About Us

The EMA is an exclusive community dedicated to in-house event planners and marketing professionals.

Established in 2013 as a non-profit organisation, our primary mission is to advance the event industry by creating platforms for national and international knowledge sharing. We strive to cultivate a safe and comfortable environment for our members to collaborate, learn, and grow.

As of 2023, EMA is Powered by PCMA, a leading force in the business events industry. As part of the PCMA house of brands, which encompasses renowned brands such as Corporate Event Managers Association, Convene, Event Leadership Institute, and the PCMA Foundation, we benefit from a collective community of over 100,000 individuals. PCMA serves as the prominent platform for the business events industry, providing invaluable resources and networking opportunities.

We Are


EMA is a community of over 700 members, united by our passion for event planning and marketing.

Our Purpose


EMA educates, inspires and listens, creating meaningful experiences where passion and commerce come together.

Our Guiding Principles

Events


We strive to provide a forum for knowledge sharing, learning, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

Development


We are committed to leading the way in professionalising the events industry.

Education


We actively promote and champion industry best practices for both professional and personal development.

Position


We proudly serve as the industry’s voice for the corporate event world.

Advisory Board


Anna Fox

Anna is contracted as Senior Events Project Manager, VP at Nomura International investment bank. She has spent 25+ years in the Events industry, managing and producing over 1000 events in London, across the UK, Europe, the USA and Africa. She started her events career in Miami, working for a large consumer & trade show. From there, she moved into the finance sector, setting up the in-house events function at Ernst & Young Miami, and returned to the UK joining the events team at PwC. Following the financial sector, she worked in Legal/Professional Services as Events Manager at Allen & Overy.

Anna gained valuable live events and venue operations experience at LOCOG for the London 2012 Olympics, as Event Services Deputy Venue Manager at one of the Olympic venues. She joined Liberty Global in 2013 to set up their events function in London as Head of Events for over 9 years, setting the strategic direction and managing events for the CEO, Chairman, Board and Executive Leadership Team, across their corporate and global operations. She is actively involved with various industry event organisations, a regular industry speaker and panellist, and presenter/judge at the annual M&IT Industry Awards.

Christina Petrova

Christina Petrova is a Global Event Manager for Gartner Research Board, a division at Gartner that serves the world’s largest organizations’ Global CIOs. In her role she is responsible for strategizing and formulating the vision for all event activities and executing a number of high-profile research-led meetings and events. She also directly manages the unit’s event calendar and procurement processes.

Previously she worked within Executive Programs and Enterprise Supply Chain Leaders business units of Gartner, producing white glove intimate experiences and running large conferences and symposia. She also served as the Marketing Lead for General Assembly, an Adecco company, for a year where she led the strategy for the events team and set up the events structure. Previously Christina managed EMA.

In the first few years of her career, Christina gained experience in the exhibition industry and at agencies within the automotive field. She managed large scale events and accounts which laid the foundations of her operational expertise.

Clare Melton

Clare is a corporate events professional with over 20 years’ experience managing all types and sizes of events. Having started her events life agency-side, and shortly after managing events in the government sector, Clare has spent the majority of her career working in, and subsequently running, in-house events teams, managing events of all sizes across all geographies within the financial services, real estate and most recently, information services sectors.

Clare is an active member of several industry bodies including the EMA and BNC, and a regular speaker at industry events including Confex, on a range of subjects as diverse as sustainability, career development and being a working parent in the event industry.

Elisabeth Kaufman

Elisabeth started her career as the Logistics Director of Institutional Investor Conferences in the New York office and was subsequently transferred to the London office nearly two decades ago. Elisabeth’s current role involves organizing and managing events across various regions worldwide, including Asia, Africa, Europe, Scandinavia, and the United States.

