Jonathan T. Howe

Jonathan T. Howe, Esq., is president and senior and founding partner of Howe & Hutton Ltd., headquartered in Chicago. The longtime legal expert and columnist for Meetings & Conventions, he has written hundreds of articles and papers on hospitality and meetings, and has spoken to organizations all over the world. He is also general counsel to Meeting Professionals International, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Association Committee of 100, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association and the International Live Events Association, as well as the special advisor to the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Meetings and Travel. Howe was named the inaugural recipient of the Hospitality Industry Attorneys of the Year by the Academy of Hospitality Industry Attorneys. As an adjunct professor, he has taught courses in association management and hospitality industry law at Roosevelt and DePaul Universities.

Michael Dominguez

Michael Dominguez is the senior vice president and chief sales officer for MGM Resorts International, responsible for global group and leisure sales of 42,000 hotel rooms and 3 million square feet of meeting space. Michael is actively involved in a variety of leadership roles in the meetings and events industry. He is immediate-past chairman on the International Board of Directors for Meeting Professionals International and on the executive committee of the U.S. Travel Association, and is a board member of the Meetings Means Business Coalition, the GBTA Foundation and the FICP Hospitality Advisory Council. Michael has been recognized in the industry for numerous honors, including Successful Meetings’ Top 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry (2013-2016) and HispanicBusiness.com’s 50 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S.

Steven G. Shapiro

Steven G. Shapiro, the director of the Hospitality & Tourism Law program at the American University, Washington College of Law, also teaches law school courses in business topics at the law school.  An engineer and lawyer, Mr. Shapiro has a distinct experience in the interplay of real estate and design as well as complex commercial agreements.  At the University of Maryland, Mr. Shapiro has taught Real Estate Development for the Contractor in the School of Engineering and Construction Management for the Professional Developer in the School of Architecture. He has taught Construction Management at the Johns Hopkins School of Business.  Mr. Shapiro is the author of Maryland Real Estate Laws Annotated (West), Maryland Business Laws Annotated (West), and Pennsylvania Construction Law (West), plus a contributor to Hotel Law Transactions (Routledge). In addition, he is the author of articles published in scholarly journals and has been an invited speaker on panel presentations relating to design, construction, and sustainable development at national programs including the International Council of Shopping Centers, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of Florida.

Mr. Shapiro earned an undergraduate business administration degree from Georgetown University in 1984, a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1987, and a Master’s of Law degree from Georgetown Law Center in 1991. In 2004, he received a Master’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Rachel Humphrey

Rachel Humphrey serves as AAHOA’s COO and VP of Franchise Relations. Rachel is responsible for AAHOA’s day-to-day operations and its relationship with its industry and brand partners, connecting members with resources to address industry related issues, and overseeing AAHOA’s education department.  Rachel also serves on AAHOA’s Executive Leadership Team.  Prior to AAHOA, Rachel spent over 20 years as a trial lawyer.  Rachel earned her undergraduate degree from Connecticut College and her law degree from Syracuse University College of Law.

Angela Cox

Angela Cox is passionate about meetings and can be called a meeting planner’s meeting planner. Literally! Daughter of the first President of the Society of Government Meeting Planners and with over 25 years in the industry with a variety of backgrounds, including associations, big tradeshows and corporate meetings, Angela has done it all. After planning the 50th anniversary of The Clio Awards (advertising industry) and executing a 30,000 person tradeshow at Javits, while co-locating with the NY Marathon, she contemplated her next move and decided the greatest challenge would be to plan events for meeting planners. For the past 10 years, she’s been working on hosted buyer and incentive programs with Successful Meetings, Meetings & Conventions, Incentive and SportsTravel. She is a true expert in contracting, budgeting, event logistics and collaboration.  

When she’s not planning a meeting or traveling the globe, Angela can usually be found rescuing animals, scuba diving, riding a horse and/or visiting local Virginia wineries.