Ebony Thomas-Blackmon Email & Phone Number

Washington, Dc, Us

Lead full site selection and logistical responsibility for up to 8 revenue-generating meetings annually. Serve as the overall project manager collaborating with a meeting coordinator, registration program staff and others. Review hotel proposals, negotiate lower room rates and rental fees, prepare site presentation packets and conduct site presentations for program committees and/or program leader, negotiate contracts with properties selected, guide final contract through legal review and procurement office processing.Onsite execution to include coordination & communication with all hotel staff (convention services manager, banquet staff, audiovisual staff, etc.), assisting in the setup of registration area, advance review of banquet event orders, providing support for speakers in preparing for their presentation, providing information to and answering questions of constituents, troubleshooting, review of bills daily, distributing gratuities, coordination of off-site events, VIP management and preparing shipments.Prepare budgets and monitor expenditures for each meeting and coordinating final post-meeting income-expense reconciliation and reporting management to forecast future and prospective learning offerings and association revenue.

Manage internal and external meetings and events at the highest standards of excellence by providing comprehensive project management, logistical planning and quality assurance, ensuring goals and projects are executed in a timely manner. Execute the planning, registration, speaker and travel, for all internal and external client conferences including but not limited to Organizational Governance (Board of Director, Council, and Committee meetings) and Cross-Division Programmatic Initiatives (Item Development Workshops, Compliance meetings).Lead in negotiating pricing, terms, standard contractual clauses and contracts associated with meetings/events and assure that all contractual obligations are upheld for all meeting and events; Compile financial data and collaborate in the planning and development of the annual budget(s) to support meetings/events.Communicate event details to internal and external stakeholders (website content, save the date communications, agendas, on-site logistical details via Know Before You Go and post-event surveys.Serve as the on-site event manager at conferences.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Assists with managing a 20-million-dollar fundraising and outreach campaign by maintaining accurate financial records as well as managing bookkeeping functions, tracking accounts payable & receivable entries. Collaborates with outside accountants on disbursement of funds, researching and troubleshooting any account discrepancies. Creates contribution invoices. Responds to fundraising requests on behalf of the Coalition to Protect America’s Healthcare. Maintains various spreadsheets to track hospital systems’ fair share totals and contributions to date; creating financial reports for the Coalition’s monthly Board meetings. Organizes logistics of executive level fundraising events for state associations, hospital and health system CEOs. Manages the Coalition’s website; creating reports from the grass root and political action committee database management system (VOCUS). Plans and implements annual AHA meetings by: managing the function space and housing process for AHA staff and AHA state executive affiliates; managing the meeting registration company contracts and registration processes. Assists the federal relations senior staff on meeting planning to include: venue selection; speaker selection; agenda content and logistical planning; registration process; meeting surveys as well as preparation of state financial briefing reports for executive staff.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Responsible for managing the nomination, review, selection and award process for seven (7) ARVO Annual Awards. Oversaw the review, selection, processing and progress reporting of five (5) sponsored young scientist awards (Alcon, CAMRAS, Merck, PBA, Pfizer) with amounts ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. Managed the review, selection, recognition and reimbursement process for 290 travel grants with over 1800 applicants. Responsible for pre-award and post-award activity, and compliance of $100,000 National Institutes of Health/NEI grant for young scientist attending the ARVO Annual Meeting.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Responsible for the management of 6500 electronically submitted scientific abstracts. Coordinated workshops and education courses that include: speaker management, course book preparation, and development of post course evaluations. Managed travel arrangements and reimbursement of expenses for invited Course, Keynote, Symposia, and Workshop speakers. Served as staff liaison to the Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC), providing guidance on the reviewing, voting, and scheduling of scientific sessions. Responsible for the promotional content of the annual meeting program for inclusion in the ARVO Newsletter, Call for Abstracts and Meeting At-a-Glance. Used website management system to review/approve Annual Meeting webpage content. Prepared blast e-mails, sent tests, made revisions, and finalized for distribution to Annual Meeting participants. Monitored online traffic reports, discussion board and page comments on social media sites. Prepared presenter and session moderator guidelines and served as a resource on program information. In conjunction with the Director of Meetings and Education, provided specifications to the abstract submission vendor, on development, configuration, testing and identifying/improving concerns, with the online submission and review sites.

