Michel Couturier - CDME, President

As an expert in the leisure, corporate and association travel markets, Founder and President, Michel is proud to lead the MCIntl Team.

He is an active member of ASAE, DMAI, ICCA, MPI, SITE and CTO. Michel sits on the Reed Travel Exhibitions' Global Advisory Board and has served as Chair of MPI's Marketing and Brand Strategies Task Force.

Prior to launching Marketing Challenges International, Michel held management positions at the French-American Chamber of Commerce, Sofitel Hotels North America, and at the French Government Tourist Office in New York.

Passionate about sharing knowledge about the industry, Michel keeps a busy speaking engagement schedule. He facilitated a joint ICCA-PCMA-EIBTM Seminar on "Current State of the US Outbound Meetings Market" at EIBTM in Barcelona and a workshop on US outbound meeting markets during the annual ICCA Congress in Victoria, Canada. During his career, Michel has conducted seminars in Sydney, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Geneva, London, Johannesburg and New York on the international North America travel market segments.

In addition to his work with MCIntl, Michel Couturier has joined Horwath HTL as the Managing Director, opening the New York office, where he oversees the consultancy on destination marketing and management for North American and international destinations. Horwath HTL is the world's largest hospitality advisory firm with 50 offices in over 39 countries.

Michel holds a M.B.A. in International Business and a B.S. in Business from New York University. In 2009, he achieved a professional accreditation from DMAI as a Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME). The CDME program is recognized by the destination marketing industry as its highest educational achievement.

Passionate about international affairs and political science, Michel spends his spare time traveling and reading, propelling an ongoing pursuit of critically examining how current events shape the travel industry.

He is also working on a personal photography project in an effort to capture and document the intricacies of NYC.