Prior to joining Institutional Investor Conferences, Elisabeth worked in the advertising industry for renowned agencies such as Young & Rubicam, DDB Needham, and Saatchi & Saatchi, based in New York City. Elisabeth also gained experience on the client side by working in the Public Relations and Events department of GAP. Furthermore, Elisabeth has also contributed her expertise at The Morgan Library in New York, where she managed the events department.

Lauren O’Brien

Lauren has spent over 15 years in the Events and Hospitality industry. She started working in weddings before moving into B2B/ B2C event work for England Rugby and The Compass group and then to an event agency – First London. Following this Lauren went to KPMG, managing their central events team and in 2020, Lauren moved to Macfarlanes, where she heads up the events function and team.

She is proud to hold a First-class degree in International Event Management as well as a PRINCE2 qualification and in 2021 Lauren was named one of the top corporate event planners in the UK as part of C&IT’s A List.

Mai Pound

Mai is an in-house corporate events marketing specialist with her career spanning over 20 years. She started her career managing events in the publishing sector before moving on to agency-side and then onto client-side. Her experience includes managing and leading teams to deliver a variety of events of all sizes and budgets globally in the financial services, construction, engineering, real estate, public and music sectors.

She is currently an Associate Director for a management consultancy firm leading on their events marketing strategy for the financial advisory team. Mai is a member of the EMA, BNC and has been a speaker at industry events on topics that promote and champion diversity in the events industry.

Mark Gill

Mark is the Global Operations Manager for the Project Management team at Goldman Sachs. He has spent 24 years in the live events industry delivering corporate events across the Globe. Mark started his events career working for the TFI Group, specialising in Pharmaceutical congresses and Consumer Electronic events, delivering programmes across the Globe, in destinations including Toronto, Sydney, Bangkok & Rio de Janeiro. From there he moved to FIRST and worked with the Aerospace and Financial Services industries.

For the past 12 years Mark has worked with FIRST as part of the Goldman Sachs Event Management Group and now leads the Project Management & Event Technology Team to deliver over 300 events a year across the EMEA & APAC regions.

Rebecca Andlaw

Rebecca is Events Manager at the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA), the industry body and public policy advocate for the private equity and venture capital industry in the UK. Rebecca manages the operational team responsible for delivering 50+ events, both in person and virtually, catering to the needs of stakeholders within the private capital industry.

With over 16 years in the events industry, Rebecca previously led the Special Events team at Blood Cancer UK and was responsible for delivering a broad range of events from concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, to intimate dinners at Royal Venues.  Rebecca also volunteers on the board of FemMentored, a global community of women working in and around the social impact space.

EMA Team


Jaimé Bennett

Managing Director

An accomplished executive and respected leader with more than two decades of experience in the event industry, Jaime had demonstrated a commitment to fostering collaboration and mentorship, supporting emerging professionals and promoting diversity and inclusion.

Jaime’s passion for curating cutting-edge content and producing highly immersive events — coupled with her innate ability to connect people — has led to her assuming a number of leadership positions within prominent global organisations, where she has consistently driven growth, innovation, and sustainability practices. She now leads the EMEA region and EMA UK for PCMA.

Through her leadership at PCMA and her ongoing contributions to the industry, Jaime continues to shape the future of business events, empowering professionals and organizations to thrive in a dynamic, interconnected and disruptive world.

Abbie Vance

Community & Events Manager

Abbie is a seasoned event professional with a diverse background encompassing seven dynamic years within the event industry. Her journey has encompassed a diverse background in Sales, PCO and Agency before joining the PCMA/EMA team. Having orchestrated successful events in the UK, Europe, and North America, she possesses a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies that define each region’s event landscape. 

Abbie’s professional philosophy holds the belief in the power of events to cultivate community and forge meaningful connections. Recognising that events are not mere gatherings, but platforms that bring people together, she has consistently championed the creation of experiences that challenge the ordinary. Abbie’s passion for DE&I shines through in every project she undertakes. She is an advocate for events that embrace accessibility in their design, ensuring that every individual can participate and engage fully.