Conference Director

Position Summary

Civica Management is seeking an experienced Director of Conferences to lead our conference department while also serving as the lead planner for assigned client conferences.

This is a hands-on leadership position. The Director is responsible for the overall performance of Civica’s conference function, including leading and developing a team of approximately 3–4 conference professionals, managing department capacity and priorities, strengthening systems and standards, and ensuring Civica consistently delivers exceptional conferences for its association clients.

At the same time, the Director maintains their own portfolio of conferences and serves as a full-cycle conference planner, leading events from early strategy, budgeting, sourcing and contracting through onsite execution, financial closeout, and post-conference evaluation.

As a member of Civica’s leadership team, the Director works closely with company leadership and association teams to identify risks, solve problems, allocate resources, improve conference performance, support client retention and growth, and continually strengthen Civica’s conference services.

Key Responsibilities

Department Leadership & People Management

• Lead, manage, coach, and develop Civica’s conference team, including Conference Planners and Conference Coordinators.
• Establish clear expectations, priorities, and accountability for department staff and conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, coaching, and professional development.
• Manage department workload and capacity across multiple clients and overlapping conference cycles, proactively identifying staffing needs, resource conflicts, and risks.
• Assign and adjust conference responsibilities based on client needs, team capacity, experience, and development opportunities.
• Build a collaborative, accountable department culture aligned with Civica’s values and team-based approach.
• Participate actively with Civica leadership in company planning, staffing, client strategy, and operational decision-making.

Conference Strategy & Client Leadership

• Serve as the lead conference planner for an assigned portfolio of association conferences, meetings, trade shows, and special events.
• Lead conferences from initial strategy and project planning through onsite execution, reconciliation, debrief, and transition to the next event cycle.
• Build trusted relationships with association executives, boards, committees, and volunteer leaders and serve as a strategic advisor on conference-related decisions.
• Help clients strengthen conference performance, attendee experience, revenue generation, expense management, and long-term event sustainability.
• Step in as a senior resource on complex client, venue, vendor, contractual, financial, or onsite issues across the department.

Financial, Contract & Operational Oversight

• Develop and manage budgets for assigned conferences and provide oversight and guidance on conference budgets across the department.
• Ensure conference decisions balance client goals, attendee experience, contractual obligations, risk, and financial stewardship.
• Lead or support venue sourcing, RFPs, site selection, contract negotiations, and major vendor relationships.
• Maintain strong relationships with hotels, convention centers, audiovisual/production companies, and other key industry partners.
• Review conference performance and financial results and identify opportunities to improve profitability, efficiency, and client value.

Department Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Establish and maintain consistent conference planning standards, processes, templates, timelines, tools, and quality-control practices.
• Ensure conference teams maintain strong project plans, budgets, documentation, communication, and client visibility.
• Lead post-conference reviews and ensure lessons learned translate into improvements for future events and department practices.
• Identify opportunities to improve technology, workflows, staffing models, vendor partnerships, and the overall delivery of Civica’s conference services.
• Collaborate across Civica’s association management, finance, membership, marketing, education, and administrative teams to ensure conferences are integrated with broader client priorities.

Business & Industry Leadership

• Support new-business proposals, conference assessments, budgeting, presentations, and client transitions as needed.
• Contribute conference expertise to Civica’s growth strategy and help evaluate new client opportunities and staffing requirements.
• Represent Civica professionally with clients, prospects, vendors, industry partners, and association and meetings-industry organizations.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive conference, convention, trade show, or meeting management experience, including significant experience independently leading complex events.
• Demonstrated experience managing, coaching, and developing staff.
• Association, nonprofit, or association management company (AMC) experience strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of hotel and venue operations, sourcing, contracting, food and beverage, audiovisual/production, room blocks, registration, exhibits, sponsorship fulfillment, and onsite logistics.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing conference budgets and understanding the revenue and expense drivers of association conferences.
• Strong project-management skills and the ability to oversee multiple clients, conferences, staff priorities, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Excellent client leadership, communication, facilitation, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong judgment and the ability to remain calm, decisive, and solutions-oriented in high-pressure situations.
• Comfort with event technology, association databases, project-management platforms, Microsoft 365, and related systems.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly and work extended onsite hours, including early mornings, evenings, and weekends.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience.
• CMP, CAE, or other relevant professional credential preferred.

What Success Looks Like

The Director of Conferences builds a strong team and a strong department while continuing to be an excellent conference planner. Clients trust Civica’s conference team, staff understand expectations and have the support they need to succeed, conference projects remain on track and financially sound, risks are surfaced early, and Civica continually improves how it plans and delivers events.

The Director sees beyond any single conference or task and takes ownership for the overall health, capacity, quality, and performance of Civica’s conference department.

About Civica Management

Civica Management partners with nonprofit associations to provide association management, conference and event services, membership, finance, operations, marketing, and strategic support. Our team-based AMC model allows clients to access specialized expertise while maintaining a consistent, trusted relationship with their Civica team.

We value Accountability, Authenticity, Courage, Fun, Impact, and Collaboration, and expect every team member to contribute to strong client partnerships and continuous improvement.