2021 GMID

Upon graduation from the University of Denver in 2004, Michael Claire Tedford, CMP began her career in the convention and trade show industry while working for a general services contractor in Denver.

After this experience, Michael joined the Colorado Convention Center as a Sales Manager, working with the mid‐Atlantic association market. In 2009, she transferred to the Event Management department, where she spent several years as an Event Manager, before being promoted to Senior Event Manager. During this time, Michael earned the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation.

In 2013, Michael was recruited to join the Meetings Department at American Society for Microbiology in Washington, DC, as the meetings logistics lead. Michael coordinated the details for city‐wide meetings ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 attendees.

Following this, Michael relocated to San Diego to work on the operations team at a destination management company. This allowed her to work at numerous venues across Southern California, while managing corporate events.
Michael rejoined the team at the Colorado Convention Center in 2018 as the Director of Event Management. In 2019, SMG, the company that manages the Colorado Convention Center merged with AEG Facilities to create ASM Global, the largest venue management company in the world with over 300 arenas, convention centers, and other venues across five continents.

During her career, Michael has been involved with the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), both at the local and national level. In 2013, Michael was featured in Colorado Meetings + Events Magazine’s Hall of Fame as the Up‐and‐Coming Special Event Planner.

Ali is a proud native who grew up in Denver while attending East High School and continued her education at the University of Colorado where she graduated with a degree in Marketing and her MBA in Management. After completing many successful events in Corporate America, Ali decided to pursue her passion and create an Event Planning company that would support all types of events in the Colorado market.
When she’s not in “event mode”, you’ll find Ali having her hands full with her new puppy Millie. She loves nothing more than a great catch-up with close friends and enjoys exploring the beautiful outdoors that Colorado has to offer. She prides herself on finding stylish yet comfortable shoes that she can wear from dawn to dusk when she’s working your next event!