Kate Copeland

Facilitating, as well as meeting and event planning, is a relationship business, and Kate Copeland's accomplished interpersonal skills allow her to deliver measurable results for her clients. She has demonstrated experience in leading organizations to increase their productivity and competitive advantage in the marketplace by staying on top of trends, methods, and technologies. Her top priority is to rely upon her extensive training and experience to motivate and guide her clients' strategic planning, which, in turn, promotes the MPI brand.

Kate has been a skilled meeting and event planner for over 10 years. She currently manages a team of nine professional staff and fifteen students as Assistant Director of University Events and Conference Services at the University of Connecticut.

Highlights of Kate's MPI Career:

• Will earn CMM designation in March 2019; earned CED designation in February 2019 and CMP designation in 2012.
• Member of the MPI Global Meeting Executive Advisory Task Force in 2019.
• Member of the MPI Global Safety and Risk Management Task Force in 2018.
• MPI Rise Award Finalist for Meeting Industry Leadership in 2018, due to her ability to lead and mentor other chapter members.
• Served as President of MPI CRV in 2015-2016, after serving on the board as VP of Communications and VP of Education, and as a committee member prior to that.
• As President:
• • Increased member satisfaction rate to the highest level in the past five years.
  • Increased adjusted gross margin from -12% to 8%.
  • Increased member retention rate from 73.42% to 77.63% - 3.1% higher than the regional chapter average.
  • Increased member recruitment by 83%.
  • Tripled number of volunteers.
• As President-Elect, designed and implemented a Board Orientation session that is now a shared best practice on MPI's Chapter Leaders Resource page.
• Awarded the MPI CRV President's Award in 2014.
• Presented at the 2014 MPI WEC in Minneapolis for the well-received session "Are You Smarter Than a College Hospitality Student?"
• Continues to serve as an MPI certified facilitator and local chapter volunteer.

Other achievements:

Kate earned her MBA from the University of Connecticut and her BA in Economics and Politics from Mount Holyoke College. Examples of courses completed in the MBA program included: Digital Marketing Strategies, Strategic Brand Management, Financial Management, Pricing Strategies, Managing Innovation and Change, and Strategy, Policy & Planning. 

Kate served as Chairperson and CEO of Arts for Learning CT, the largest arts education non-profit in CT from 2011-2015.

Prior to her career at UConn, Kate spent three years working at a prominent government relations firm in Hartford, CT.