Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, operations, and performance of Columbia Sportswear Company's corporate events function, ensuring the successful delivery of meetings, events, activations, and experiences that support business objectives, strengthen brand engagement, and elevate stakeholder experiences.
• Lead a high-performing team and a complex ecosystem of agencies, production partners, suppliers, technology providers, venues, and hospitality partners to deliver world-class events.
• As a trusted advisor to senior leaders, brings clarity to ambiguity, navigates complex challenges, removes barriers to execution, and drives alignment across diverse stakeholders.
• Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of the company's portfolio of corporate meetings, sales meetings, executive events, customer experiences, internal events, and experiential activations.
• Ensure operational excellence across all phases of event delivery, from concept development through post-event evaluation.
• Lead through ambiguity, proactively identifying risks, solving complex challenges, and removing barriers that impact execution.
• Oversee a diverse network of 25+ vendors including but not limited to event agencies, production companies, AV providers, fabricators, design agencies, labor partners, shipping companies, venues, transportation providers, and event technology vendors.
• In partnership with Procurement, establish strategic partnerships, negotiate contracts, define performance expectations, and ensure consistent service delivery, accountability, scalability, and cost efficiency across the event ecosystem.
• Lead event budget planning, forecasting, financial reporting, and investment management.
• Oversee negotiation and management of complex hotel, venue, production, agency, and supplier contracts while mitigating risk and maximizing value.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Hospitality, Event Management, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in corporate event management, experiential marketing, hospitality, event operations, or related disciplines.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience managing teams, large-scale programs, budgets, and external partners.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale corporate, executive, customer-facing, virtual, and hybrid events.
• Experience managing agencies, production vendors, AV providers, hotels, venues, labor partners, and event technology suppliers.
• Event strategy, operations, production, hospitality, experiential marketing, and attendee experience design.
• Budget management, forecasting, procurement, contract negotiation, and financial stewardship.
• Event technology platforms, registration systems, virtual event solutions, and attendee engagement tools.
• Vendor management, operational governance, and organizational capability development.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 25–30% annually.

Preferred

• CMP, PMP, or related professional certification preferred.

Benefits

• Columbia offers medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, and an assortment of voluntary benefit offerings (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and legal services).
• Columbia offers EAP + which is free and confidential 24/7/365 counseling services.
• We have extensive wellness benefits, employee discounts and a generous time off program available.
• Our benefit programs contribute to overall employee well-being by aligning those programs with physical, social/emotional, financial, career and community well-being.