Industry Summit – Global Meetings Industry Day

Click here to register!  Non-Member Planners attend for FREE!!

Education Agenda:

11:00 am – 12:00 pm – Registration, Networking, and Marketplace

12:00 – 1:30 pm – Keynote Lunch & Dessert Dash -Sex/Human Trafficking

Speakers:
Detective Chad Opitz, FBI
Janet Kearney, CMP – A Family’s Nightmare

1:30 – 1:45 pm – Break and Marketplace

1:45 – 2:45 pm –

Supplier Breakout – Trafficking Panel Discussion
Speakers:
Detective Chad Opitz, FBI
Janet Kearney, CMP
Michelle Barts, NW Cave
Scott Snyder, Salem Area Lodging Association

Planner Breakout – Event Security
Speaker: Michael Gibson

2:45 – 3:00 pm – Break and Marketplace

3:00 – 4:00 pm – Closing Keynote – OH! Shift with Jennifer Powers

Based on the teachings and strategies found in her best-selling book , Oh, shift!, Jennifer uses wit, humor, and audience interaction to help participates: Step into a more positive, empowered mindset – Deal with change and the stress that comes with it – Hold themselves accountable for their own success – Adopt life-changing strategies and tools.

4:00 – 5:30 pm – Happy Hour and Marketplace

Michelle Bart, CCA, CHTA, is the President and Co-Founder of NWCAVE.  Michelle holds a communications degree and has applied her education and expertise to helping businesses and organizations obtain visibility through the media, community relations and the Internet.  Michelle also helps families of missing children keep their child’s face and case visible through national media outlets such as America’s Most Wanted with John Walsh on Lifetime, HLN’s Nancy Grace Show, “Issues” with Jane Valez-Mitchell on HLN, Fox News, CNN’s Larry King Live and People Magazine.

Michael Gipson is an Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness Specialist currently residing in Vancouver Washington. After gaining experience with responding to medical and safety emergencies as a supervisor of numerous lifeguard teams, he joined the Air Force in 2011 and was sent to Tokyo Japan in support of the Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear disaster’s humanitarian relief. There, he studied Emergency Management through the American Military University while working in Japan’s largest Command Center coordinating responses to various threats until returning to America in 2017. His experiences include active shooters, bomb threats, chemical and biological warfare training, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, blizzards, collapsed buildings, floods, and more. Since his return stateside, Michael has been working as an Asset Protection specialist for Best Buy, and continues to provide information to his community on how to best mitigate and prepare for disastrous threats to life.

Janet Kearney, CMP is a 20 year MPI Oregon member and former President of our chapter.  Janet has been in hotel and resort sales, catering and marketing, primarily in director positions in the Portland area for over 30 years including the Sheraton Portland – Airport Hotel, The Resort at The Mountain and the Red Lion Convention Center.   She is currently the Associate Director of Sales for The Benson Hotel.

Janet’s family underwent a tragic ordeal several years ago when her daughter met a man claiming to be much younger than he was and became her “boyfriend”.  During that time, he trafficked her and caused her to become addicted to methenamine.  Soon after this occurred, Janet met Michelle Bart, who was instrumental in helping her family.

In sharing their story with others, they have spoken to many organizations, schools and the media regarding the proliferation of trafficking along the I-5 corridor.

Chad Opitz is currently a Detective with the Beaverton Police Department in Beaverton, Oregon and a Task Force Officer on the Portland FBI Child Exploitation Task Force.  He is a nineteen year law enforcement officer and has been a detective for the last twelve.  Detective Opitz is also assigned as an Investigator to the Washington County Major Crimes Team.  He has worked sex trafficking related crimes since 2008, with the focus on protecting victims of child prostitution and targeting the pimps that exploit those minors.  Detective Opitz is currently the primary investigator on all sex trafficking cases with the Beaverton Police Department.  Detective Opitz has also done extensive undercover work in sex trafficking and prostitution investigations.

Detective Opitz worked child pornography cases while assigned to the Portland FBI Innocent Images Task Force and spent five years assigned to the Proactive Team (street crimes) of the Beaverton Police Department.  Detective Opitz obtained his bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from George Fox University (Newberg, Oregon).

Detective Opitz has presented at the Dallas Crimes Against Children Conference, the 2016 and 2017 JuST Conferences and is an Instructor for classes put on by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) throughout the United States.  Detective Opitz has provided sex trafficking related training for law enforcement officers, victim advocates, social service workers and prosecutors both in Oregon and around the United States.

Detective Opitz is active with Compassion First, which is an organization that provides long term, hope filled and life-giving solutions for survivors of sexual exploitation.  Detective Opitz has been to Indonesia twice representing Compassion First and serving those survivors of sex trafficking.