Anne Frenette, CMP
Anne Frenette has been a leader in conference, trade show and special event management for nearly 20 years, including work with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Ms. Frenette’s work has included events honoring senior government officials, super-star celebrities and top business leaders. The list includes President Clinton, Sir Elton John, Quincy Jones, Randy Owen, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw, Meg Whitman, and Ted Waitt.
For the past three years she has served NAB as Vice President of Television Programs and Initiatives, where she has produced their major fundraising galas benefiting the NAB Education Foundation. Since Ms. Frenette took over the management of the event three years ago, attendance has increased 62% while revenue has jumped more than 136%. These kinds of impressive results have put Ms. Frenette at the forefront of the industry.
Ms. Frenette has significant trade show experience having worked for a number of years on two of the largest trade events in North America – the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show), owned by CEA, and the NAB Show – both held annually in Las Vegas. She has also executed numerous high-level destination board of directors meetings, executive retreats, and conferences at many of the most exclusive venues, hotels, and resorts across the U.S.
Ms. Frenette led the industry in the development and execution of webinars as an alternative event form. Having launched the first video webcast series for a major trade association, she leveraged the latest webcasting technology incorporating live video and audience interaction. Moreover, she created a convenient, valuable service for the association’s membership while generating a new revenue source for the organization.
Ms. Frenette received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Maryland and holds the event industry’s highest certification of CMP (Certified Meeting Professional).
J. Brinley Lewis, President
Brin Lewis has spent over 20 years in business, marketing and advertising working with Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and non-profit organizations. During that time he became a strong proponent of events as a marketing tool. He believes “events are one of the most powerful ways that an organization can market products, services, and ideas, while building lasting relationships with their key partners, creating both short and long-term benefits.”
Prior to Anne Frenette, Mr. Lewis spent ten years running a direct-to-consumer, marketing driven business, turning the struggling company around through streamlined operations, the development of new markets, and forging over 40 strategic partnerships. His career started in New York City where he was Vice President, Associate Media Director of Grey Advertising, with time also spent at the Young and Rubicam division, Wunderman Worldwide. His accounts included blue-chip companies like IBM, Pepsi, Warner Bros., Time Life, CBS, and General Mills Creative Dining Group. In 1984, he was a member of the “Tuesday Team”, the ad hoc advertising agency for the Reagan-Bush '84 campaign. Dr. Kelly Buck, Senior Vice President, Event Performance Assessment Dr. Kelly Buck is a seasoned methodologist and analyst with over 20 years of experience developing and assessing metrics across industry and government. Her approach to any question is to work backwards from the decision maker to design efficient and effective means for harvesting intelligence of all types – whether numeric, graphic or text – to inform the shortest and smartest path to progress. In the private sector, Dr. Buck was an intelligence and organizational behavior analyst. Her clients included high-tech and entertainment companies, non-profit organizations, and other widely varying corporations. She is highly experienced in all manner of assessment, ranging from interviews to large scale data collection, analysis and reporting. As a state and federal government analyst, Dr. Buck has managed projects and programs pertaining to school desegregation compliance, fraud identification, background vetting and national security, policy research and development, prevention of and response to school violence, and streamlining and modernization of organization processes. Dr. Buck is a member of the IACP, the American Sociological Association, and Rotary International. She has authored and co-authored many technical publications, conference papers, and journal articles. She has a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Wichita State University, and master and doctorate degrees in Sociology from Stanford University. Mike Collins, Mike Collins Public Relations Mike Collins has been one of Washington’s most sought after communications professionals for nearly twenty years. The former national spokesperson for the Republican Party and one of the principal operatives involved in the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress, Collins has expanded his portfolio to include major trade associations, non-profit institutions, and some of the nation's best-known universities. A former newspaperman and reporter, Mr. Collins was also tapped to serve as communications director for the powerful House Commerce Committee. In that role, he developed and executed the winning media strategies that helped Chairman Thomas J. Bliley enact numerous key pieces of legislation. In 1994, he coached hundreds of candidates for the U.S. House, developing the message strategies that helped elect 53 new House Republicans, producing a GOP majority in the House for the first time since Eisenhower. Considered one of the best crisis communicators in America, he was asked to head the Rapid Response Unit for Robert Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. Since then he has performed the same service for trade associations, elected officials and academic institutions. He has lectured on communications strategy and campaign tactics in 39 states and 4 continents. He has been a frequent guest on television and radio in the U.S. and abroad.
As Managing Director of Time Life Ventures he explored new business opportunities for Time Life, Inc. He also spent a number of years managing all aspects of their direct mail, print advertising, alternative media promotions, and list management for all three divisions of the company.
Mr. Lewis also serves as an Account Director for the Taproot Foundation, working with non-profit organizations such as Episcopal Senior Ministries and The Child and Family Network, by helping them develop brand strategies to market their causes more effectively.
Mr. Lewis is a graduate of Michigan State University where he received a BA in English with minors in advertising, economics, and history.
The Anne Frenette Co. LLC 202.621.6142 blewis@afcevents.com