Senior Event Manager

Chelsea Finn

Washington, D.C **** 609-***-**** adhxcc@r.postjobfree.com

SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE

An awarded Senior Event Manager, with over six years’ experience producing high quality events at a Four Star and Five Diamond luxury property, now poised to take on revenue management responsibility in addition to building, managing and directing a team of her own. Possessing a fierce passion for hospitality and proven success in project management, building excellent customer relations and consistently exceeding sales and revenue goals, all of which skills are well suited for a senior or director role in the hospitality-event industry or beyond. COMPETENCIES/SKILLS

An independent, motivated and ambitious Senior Event Manager with experience in dealing with highly demanding internal and external clients in an atmosphere where exceeding expectations is standard. A highly organized multi- tasker with proven ability to meet deadlines with the highest level of professionalism. A perfectionist with an eye towards consistently following systems and processes, but an innovator always seeking and finding ways to improve efficiency. A natural leader who is always ready to take charge of any situation, team or project yet understands the innate value of teamwork and values the opinions of others. Computer: CI-TY, Delphi, Opera, Social Tables, Meeting Matrix, PowerPoint, Excel, Word Foreign Languages: Proficiency in Spanish

WORK EXPERIENCE The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC Washington, DC

Senior Meetings and Special Events Manager September 2019 - Present

Produced the hotel’s largest catering event of the year in 2019, bringing in revenue of over $300,000, for more than 1,000 attendees and notable VIP guests such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The event was proven to be a success demonstrated by the perfect 10’s awarded in every category of the meeting planner’s event satisfaction survey.

Handpicked by the Hotel’s Executive Team to spearhead the conversion process of the hotel’s event management software from Delphi to CI-TY. As the leader of this large-scale project was solely responsible for governing the communication between various hotel departments and Marriott Corporate in order to seamlessly transfer meeting room data, menu implementation and revenue analytics from one system to the other. After project completion, was instrumental in rolling out training programs to both the Sales and Event Management teams. The system was implemented to streamline the sales process as well as maximize revenue-forecasting capabilities.

Acquired all responsibilities of the Associate Director of Meetings and Special Events during her maternity leave, which included leading and fostering personal and professional relationships for a team of three managers and two coordinators, producing weekly and monthly forecast reports for ownership and submitting goal related metrics for the quarterly incentive program Golden Circle.

In partnership with the Director of Meetings and Special Events, responsible for restructuring the department to consolidate the second coordinator position into a managerial role in order to increase team efficiency, enhance work life balance and reduce labor costs. The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC Washington, DC

Meetings and Special Events Manager May 2017 – September 2019

Independently serviced $2.1 million in revenue in 2018. Results yielded a 50% increase on top of the initial contractual food and beverage bookings of $1.4 million, for a total of $717,583 in upsells.

Increased the two primary personal meeting planner engagement metric scores of ‘Intent to Recommend’ and ‘Overall Planning Experience’ year over year from 88.2 in 2018 to 95.8 in 2019, thus clearly demonstrating consistent exceptional customer service and relationship development.

Appointed as sole team member to service all group and high touch transient entertainment bookings, which has led to extensive work on major motion picture movie premieres, press tours, and personal or business travel for notable enterprises and celebrities such as Paramount Pictures, Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and The Jonas Brothers.

Taken initiative to assume additional responsibility within the department, such as monthly reporting of individual and team rooms forecast accuracy to drive efficiency and accuracy on behalf of the Director of Revenue management.

The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC Washington, DC

Meetings and Special Events Coordinator February 2016 – May 2017

Responsible for providing extensive administrative support to a team of four managers and a director, in order to ensure maximized efficiency within the department thus providing group guests with the highest quality events and level of customer service.

Taken on the managerial responsibilities of completely detailing group turnovers to include both rooms only blocks and local catering events of up to 100 guests.

Awarded a Lightning Strike and Five-Star of the Quarter nomination, by the Hotel’s Guidance Team, for continued commitment to performance and service excellence. The Graham Georgetown Washington, DC

Sales and Catering Coordinator August 2014 - February 2016

Responsible for all of the daily administration needs for the General Manager, Director of Sales and The Director of Food and Beverage and Events.

Pioneered and implemented several internal systems that previously did not exist in the hotel and are now valued assets among all departments such as the creation of a BEO book, BEO distribution, weekly sales and event reports, resumes and file keeping up to audit standards.

Actively participate in the sales process both in events and group sales by fielding leads, creating proposals, sending contracts and managing the events schedule. AWARDS/RECOGNITION Recipient, Five Star Leader of the 4th Quarter 2018, The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. Nominee, Five Star Leader of the Quarter for Q4 2017, Q2 & Q3 of 2018, The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. Nominee, Five Star Associate of the Quarter Q3 of 2016, The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. Recipient of Four ‘Lightning Strikes’ Award Certificates in recognition of upholding the Credo and service excellence, The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.

Member, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society, The George Washington University, Washington DC, 2014 Member, Gold Key Honors Society, The George Washington University, Washington DC, 2012-2014 Member, GW Women in Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2010-2014 EDUCATION THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, School of Business Washington, DC Bachelor of Business Administration, Event Management May 2014 Cumulative GPA: 3.87 Concentration GPA: 4.0

Summa Cum Laude

Top five percent of graduating class in the School of Business, recipient of the Presidential Academic Scholarship and member of the University Honors Program

Peddie School Hightstown, NJ

Diploma May 2010

Member, Cum Laude Society, AP scholar with honors, recipient of the Community Service Award. Interests: Attending local D.C. sporting events, attending Washington Ballet performances at the Kennedy Center, exploring new restaurants and expanding my knowledge of wine with my fiancé. Exercising my passion for traveling, which has led me to enjoy the privilege of visiting and exploring 10 countries and over a dozen states.

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