Congratulations to the 2025 Cvent Excellence Awardswinners! We’re excited to celebrate the achievements of these remarkable industry professionals.
The 13th annual customer awards program was held during Cvent CONNECTin San Antonio, bringing together leaders from across events, hospitality, and marketing. Hundreds of nominations were submitted across multiple award categories, with finalists and winners evaluated on a comprehensive set of criteria, including their innovative use of technology to enhance collaboration, program efficiency, and overall organizational success.
Celebrating the best of the industry Cvent Excellence Awards
With over 400 guests joining the celebration, the hybrid banquet showcased the best and brightest across the industry. Leaning into the evening’s “shine bright” theme, attendees donned their most dazzling outfits and enjoyed festive activities like a red carpet rollout, champagne, and incredible entertainment by LED dancers.
The evening was hosted by Cvent leaders Brian Ludwig, Executive Vice President of Sales, Stacey Fontenot, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Cloud Solutions, and Kevin Carr, Vice President of Sales, Hospitality Cloud. They presented 17 categories throughout the night which highlighted innovators who are using event tech to power events and group business. Categories like the new Trade Show Trailblazer and returning Marketing Mastermind also highlighted how marketing experts are using Cvent to fuel event-led growth.
Honoring premier event, marketing, and hospitality leaders
The Excellence Awards recognize true groundbreakers who are pushing the boundaries of meetings and events forward. “These awards are a powerful reminder of what’s possible when passionate professionals and cutting-edge technology come together,” said Andreas Heckmann, Chief Customer Officer at Cvent. “This year’s winners and finalists are not just embracing innovation — they’re redefining what success looks like in meetings, events, and hospitality. We’re honored to be their partner in driving unforgettable experiences and measurable impact.”
Please join us in congratulating the 2025 Cvent Excellence Awards winners, and don’t miss your chance to join as finalist next year by submitting to the 2026 Excellence Awards when they open later this year.
Event Professional & Marketer Winners
Ace of Spaces | Efficiently Sourcing Venues and Managing Space to Create Exceptional Events
Aon
Aon's successful global consolidation standardized and automated sourcing and room block management with a unified data view, leading to an impressive $3 million in cost savings through the use of the Cvent Supplier Network and Passkey.
Marketing Mastermind | Best Event-Led Growth Strategy
Inovalon
Inovalon surpassed their goals for the Empower 2024 conference by utilizing iCapture along with API integrations to boost leads by nearly 850%, resulting in a 580% increase in revneue over the previous year.
Trade Show Trailblazer | Excellence in Opportunity Conversion
NCR Voyix
NCR Voyix streamlined their tech stack by replacing five legacy tools with solutions like Jifflenow and iCapture, facilitating hundreds of meetings and capturing high-quality leads that led to signficant closed-won business.
Pivotal Partner | Cvent Partner of the Year
EMC Meetings & Events
EMC Meetings and Events oversees hundreds of thousands of registrations annually, achieving a 10% increase in events managed and a 21% rise in unique clients thanks to their longstanding partnership with Cvent.
Rookie of the Year | Outstanding Rookie
University of Florida Conference Department
The University of Florida Conference Department swiftly transitioned from outdated systems to Cvent in less than a month, surpassing expectations by achieving a 20% time savings, reducing administrative costs by 15%, and generating a 30% higher ROI.
Impact Icon | Best Use of Cvent to Creating Meaningful Impact
USAA
USAA coordinated thousands of employees across 800 teams from seven offices for their annual Bowl-a-Thon, showcasing teamwork and camaraderie through streamlined efficiencies while raising an impressive $611,000 in charitable donations.
Power of the Platform – Single Event | Best Use of the Cvent Platform for a Single Event
Parents as Teachers National Center
The small team at Parents as Teachers National Center scaled their annual conference to engage 2,500 attendees, creating remarkable efficiencies with Cvent solutions and generating impressive revenue, making it their most successful conference to date.
Power of the Platform – Total Event Program | Best Use of the Cvent Platform Across a Total Event Program
Dell Technologies
Dell globally centralized and scaled their events program using Cvent solutions and professional services, standardizing processes and creating efficiencies for over 5,000 events and 1.6 million registrants – including 414,000 registrants last year alone.
Cvent Superstar | Cvent Advocate of the Year
Meghan Haag, HMH
Meghan is passionate about using Cvent to achieve incredible event outcomes and improve efficiencies. She says Cvent is a cornerstone for creating value for attendees and stakeholders, significantly impacting both her career and ROI for the HMH events program.
Hospitality Professional Winners
Portfolio Powerhouse | Exceptional Portfolio Management
HEI Hotels
HEI Hotels and Resorts delivered scalable growth across its portfolio through strategic adoption plans, data-driven decision making, and enhanced prospecting strategies, achieving a 10% increase in RFPs sourced and a 15% increase in bid rate.
The Block Buster | Excellence and Ingenuity with Room-Block Bookings
White Lodging
White Lodging’s system-wide integration of Cvent solutions standardized processes and event-related workflows, delivering a 49% increase in total gains and a 56% increase in ROI over 2 years.
The Business Intelligencer | Outstanding Achievement in Hospitality Analytics
Kimpton Hotel Eventi
Kimpton Hotel Eventi harnessed the power of Cvent One, leveraging business intelligence, diagramming, and prospecting solutions to place first in their comp set for response rate, bid rate, response time, awarded RFPs, AND earning a Cvent Top Responder badge.
The Group Game Changer | Best Group Sales and Marketing Strategy
The Wigwam
The Wigwam transformed its renovation into revenue, using Cvent Advertising solutions to target luxury markets and planners, increasing new planners sourcing by 63% and awarded RFP value by 72%.
The Clever Collaborator | Seamless Collaboration with Event Diagramming
Hilton Anatole
With a 55% increase in diagrams created and over 70% of events using collaborative diagrams, Hilton Anatole eliminated manual floor plan creation and improved collaboration with planners.
The Hometown Hero | Destination Marketing Excellence
Houston First Corporation
To build momentum while its flagship convention center was under renovation, Houston First Corporation invested in strategic marketing, using Planner Navigator to engage untapped planners and business intelligence to uncover booking patterns and optimize outreach. The result was a 100% increase in room nights awarded and a 102% increase in awarded RFP value.
The Cvent Superstar | Hospitality Cloud Advocate of the Year
Dan McCarron, Marriott International
A visionary leader driving innovation across thousands of Marriott International properties worldwide, Dan is transforming group business. With Cvent solutions, he’s established scalable improvements that drive efficiency and boost revenue growth. A Cvent Advisory Board member and advocate, Dan is committed to proving the power of Cvent.
Joint Award Winners
Hotel & Planner Collaboration Award | Delivering Unparalleled Event Experiences
Global SOF with JW Marriott and Marriott Tampa Water Street
Global SOF partnered with JW Marriott and Marriott Tampa Water Street to organize a city-wide Global SOF Week for 22,000 members of the international special operations community. They achieved significant cost savings with Passkey, successfully reducing planning and coordination times by up to 40%.
Ready for your chance to shiine in the spotlight?
Visit our website for more details about the 2026 Cvent Excellence Awards. Stay for a chance to keep the celebration going during our Cvent Excellence Awards Europe later this year!
If you have any questions, please email us at excellenceawards@cvent.com.
