karen dee gravlin, director of industry partner sales in january 2008, karen joined the h+g team as director of industry partner sales in the chicago office. she heads up a new company-wide initiative that focuses on selling the services of of our "partners+ collection" which includes destination management, catering, off-site dining, production, air travel, car rental and cruises. prior to h+g, karen worked as a program manager and an account planner at landmark incentive marketing. her first job out of college was as a project manager for maritz travel company in michigan working on the ford motor company account. she did that for two years before moving to chicago to be with her [now] husband in 2005. while in school karen worked as a special projects coordinator for the ohio university office of public occasions. she spent the summer of her junior year working at exclamation points! a dmc based in jacksonville, florida. after graduating from ohio university with a degree in organizational communication and business, karen relocated to michigan to begin her career. karen is very involved in the chicago area chapter of meeting professionals international. in 2007 she founded the student affairs committee, and her efforts resulted in the receipt of the mpi-cac tomorrow's leader award. karen continues to chair the student affairs committee and is working on implementing similar projects on a national level. karen and adam were married in july 2007 at copper mountain ski resort in colorado. they live in chicago's bucktown neighborhood with their pug dog, jax (named for the summer spent in jacksonville). karen is an avid skier and fan of the denver broncos and detroit pistons.