The Two-Horizon Framework
My work is built on what I call the Two-Horizon Framework.
Horizon 1 is resilient now: steadying your membership, revenue, and engagement under today's pressures.
Horizon 2 is relevant by 2030: redesigning how your association welcomes, engages, and keeps the generation that will soon be most of the workforce. Associations that do well work on both at the same time.
A strategy that never gets used is just a document, so this framework is built to turn into work your team actually does.
My Journey
My career began in experiential environments: media and press events at Six Flags Great America, then the marketing launch team for Kellogg's Cereal City USA, coordinating media tours, guest experiences, and promotional campaigns. Those early roles taught me that successful events need more than logistics. They need strategy, and that's the passion that has stuck with me ever since.
At the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (now Choose Chicago), I spent seven years developing strategic services that helped association and corporate events succeed citywide. Our work helped organizations expand attendance, strengthen engagement, and grow results across Chicago's citywide event ecosystem. It was a masterclass in the business events industry, and it's also where I learned what board pressure feels like from the staff side.
Shaping the Digital Evolution of Events
Later, at PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association), I helped lead the industry's early exploration of digital engagement and hybrid events.
I led PCMA's Digital Experience Institute and helped rebuild the Digital Event Strategist (DES) Certification for a market that had moved, establishing one of the industry's first global education programs focused on digital event strategy.
The certification reached professionals in more than 20 countries and helped shape the global conversation around digital and hybrid experiences.
As part of that work, I also authored the organization's first ROI report on digital events, showing how expanded digital reach could generate real results, including more than $1 million USD in new revenue between 2010 and 2016 through audience growth, membership expansion, and new product offerings.
Founding Kingen Kush Solutions
In 2019, I founded Kingen Kush Solutions (KKS), a boutique consultancy that now helps association executive teams get resilient now and ready for the workforce arriving by 2030.
KKS has partnered with organizations such as:
- American Heart Association
- International Stroke Conference
- American Epilepsy Society
- American Health Information Management Association
- National Electrical Contractors Association
- Viticus Group (formerly WVC)
Together, we've helped these organizations expand their audiences, strengthen engagement, and grow. Often that means 80%+ satisfaction scores, NPS ratings up to 96, and revenue gains you can point to.
Who I Work With
I work with association leadership: CEOs, Executive Directors, Chief Membership Officers, and the senior people around them. In smaller associations, that is often the CEO and one event lead wearing every hat between them.
I'm not another AV vendor or events agency. I'm the strategy partner who sits with your leadership to set the direction, then works alongside your event and technology people to make it real.
A pilot only counts if it actually happens, and it happens with the people on the ground. If you sit at the leadership table and the generational question is on it, we should talk.
Two Countries, One Working Day
Kingen Kush Solutions is formally established in both the United States and New Zealand. For US clients, the time zone is a quiet advantage. Send me something at the end of your workday, and it's on my desk at the start of my next morning. I'm in the US several times a year.
Next Generation Knowledge Sharing
For many years, I've also served as a guest lecturer for the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ranked #1 in the world for hospitality and tourism, sharing insights on digital and hybrid strategy through its "Professor for a Day" initiative.
Teaching and mentoring the next generation of event and association leaders has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career.
Why This Work Matters
Behind every project is a strong network of professionals, from senior technology experts to customer experience specialists, working together to support organizations and deliver measurable results.
But the organizations we serve are the real heroes. They're advancing research, saving lives, sharing knowledge, and connecting communities around the world. I often say we don't do anything extraordinary. We support extraordinary organizations, and it's an honor to stand beside them and help extend their reach.
Great engagement doesn't happen by chance.
It's built on strategy.
Even with limited resources, rising expectations, and constant change, associations still need engagement that connects communities and delivers results that matter.
Who is not in the room at your events that should be? I help leadership teams answer that question, simplify their strategy, and build momentum toward Horizon 2.
If that question lands, start with the free Generational Readiness Scorecard. It takes about eight minutes and shows you where your association stands. Or reach out for a short call. If the generational question isn't really your problem, I'll say so.
Let's Connect >