Meet the passionate team behind Meetings Made Easy

Michael
Ferreira, MHA, DES
Owner, Founder, & CEO
Las Vegas, NV
Mike has over 21+ years of hotel sales, conference services, and hotel operations experience. He is a proud graduate of Cal Poly Pomona where he earned a BS in Hotel Management and a Master's Degree in Executive Hospitality Administration from UNLV. His knowledge base comes from years of working at Bellagio, Montage Laguna Beach, Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, and Hilton Hotels. After nineteen years in the hotel and meeting industry, Mike set out to partner with you, the event planner, by creating a new modern-day hotel site selection, virtual events, and meeting services company.
"When you want to find a home, you call a realtor. When you want to find a "home" for your next event or conference, you call Meetings Made Easy"
When a planner is in the hotel site selection process, on average it takes up to 40% of their workday. Mike and his team are here to help. They're a part of your team. They know what you deserve and how to achieve it.

Marie
Altizer
Meeting Group Broker
Detroit, MI
Marie has over 20+ years of hotel sales experience. She is based in Detroit, MI and has two beautiful children with her husband. She is a graduate of Wayne State University.
Her past hotel sales roles were with MGM Grand Detroit and Ritz-Carlton Dearborn. She has a tremendous amount of knowledge which translates well with event planners all over the globe.

Yvette Campbell, CMP
Meeting Broker
Detroit, MI
Yvette has been in the hospitality industry for 25 + years working both hotel operations and sales. Yvette's hotel career started in Washington DC working for the Westin Hotels. Since then, she's part of the Opening Teams for 3 Luxury Hotels Properties - The Ritz Carlton Pasadena, CA, The Westin Metropolitan Airport Hotel, Detroit, Michigan & The Iconic Westin Book Cadillac, Downtown Detroit, Michigan. With a special arrangement between one of Yvette's automotive clients and the Westin, she's worked with the largest Auto Shows around the world: Frankfurt, Paris, Shanghai, Detroit, and Geneva.
One of Yvette's proudest moments is winning the Top 1% Sellers for Marriott International, Chairman's Circle in 2017.
Yvette is originally from Cape Town, South Africa. She has lived in multiple states across America for the past 30 years. She now resides in Michigan with her husband, son, dog and two cats.

Tage Hill
Meeting Group Broker
Greater Salt Lake City, UT
Tage has over 15+ years of hotel sales, conference services, catering, and hotel operations experience. He's currently based in the beautiful mountains of Utah with a blended family of 4 children and his wife.
He has previously resided in Arizona, Minnesota, and Wyoming. They very much enjoy their time each year in Cannon Beach, OR.
His past hotel experience is well rounded in Little America’s family-owned properties, Kimpton Hotels boutique higher-end and Corporate Hilton properties all with the highest standards of customer satisfaction in creating the best experience possible for their guests.

Tanna Pearman
Meeting Group Broker
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Tanna Pearman, a 25 year veteran in the hospitality industry. She has worked in destination sales most recently with the Reno-Tahoe CVA and returned to hotel sales in 2012. She worked Business Development and Sales for THE ROW Reno during the past seven years. Tanna has planned various conferences, retreats and been involved with high profile event planning. One of her most noteworthy roles was with the Ogden, Utah CVB where she was very involved in the volunteer organization and events leading up to and during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Tanna has had the opportunity to plan meetings, negotiate contracts (both on the hotel and planner side), create content and work alongside mentors throughout her career.
Tanna lives with her husband in the Reno-Tahoe area and while she has enjoyed her career in hospitality, her most important achievements in life are living breathing humans. She has two sons who she is continually amazed by, two bonus children she is proud to call friends and five beautiful grandchildren who call her Granny T.
"The hospitality industry has been incredibly good to me and I'm blessed to have friends throughout the United States. I look forward to this new role and being an asset to my clients for many years to come."

Desha
Schalekamp
Strategic Event Planner and Meeting Broker
Dallas, TX
Desha has over 14 years in the event industry with 12 being a corporate event planner. She has two rambunctious children, a 3-year-old daughter, and a 1-year-old son. They definitely keep her on her toes and make sure she meets her insurance deductible every year...haha. It’s been a wild ride the last three years learning about work/life balance but she wouldn’t change a thing!
One of her favorite things about being a Meeting Broker is that she can do what she loves (travel, work with amazing clients, and negotiate a great deal) and still take her daughter to speech therapy and pick her kids up from school. That’s right kids, your momma can work a crockpot and negotiate a contract for 4000. #MomBoss

Sarah
Buchbinder
Regional Director - Meeting Broker Division
Brooklyn, NY
Sarah has 16 years of experience as an event planner, managing every single detail of events from 10 – 11,000 people, and she knows what to look for in a hotel and strategic partners! Also, can we add: Sarah has been honored as one of 40-under-40 Peak Performers by Connect Meetings, and was named one of the Top 25 Influencers in the Industry and featured as the cover of Meetings & Conventions Magazine. In her first two years with MME she negotiated more than 60 contracts and millions of dollars in savings for her clients. After being on the client-side, she decided to take the parts she likes best about planning – matching clients with their perfect venues and negotiating to save them serious money – and put them at the forefront by becoming a broker. Sarah is a polyglot, an avid world traveler, and a tough negotiator. When she’s not Samba dancing in the Carnaval parade through Rio, bungee jumping off of gondolas in New Zealand, or doing a cheese tasting with clients in the Swiss Alps, she can be found working hard for her clients in her office in Brooklyn.

