On Wednesday at IMEX America 2025, PCMA announced two new executive education offerings aimed at senior event professionals under the PCMA Institute banner.
The Executive Leadership Fellowship will be offered as a mini-MBA style program aimed at event professionals with 10+ years of experience and C-suite aspirations. The initial cohort will be limited to 25 participants with applications opening at PCMA’s Convening Leaders 2026. The six- to nine-month programs will focus on applied learning through case studies and collaborative working sessions, rather than traditional lectures.
PCMA also introduced a Business Events Strategist (BES) certification for event professionals with more than seven years of experience. It will not have a course component, instead using a point-based qualification and capstone project. The organization has positioned the certification as “recognizing strategic excellence beyond traditional CMP/CMM credentials.”
The competing CMM designation, managed by Meeting Professionals International (MPI), is offered as a fully online program to event professionals with at least seven years of experience and a minimum of three years of management experience, including two years of profit and loss responsibility.
PCMA also announced an update to the Professional Meetings Management (PMM) textbook, last updated in 2015. The update was funded by the PCMA Foundation and will be available in print and digital formats in December.
Meanwhile, six destinations and venues have subscribed to Destinaitor, PCMA’s AI-powered destination intelligence platform. The offers information on a wide range of destinations and venues, but limits managing and updating data to subscribers that are labeled for users as a sign of accuracy and reliability.
“With Destinaitor, PCMA is bringing clarity, accuracy, and efficiency to destination sourcing through AI and verified data partnerships,” said Neil Brownlee, PCMA chair and Visit Scotland’s head of business events.
The platform uses AI to curate, analyze, and match destination and venue information. It developed in partnership with dFakto and supported by data partners Tempest and Simpleview. Subscription tiers currently range from $9,000 to $15,000.