Bethesda, Md

Managed and executed all aspects of the AAA Annual Meeting, including program development, abstract submission, funding solicitation and distribution, audio-visual needs and housing/registration issues. Planned and coordinated all Annual Meeting special functions, including set-up and food and beverage selection. Worked directly with Program Chairs on all aspects of Annual Meeting, including programming educational content and logistic arrangements. Developed and implemented marketing plan for meeting, including promotional brochures, flyers, posters and e-mail messages. Managed database related to Annual Meeting, including attendees, abstracts, funding, travel, reimbursement, etc. Provided on-site Annual Meeting support, including all preparation and follow-up for program committee meeting. Administered all aspects of the awards and grants programs, including marketing, nomination and selection process, presentation logistics for 12 awards and 100 young fellow grants.

Rockville, Md

Oversaw all aspects of ACC’s participation in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Annual Scientific Meeting. Developed the staff work plan timeline for ACC’s activities at the American Heart Association Annual Scientific Session. Responsible for ACC’s function space, menu selection, office equipment, AV equipment, offices space and special events. Managed all housing and registration arrangements for staff, consultants, and VIPs. Liaison between hotel/vendors and ACC staff. Supervised on-site meeting staff. Managed the logistical components of the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session with more than 30,000 attendees, including VIP events, convocation, and committee meetings. Managed arrangements for ACC Annual Convocation, Executive Dinner and Spouse’s Brunch, as well as management of committee meetings. Planned the food & beverage, AV services, and space selection for ACC’s special events. Managed ancillary events including hotel selection and function space needs. Responsible for the RFP and contract negotiation process for staff onsite mobile phones, convention center phone wiring and office equipment.

Rockville, Md

Managed day-to-day operations including: arranging all meeting logistics, budget oversight, member relations activities, and committee functions. Worked directly with the Executive Committee to establish, refine and execute its strategic plan. Coordinated logistics (abstract submission process, meeting site-visit, hotel arrangements, menu selection, audiovisual needs, manning exhibit booth, and creating published material layout) for SGC’s annual meeting held at the American College of Cardiology’s Scientific Sessions. Managed all logistics for the NIH sponsored bi-annual symposium of SGC’s “Pivotal Research in Cardiovascular Syndromes in the Elderly” program. Assisted the fundraising consultant on fundraising efforts and donor solicitation.

Bacteriology & Mycology Branch I Rockville, Md

Provided administrative management assistance to the Bacteriology and Mycology Branch (BMB) Chief. Planned and managed the coordination of workshops, meetings, round table discussions, and symposia meetings related to bio-defense activities and initiatives. Assisted scientific staff in the development and monitoring of bio-defense research activities, created and maintained computer based data systems for tracking, monitoring, and analyzing fiscal research grant activities, e.g., Human Subjects Research and Oversight and Accountability Database. Served as the staff liaison to the Administrative Office for the Bacteriology and Mycology Branch. Modified and streamlined all budgetary expenditures for the branch. Reviewed and calculated individual expense reports, developing an automated system for timely and accurate processing of travel vouchers.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

In conjunction with Director of Compliance & Operations managed the proper usage of 9 million dollars in funding by the USDA, for the Market Access Program (MAP) partnership between AF&PA and the Federal Agriculture Services. Lead organizer for the Annual Wood Products International Administrative Conference. Served as staff liaison to 7 overseas office on administrative, finance and compliance issues related to the USDA’s Marketing Access Program (MAP). Participated in strategy and work plan development for overseas promotional activities related to the Unified Export Strategy (UES) application process. Assisted in preparation of AF&PA’s annual USDA, Foreign Agriculture Service compliance audit. Traveled overseas to conduct AF&PA internal compliance audits for the 7 overseas offices. Authorized/submitted reimbursements through USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation on behalf of Wood Coordinators. Coordinated travel arrangements for overseas Directors and Foreign Trade Delegates.