The Island Meetings & Incentives Inc. Partners

Experienced, enthusiastic and -- at your service!

IMI PRESIDENT JUDI NAGELBERG came to St. Thomas in 1966 on a 10-day vacation from her office job in New York. She telegraphed the news to her boss: "Not returning. Letter to follow." ["And I did follow with the letter," she says with a chuckle.]  She got a temporary job with the Virgin Islands government's new Division of Tourism and was soon running the office.

Eventually  becoming manager of the St. Thomas and St. John Visitor Bureaus, she stayed with the division until 1980. After stints with a travel agency and a resort hotel, she developed the destination management division of a local travel enterprise and was director of sales and marketing for 12 years. Now, with the commitment of key associates, she operates her own company -- Island Meetings & Incentives, Inc.

Judi is active in the Society of Incentive Travel Executives and is a member of SITE International, and Meeting Planners International. What she loves about her work: "selling, creating new and interesting events and activities, meeting people, the gratification of a satisfied customer, the appeal of the Virgin Islands as an incentive destination, our vendors -- who are wonderful to work with, our variety of venues, our boating community, the accessibility of other islands. . . We are much more cosmopolitan than the other Caribbean islands. Our restaurants are on a par with any major city. People are amazed when they come here and see what we have."

IMI VICE PRESIDENT TOM CORNWELL   After a successful 18 year career with IBM in sales and marketing, where, by the way he was an attendee of many fine incentive events, Tom decided to head to the islands. In 1992, Tom joined the then Stouffer Grand Beach Resort on St. Thomas as a group sales manager. He became the Director of Sales, and then the Director of Sales and Marketing, at the Grand Beach. 

In 1998, Tom was asked to become the Director of Sales at the Four Seasons Resort Maui. He traded his love for the water and sailing to become an “Up-Country” cowboy in Maui. He maintained all of his close ties in the incentive market and helped lead the sales effort at one of the top resorts in Hawaii. While in Maui, his screen saver of the Virgin Islands was a constant reminder of the islands he missed. In October of 2002, Tom chose to come back to St. Thomas and became the Director of Catering and Conference Services at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas. 

This decision to come back to St. Thomas included a decision to get closer to the operations of the hotel; hence, taking on the conference services. Tom has a very high respect for all those involved in the detail planning and executing of meetings and incentive programs. Tom entered the hospitality business 12 years ago knowing what an attendee of well-organized meetings and incentives expects and enjoys. He combined this with his knowledge and love of the islands, and has shared in the responsibility of selling and delivering hundreds of very successful corporate meetings and incentives.

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