Wendy Porter Bio
Wendy Porter is the Founder | Chief Event Strategist at Wendy Porter Events LLC, an experiential events management agency based in Minneapolis, MN. Founded in 2015, WPE was certified as a Small Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (S/WBE) in 2017.
Wendy is a highly creative, consultative, success-driven marketing and event management professional with a track record of organizing and managing high-profile national events and marketing campaigns from proposal through execution, both in the U.S. and internationally. She is a strong team leader and mentor with a passion for excellence, and a unique ability to integrate strategic, creative, operational and financial resources to achieve desired results. With more than 30 years of experience in corporate America, serving in marketing and event leadership roles for large corporations, Wendy was formerly employed as the Director of Marketing and Events for UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement for over a decade, which was Fortune 12 when she left the organization.
Wendy excels in all types of live and virtual events: Corporate Events, Trade Shows, VIP Hospitality Events, National Sales Meetings, Leadership Conferences, Corporate Social Responsibility Volunteer Initiatives, Sporting Events, Award Ceremonies, Employee Celebrations, and Fundraisers/Galas.
Through years of managing high-level events, Wendy has fostered event partnerships with major national brands, including: The MN Super Bowl LII Host Committee, UnitedHealthcare, Elevance Health (formerly Anthem), Allina Health, NAMI, VigiLanz, Panda Health, Protolabs, Beekman 1802, The Riveter, The Minneapolis Foundation, TripleTree Financial, Change Healthcare, AARP, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, CBS Sports & News, Boston Celtics, PGA, Walgreens, Chase Bank, iHeart Radio, Turner News, LPL Financial, the Grammy Foundation, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), Second Harvest Heartland, Hands-On America, and KaBOOM!, among others.
Wendy has received accolades for her event management, including:
• 2024 Smart Women in Meetings: Visionary Award• 2023 BizBash Award: “Conferences that Captivate”• 2022 BizBash Nominee: 15 Over 50• 2021 EMPI (Excellence in MPI) Double Award Nominee: Planner Member of the Year & Meeting/Event of the Year• 2020: 15 Over 50 Award by Connect Corporate• 2019 Meetings Trendsetter list by Meetings Today• 2019 Hall of Fame: Best Special Events Planner by Minnesota Meetings & Events magazine• 2018 40 Over 40 Award by SPIN. LEARN MORE
While at UnitedHealthcare, Wendy was the recipient of a UnitedHealthcare Innovation Award for improving employee engagement through a variety of organizational and leadership effectiveness initiatives involving leadership events, and was an annual Markey Award Nominee for her event contributions to the organization.
Wendy is a current or former member of three event Associations: LEC (Live Events Coalition), MPI (Meeting Professionals International) and SPIN (Senior Planners Industry Network) and in 2017-2019 served on the SPIN Global Advisory Board. She received her certification as a Pandemic Compliance Advisor in February 2021 by Health Education Services, a certification in Meeting Design and Technology by the Meeting Design Institute at the 2019 IMEX America Conference and her Festival Certification thru MPI at the SXSW Music Festival in 2016.
Her recent work as Vice-Chair of the Government Affairs team at the Live Events Coalition yielded a Congressional Bill that passed the House in April 2022. Her work supporting relief for the forgotten Live Events Industry during the COVID-19 pandemic has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, on the Shepard Smith Show on CNBC, as well as in various media across the state of Minnesota. She serves on the National Board of Directors of the Live Events Coalition in Washington DC, is the Chair/Founder of the Minnesota Chapter of the LEC, and was the co-chair of 5050 Women On Boards, Minnesota Campaign, from 2019-2021, where she raised over 120K for the organization during her tenure.
Wendy graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN with BA degrees in both Mathematics and German. She holds a certificate to study for masters’ level credit at any German university. When she’s not traveling the world for business or pleasure with her family, you’ll find her speaking (in German!) to the plants in her award-winning garden or loving on her Australian Shepherd puppy.
