Meetings Mgmt. Veteran Wendel Leaves CWT for HRS
Kari Wendel leaves CWT after 14 years to join HRS as VP meetings solutions for the Americas, leading their Meetings-as-a-Service solution activation in North America.
KickT
Kari Wendel joins HRS as VP Meetings Solutions Americas After 14 years with CWT Meetings & Events, meetings management pioneer Kari Wendel announced on LinkedIn on Monday that she would be leaving the mega meetings agency for a newly created role of VP meetings solutions for the the Americas at HRS. Wendel will leverage her multiple years of experience as a supplier, buyer, consultant and partner to lead HRS’ North American activation of the company’s unique Meetings-as-a-Service solution. She will oversee HRS’ client consulting and acquisition activities in North America, as well as supervise strategic accounts across continents.
Courting Wendel marks a doubling down for HRS on the critical position meetings continue to play in the business travel landscape. The company in October relaunched its Meetings-as-a-Service small meetings management solution with artificial intelligence enhancements, and the company is leaning heavily into the concept that meetings have been a bigger driver of business travel than previously understood. Harnessing the intelligence behind meetings activity gives companies a more nuanced understanding of their business travel strategy.
Wendel in her LinkedIn post on Monday bade her many partners and colleagues at CWT a fond farewell, including Tony Wagner, Rachel Lunderborg, Cindy Fisher, Derek Sharp and Ian Cummings. In a emailed quote from HRS attributed to Wendel, she praised HRS for its efforts to "elevate meetings management with its array of automated solutions, advancing ecosystem performance by solving longtime pain points."