Rachel
Antosh
Meeting Group Broker
Washington DC
Rachel has worked in the hotel sales industry since 2006. She spent her 14-year career with Marriott International and a top 20 hotel management company. She most recently held the position as Director of National Accounts for a portfolio of 175 Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt hotels. Rachel has lived and worked in San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, and the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. hotel markets. She was awarded Marriott Director of Sales of the Year and voted Top 30 under 30 by Hotel Management Magazine during her hotel career.
She currently resides in the heart of our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. She loves her Washington Nationals and watches their games regularly. You can find Rachel spending time at the numerous museums, trying a new restaurant in Georgetown, running in Rock Creek Park, and spoiling her many nieces and nephews. She has a heart for our veterans with several of her family members serving in the military including her brother in law who is currently stationed in the Pacific.

Dean
Fisher, CMP
Meeting Group Broker
Las Vegas/Reno, NV
Dean brings a fresh perspective from his 25 years of hotelier experience. He has a talent for finding creative logistics solutions and a unique ability to understand how hotel budgets are managed from the wisdom of a diverse hotel background. Dean’s most recent role as Director of Conference Services at the iconic Bellagio Hotel, which is one of the most iconic five-diamond properties in North America. Dean has a zest for life, in his words: “I am a compassionate person and love to look for the good in all things. People compliment me on always having a positive outlook toward challenges and opportunities.” He is a proud husband and father of 28 years and loves to travel to exotic destinations and golf and fish when he’s away from his home in Las Vegas.
Dean is well known for nurturing client legacy relationships and for supporting strategic alliances. He is very excited to share these advantages and insights as a MME Meeting Broker.

Kim Ponsoll
Meeting Group Broker
San Diego, CA
Kim joins Meetings Made Easy following 13 years of hotel sales experience at The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa in La Jolla, CA. During her tenure in the industry she worked her way from Sales Assistant to Associate Director of Sales gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience along the way. Kim’s two favorite aspects of the hotel sales process are fostering meaningful relationships through the face-to-face element of site visits and being a tenacious and tough (but fair) contract negotiator. She is thrilled to work on the client's side, bringing her expertise in these areas to clients across the country.
Kim’s proudest career moments include making MGM Resorts President’s Club and being being awarded the PHG Chairman’s Award as the Hotel Sales Person of the Year.
Kim lives in San Diego with her husband and three daughters. She spends her free time enjoying all that San Diego has to offer, from the beach, to hiking, to yoga, to Legoland, to enjoying a spicy margarita. A Pennsylvania girl at heart, Kim loves her Pittsburgh teams and never misses a Steelers game. She loves to travel with Hawaii and the Canadian Rockies atop her list of favorite destinations.
When not out and about in sunny SoCal you can find Kim hard at work busting a “KP hustle” in her home office.

Amy
Robb
Meeting Group Broker
Charlotte, NC
While currently based in Charlotte, Amy went to college in Portland, Oregon to pursue a degree in Entertainment and Public Relations. Post-graduation she moved to San Diego for some much needed Vitamin D. Amy frequently tells people her career has always been a result of being in the right place at the right time.
After two years of working for sports tours, including her first Olympic Games (she has since worked 3), in 2010, she was approached to join a full-service meeting planning company. Her knowledge of Event Organization combined with travel and Project Management proved to make this role a great fit. Knowing she wanted to be involved in travel and sports, she took the role of a freelance position so she could continue to pursue a wider-range of events. Travel is truly her passion, and luckily her career has led her to over 30 countries and many notable international events. Amy has a true sense of wanderlust and often makes plans of travel destinations for the coming months. Her three most important criteria when deciding on a destination: food, photography, and activities/exploration.

Carla
Wheeler
Meeting Group Broker
Kansas City, MO.
Carla has 12+ years of meeting broker and meeting planning
experience and is looking forward to being able to bring that
experience to her clients at MME. She prides herself on
working hard for her clients and becoming their ultimate
resource and partner. Her top clients have included several
top sports marketing firms in the US, so she has experience
negotiating tough contracts for Sports entertainment. She
also has a strong background in Incentive travel. In the past,
they have recognized her as a top producer by Marriott and
Four Seasons hotels. She has experience in talent buying for
groups that need entertainment or something special for their
events. It's impossible to beat working together with your
clients to plan an event from beginning to end!
A travel enthusiast, Carla enjoys learning about new cultures
in her spare time. Her heart belongs on the beach, but she
lives in Kansas City. Every weekend during the summer, you
will find her at a baseball field watching her son play his last
season before heading off to college! Besides being a proud
military mom, her oldest son is in the Air Force and will soon
head to Okinawa, Japan to serve for three years. In addition
to sports, she is a big Chiefs and Royals fan!