-based tradeshows. From 1992 to 2004 Chip was part of Michael Type and Graphics (now Blackhorse Graphics). As Managing Partner he helped guide the company as it solved the graphic design, visual communication and event signage needs of customers including Maritz and McGettigan Partners.

Jody Long

Corporate events and trade shows

• Certificate in Event Management, IIEM
• MBA, University of Hartford

Jody is an event planner for a dental supply company in Denver, Colorado. She plans trade shows, meetings and customer events, and coordinates marketing for all events. She is involved in fundraising for local breast cancer awareness charities, and is on the special events committee that raises funds for a local two-day free dental clinic for those in need. She has experience with social media and email marketing, vendor relationships, and corporate travel. Jody received her Bachelor’s in Communications from the University of Connecticut, and her MBA from the University of Hartford. She also holds a certificate in Event Management from the International Institute of Event Management.

Thomas Tolladay

Product launches and corporate events

• BSc, University of Reading

Thomas is an Events Organizer at Chillisauce, a well known events company based in Oxford Circus, London, UK, that specializes in product launches and corporate events as well as activity weekends. Thomas has been involved with planning large car launch campaigns for well known brands such as Hyundai. Chillisauce won the competition for best product launch at the UK Event Awards in 2010 and 2011. Thomas holds a BSc in Human Geography from the University of Reading, UK. Thomas has experience in online sports journalism, having written several articles for a well established football website on financial fair play and on the debate over the London Olympic Stadium, and works in SEO, digital and social media, expanding the Chillisauce brand.