Chantal Sturk-Nadeau
Executive Director, Business Events
Destination Canada

sturk-nadeau.chantal@destinationcanada.com

Chantal Sturk-Nadeau arrived at Destination Canada in January 2017 with an intrepid spirit and an open mind. For nearly 18 years before joining DC, Chantal fostered deep relationships across Canada, and around the world, in her role as Senior Vice-President of Tourism Winnipeg – a division of Economic Development Winnipeg. 

As a leader, Chantal has a proven track record for consistency, authenticity, and unabashed Canadian pride. As Executive Director of Business Events at Destination Canada, Chantal leads the business events strategy to leverage Canada’s leading economic sector strengths and legendary incentive experiences to attract global business events to Canada. Chantal and her team inspire, provide insights, introductions and facilitate connections between organizations considering Canada and our business events partners. 

Some defining moments in Chantal’s career include; leading Destination Canada’s new approach to business events with an economic sector strategy that focuses on attract meetings to Canada that will have an impact beyond tourism, guiding the Canadian business events industry through the global COVID-19 pandemic, the co-creation of a Master Tourism Plan for the City of Winnipeg, an integrated tourism development model that has since been adopted globally as a best practice in destination management. Chantal completed the Certified Destination Management Executive designation from Purdue University and holds an Advanced Diploma in International Business and a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
 
Chantal’s glowing hearts moment includes attending a conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland and taking part in a sunset reception. "We sailed through The Narrows, watching the city’s colorful houses blend with the horizon. As our hosts entertained us with stories and songs, a pod of humpback whales unexpectedly emerged from the depths of the Atlantic to swim alongside our boat — watching us as closely as we were watching them. It felt as though they were answering the call of the music; coming from the Prairies, I was completely captivated."

Jennifer Attersall, CIS
Director, Incentive Travel
Destination Canada

attersall.jennifer@destinationcanada.com

Jennifer Attersall joined Destination Canada (DC) in January 2020 as the Director of Incentive Travel. Jennifer joined the Business Events Team with credibility and a proven track record of building relationships and driving revenue. Recently, Jennifer led the developed and implementation of a global incentive strategy, and assisted in integrating the incentive segment under the Successful Economic Sector Strategy.

Prior to joining DC, Jennifer held a number of high performing roles in Calgary including her work with Meetings & Conventions Calgary and as the International Business Development Manager at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre (CTCC). A career-defining moment for Jennifer was travelling to St. Petersburg, Russia, with the World Petroleum Canadian bid committee for the 2023 World Petroleum Congress in Calgary. Months and months of lobbying internationally, working daily with the bid committee, industry partners and securing Calgary’s Mayor to co-present in St. Petersburg to ensure Calgary’s bid was ready for the WPC international council came to fruition when Jennifer and the Calgary team won the bid by a narrow margin over Baku, Azerbaijan. At that moment, the win solidified the success and importance of the Calgary Champion Program that Jennifer had conceptualized and nurtured over the years.

One of Jennifer’s glowing hearts moments was travelling to Yellowknife with the DC Business Events team and witnessing the spectacular aurora borealis. The way the stars danced across the sky and changed colours sparked emotions of genuine love for this country and how lucky we are to have such beauty in our backyards.

zanetti.mark@destinationcanada.com

 An accomplished tourism sales and marketing professional, Mark’s career spans the industry from DMC to DMO.  His extensive knowledge in destination marketing has helped increase market share across domestic and international markets for multiple Canadian destinations. 

 An active member of SITE and MPI, he is an author of published industry articles and is well versed in the global MICE market.  Currently a member of Meetings Professionals International (MPI) Canadian Advisory Council, Mark is an industry advocate and volunteers his time to present at neighboring universities on the value of DMO’s, NTO’s, and the Business Events industry.

 Throughout his career, Mark has earned the recognition of being a trusted professional amongst a growing network of loyal clients, partners, and expert mentors.