Meet our Programme Committee

Paola Blancas

Sales Director, Cancun Center

Paola Blancas holds a Bachelor's degree in International Tourism and a Master's degree in Public Relations and Advertising, both from the Universidad Anáhuac Puebla. She is a Certified Meetings Specialist (CMS) and belongs to the Millennial generation, bringing 10 years of experience in the meetings industry.

Paola has served as head of the Convention Bidding Office at the State Government of Puebla from 2014 to 2019, and as Director of Recruitment for MPI Mexico Chapter from 2018 to 2019. She is also a lecturer on Congress and Convention Operations at the Universidad Anáhuac Puebla, and a founding member of Skål Young Professionals Chapter Puebla.

Since 2019, she has embraced Cancun as her new home and currently holds the position of Commercial Director at Cancun Center, as well as serving as president of Alianza Punta Cancun. Additionally, she is part of the board of directors of PCMA Mexico Chapter for the term 2024-2025 and leads the youth committee at the Mexican Council of the Meetings Industry (COMIR). During this period, she has led over 35 national and international bids, maintaining a success rate of 70%.

Eva Garde

Director, Granada Convention Bureau

Eva is the Director of Granada Convention Bureau, she is graduated in Tourism and has a degree in Translation and Interpretation. She pursued postgraduate studies and gained her first professional experiences during six years in England and France. Before returning to "her" Granada, she travelled for a year and a half through India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia where she collaborated with the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa, an experience she considers "the best master's degree in human and personal development that one can undertake." After 14 years at the Granada Congress Centre, she joined the newly created Granada Convention Bureau in 2014, a project that she currently leads and develops with passion by involving both public institutions and entrepreneurs.

She believes that together we achieve more. She is a regular speaker at national and international forums, teaches in some master's programs and at the University of Granada, is member and actively participates in various national and international MICE associations and is currently the Deputy Chair of the ICCA Iberian Chapter.

Gerard Lebeda

Secretary/Treasurer - Board of Directors, International Society for Urban Health

Gerard Lebeda most recently served as Program Director of the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and currently as a part of it's Board of Directors, focuses on cultivating Convention & Visitor Bureau (CVB) / destination relationships for the organization's annual International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH).

Previously, Gerard was Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars, a program he led for 13 years. Mr. Lebeda served on the founding Board of Directors for the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), a DC-based organization aimed at improving the health of populations through science and innovation.

Prior to his work on the Health & Society Scholars program, Gerard worked as a Convention/Meeting Planner for Medical World Communications in Jamesburg, NJ and as an Office Coordinator at the Medical Center at Princeton in Princeton, NJ.

Jorge Moller

Program Director for the Global Sustainable Tourism Council

Jorge Moller is a sustainable tourism expert with nearly 40 years of leadership and hands-on experience in Chile and throughout Latin America.

After earning degrees in biology and agronomy, he began his career in 1985 as a tour operator and went on to build a company dedicated to environmental and cultural tourism in Chile, providing authentic local experiences and engagement with indigenous communities. In this capacity, he worked with organizations from all over the world to develop tours showcasing Chile’s communities in an integral way, from their gastronomy and history to culture and ecosystems.

He was a founding member of Chile’s adventure travel regulatory organization and has been instrumental in developing industry standards for sustainable tourism in Chile and beyond. Jorge also co-founded the South American Sustainable Tourism Network, through which he works with a variety of Latin American travel destinations to improve the quality of the tourist experience and raise their profile among international travelers. As the director of the non-governmental organization, Regenera, Jorge is Program Director for the Global Sustainable Tourism Council to expand sustainable tourism training and knowledge transfer opportunities throughout Latin America. He regularly shares his expertise as a professor, trainer, consultant and speaker, lecturing on tourism and sustainable development and events throughout the region.

Jorge is especially passionate about his work with the Mapuche and other indigenous peoples in Chile. Through Regenera, he builds bridges with indigenous communities to create authentic experiences for tourists by sharing their culture and beliefs while generating income to sustain their way of life. He has also worked to connect indigenous groups across borders, traveling with people from communities in Chile to visit other indigenous peoples in Bolivia and Argentina. In April 2019, Jorge collaborated with Travel with Ann, founded by experiential travel leader Ann Becker, to organize a women’s group trip to Chile. Designed as a cross-cultural exchange, the group met extensively with small business owners and community leaders, predominantly women, in the Araucania region where the majority of Mapuche live.

Jair López Montes

Director, Cancun Center

Jair holds a master’s degree in international Tourism from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. With 20 years of experience in the Meetings Industry in Mexico, he specializes in the operation of exhibition venues.

He has collaborated in six convention centers across Mexico and currently serves as the General Director of the Cancun Convention Center and General Manager of the Aloft Cancun Hotel for Marriott. He is part of the faculty team of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) for Mexico, developing specialized modules for the Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM).

Jair was a member of the faculty selection board of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE). He served as President of Alianza Punta Cancun A.C. for the periods 2019-2020 and 2022- 2023, and Chairperson of the ICCA Mexico Committee for the period 2020-2022. Additionally, Jair held the position of Vice President of Marketing for the MPI Caribbean Mexican Chapter for the period 2021-2022

Manuel Ortega Garcia

Head of Meetings and Events and Golf Promotion, Tourist Board of the Government of Andalusia

Manuel Ortega García has 16 years of experience in the Tourism Industry as Head of Meetings and Events and Golf Promotion in the Tourist Board of the Government of Andalusia, in South of Spain.

Born in Linares (Jaén), he graduated in Business Administration and Management from the University of Malaga and expanded his training in International Trade from the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade.

He is passionate about Andalusian culture and traditions and an expert advisor to the Andalusian tourism industry. The value of human relationships and connections with different communities is a permanent inspiration in his personal evolution.

Bianca La Placa

Journalist and senior event manager, WEEC Network

Journalist and senior event manager specializing in international events, I have worked in a variety of operational and marketing roles, specializing in digital and print media, events and projects, in Italy and around the world. I organize the WEEC World Environmental Education Congress every two years.

My experience includes managing projects and events, developing relationships, managing and mentoring team members, fostering relationships with clients and suppliers, and communicating effectively with technical and design teams.

I have directed national and international communication and marketing initiatives through: designing and implementing creative media campaigns, producing promotional materials, developing an engaging online and social media presence, coordinating high-level events, organizing logistics (venues, travel, accommodations, participant materials...), liaising with speakers, delegates, guests, partners and sponsors.