about leadership

Diane C. Fausel-Kurtz, Chairman and CEO
Diane Fausel is a founding member of meetGCA when the company was known as 'The Conference Connection'. Having built the organization through successful meetings and events planning, along with collaborations in the hospitality and travel industry, Diane's experience is recognized among industry leaders. A true leader, specializing in community development and multi-cultural communications. Diane has extensive experience as a speaker, trainer, and planner focusing on government relations, public-private partnerships, interfaith collaborations, and professional development. She has successfully planned and organized over 1500 meetings and events spanning over 30 years. Diane is the recipient of multiple awards and commendations on the local, national and international stage.

As Chairman and CEO of meetGCA, her vision is to build bridges for international development and multi-cultural relations worldwide through successful meeting practices. Diane oversees the direction and business relationships that meetGCA has developed since 1983 and provides project management direction for the team at meetGCA.

Jim Fausel Jr., President and COO
Jim Fausel brings over 18 years of operational and management experience in the aviation and hospitality sector to the meetGCA team. After the passing of his father in 2008, Jim has taken the reigns of this family run business, and is responsible for managing the daily operation at meetGCA, while building upon the company's global network of varied customers and suppliers. After starting in airline crew resources in 1993, Jim ultimately worked his way up the ladder in the airlines as a Pilot on the Boeing 757 and Airbus320 family of aircraft, finishing his career in Flight Operations management. Jim has traveled to over 30 countries around the world building relationships with customers and suppliers 'face to face'. This global travel experience, coupled with a personal relationship-based network of hospitality industry partners, has been the cornerstone of meetGCA's growth in the marketplace since 2007.

Working with professionals from around the globe, Jim realizes the importance of a strong multi-cultural business etiquette as an effective tool to grow trusted business relationships. His passion for growing these relationships is integral to driving dramatic savings to meetGCA's customers, and further, in driving new concentrated customer volume to our network of suppliers. This relationship brokering is what sets meetGCA apart from all others like us, and creates the two sided leverage necessary to satisfy our customers around the world. Jim believes in top-notch customer service, pro-activity, responsiveness and integrity. Jim is an active member of Meeting Professionals International as well as other travel industry organizations, and participates part-time in print and video commercials as a hobby.

Tom Chiodo, Senior Vice President - Global Sales
Tom Chiodo is in charge of the Global Sales network for meetGCA which is focused on building and maintaining client relationships; demonstrating to our current and future customers the tangible savings and operational value meetGCA brings to the bottom line of their companies. He also heads up our Consulting Services division which helps organizations, both large and small, save money and valuable time through process improvement, automation, 3rd party outsourcing, and innovative problem solving. A transportation industry veteran, Tom started his career over 20 years ago with a large national ground service transportation provider and has spent more than 15 years working in Airline Flight Operations Management (Crew Scheduling, Planning, Pilot Training, Hotel Crew Accommodations) as well as being engaged in Labor Relations where he negotiated 3 collective bargaining agreements for several large US based airlines. Tom joined meetGCA in 2010.

David Duncan, Vice President - Corporate Meetings and Events
David Duncan has more than 20 years of success in managing corporate group travel and developing industry relationships as a fund raising and corporate travel specialist. David's background, which includes a career as a major airline Captain, brings the spirit of cooperation and teamwork to our customers, and gives clients a well-traveled and educated perspective, along with unparalleled customer service experience. When meetGCA needs to make connections around the world for customers' corporate events, whether it is for luxury golf travel or corporate fundraisers, we turn to David's list of connections to add to our success recipe. A dedicated family man, worldwide traveler and business associate, David's goals are to strengthen relationships and collaborate with entities for program success, by organizing business meetings and worldwide events that deliver exceptional results.

Scott Loeschner, Corporate Travel Programs - San Diego, California
Scott oversees our international inquiries for customers around the world. Having invested a significant amount of time in learning local culture while traveling around the globe, Scott provides strong product knowledge, analytical skills and creative thinking that are necessary attributes in today's global markets. Prior to meetGCA, Scott received a bachelor’s degree in finance and started a career as an airline pilot. After flying everything from Puddle Jumpers to big pretty white planes with red stripes that look like big Tylenols, he moved to a finance career for a major banking institution.

Scott also used his travel experience and business network to consult organizations and corporations about their travel needs. He has worked with international law enforcement organizations and financial corporations and has overseen events in dozens of destinations in three continents. Scott is based in Southern California for meetGCA and he brings opportunities closer to the companies that have a presence within the region.

Jhon Lookyan - Director, International Sales - Miami, FL
Jhon represents the International staff of meetGCA. He is proficient in global communications, multi-cultural relations, and contract negotiation. Jhon's extensive worldwide travel experience is a solid fit for meetGCA and our client base, particularly in South America, Central America and other Spanish speaking countries. He has established cross-cultural relationships among special interest groups and hoteliers, and has served to better communities, and organizations, through his networking and communications. Jhon is based in Miami, Florida, for meetGCA.