Wendy Porter Bio

Wendy Porter is the Founder and Chief Event Strategist at Wendy Porter Events LLC, an experiential event agency based in Minneapolis, MN. Since launching in 2015 (certified as a Small Woman-Owned Business Enterprise in 2017), Wendy and her team have produced high-impact events for clients across the country and internationally — earning praise for strategic leadership, flawless execution, and a true behind-the-scenes partnership model.

Over the course of her career, Wendy has delivered more than 1,300 events, managed over $200 million in budgets, and created memorable experiences for more than 1 million attendees. With 36 years of corporate experience — including 23+ years leading event strategy — she brings a unique combination of business acumen, creative energy, and operational excellence. She works both as a full-service agency partner and a Fractional Head of Events, helping companies level up their event performance without the overhead of a full-time senior hire.

Before founding WPE, Wendy spent 13 years as Head of Events for UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement, a Fortune 12 business at the time, where she led national conferences, leadership summits, sponsorship activations, and tradeshows. Her work earned her the UnitedHealthcare Innovation Award in 2011 and multiple annual nominations for the company’s “Markey” Award in Marketing.

Her expertise spans corporate, healthcare, health tech, financial services, and nonprofit sectors — producing:

Corporate Conferences & Sales Meetings
Strategic Sponsorship Activations
Tradeshows & Expo Booths
Experiential Brand Engagements
Leadership Retreats & Board Meetings
Employee Events & Culture Celebrations
VIP Client Dinners & Hospitality Programs
Fundraisers, Galas & CSR Initiatives

Wendy has partnered with leading organizations including the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee, UnitedHealthcare, Elevance Health, AARP, NAMI, VigiLanz (now Inovalon), Panda Health, the New England Patriots, and TripleTree Financial.

She’s been honored with dozens of industry awards, including:

2025 InEvents – 50 Influential Female Voices in the Events Industry
2024 EventEx – 100 Most Influential People in the Events Industry in the U.S.
2024 Club Ichi – THE LIST
2024 Gather Voices – 50 Top Voices in Events to Pay Attention To
2024 Smart Women in Meetings – Visionary Award
2023 BizBash – “Conferences That Captivate” Award
2022 BizBash – 15 Over 50 Nominee
2021 EMPI (Excellence in MPI) – Double Nominee: Planner Member of the Year & Meeting/Event of the Year
2020 Connect Corporate – 15 Over 50 Award
2019 Meetings Today – Meetings Trendsetter
2019 Minnesota Meetings & Events Magazine – Hall of Fame: Best Special Events Planner
2018 SPIN – 40 Over 40 Award

Wendy is also a nationally recognized advocate for the events industry. As Vice Chair of Government Affairs and a National Board Member for the Live Events Coalition, she helped lead efforts to lobby more than 200 members of Congress during COVID — resulting in the House passage of H.R. 3807 — the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022. Her advocacy work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Shepard Smith Show on CNBC, NPR, and across Minnesota media. She continues this work today, fighting against harmful policy changes and working to create a more stable, sustainable future for event professionals.

Wendy holds certifications in meeting design, event tech, and festival planning, and is a Certified Pandemic Compliance Advisor. She served on the Global Advisory Board for SPIN and co-chaired the Minnesota Campaign for 50/50 Women on Boards from 2019–2021, raising over $120,000.

She graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College with degrees in Mathematics and German and studied abroad at the University of Konstanz. When she’s not producing events or advocating for the industry, she’s in her award-winning urban garden, planning her next European adventure, or doting on her third Australian Shepherd in 30 years.