Board of Directors

Inspired by her passion for bringing people together, Nicole Claiter began her events career nearly 15 years ago managing large group and wedding bookings at an award-winning Spa on Vancouver Island. Since moving to Calgary, she has held roles in a large corporate downtown hotel as an Events and Wedding Specialist and currently serves as Manager, Events & Sponsorship at the Calgary Chamber.

Nicole holds significant experience in venue management and sales, sponsorship, and leading teams to plan and execute events for between 10 and 1,500 people. From intimate networking events to luncheons with high-profile business and political leaders, there is not an event that doesn’t excite her!

When she is not planning events, Nicole is an avid spinner at YYC Cycle, coffee enthusiast, foodie, and mental health advocate.

Megan Sawchuk, PhD, CSEP is the owner of Megan Sawchuk Weddings based in Calgary, Alberta. After finishing her PhD, Megan made the decision to hang up her lab coat and look for a new career. 

Luckily, she discovered the event industry while organizing competitions with DanceSport Alberta and fell in love with creating events to bring people together. 

Megan currently sits on the ILEA Calgary Board of Directors and loves to spend time outside hiking with her partner, Scott, and her dog, Leon.

Emma Bake, CMP, is a dedicated event professional with over 15 years of experience delivering exceptional corporate events to audiences across the globe. She currently serves as the Strategic Events Manager for United Way of Calgary and Area and has held previous event management roles with the Alberta Mortgage Brokers Association, Calgary Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the TED Conferences. A born and raised Calgarian, Emma loves spending time outdoors with her husband and dog, travelling to new countries (she’s visited nearly 40 so far), pop-culture gossip, and a nice glass of red wine.

While completing her Event Management Certificate at Mount Royal College, Nancie Huneault began her career in events over 15 years ago. Planning events is her creative outlet and she thrives on making people feel “special” and going the extra mile to make that happen.  Nancie grew her skill set working with DEW Production, The Muse Group, Table Talk and EMC2. Currently she works for the City of Chestermere as the Lead Event Planner managing and overseeing internal and external events.

Working for the City of Chestermere gave Nancie the opportunity to obtain her ICS 300 which came in handy during the height of the pandemic where she was deployed into the ECC for four months as one of two Logistic Chiefs for the City, when a State of Local Emergency was declared.  The experience aligned with her interest in safety  procedures and protocols within the event industry and found the work stimulating. Nancie continues to explore other areas of interest within the industry, recently completing her Event Technical Production, Virtual Event Production and Pandemic Safety Protocol Training.

As a member of  ILEA for several years Nancie looks forward to taking a more active role as a Board of Director for the ILEA Calgary Chapter, in finding new ways to support the industry’s recovery post  pandemic.

When Nancie isn’t planning events, she is kept busy with husband and family, is an avid reader, enjoys swimming, riding, and has discovered an old love, home decorating, since the pandemic.

Roxana Ile started in the events industry 3 years ago, first joining the team of Chair Flair Event Décor & Linen Rentals. She has recently joined Calgary Stampede as an Event Coordinator. 

With a degree in Hospitality Industry, and French and English Language and Literature, Roxana obtained her Event Management Certificate from Mount Royal University and is looking forward to growing her event career personally and professionally. 

Roxana’s passion for events started as a student helping out with a summer school, while doing an internship for the Event & Marketing department of a 5-star hotel. She was an active part of a club that organized business events for students. 

Born and raised in Transylvania, Roxana moved to Calgary 6 years ago after spending a couple of months in Turkey as an ESL teacher for a private school. In her free time, she likes to explore Calgary surroundings, read books and taste various cuisines.

Brooke Berry is an ambitious, experienced hospitality professional and event coordinator offering over 12 years of industry experience. Driven by her passion for the industry, she takes pride in providing the best service possible by overseeing all phases of professional and social events of all sizes. As an event coordinator at The Glencoe Club, her goals include creating memorable, unique events for clients and striving to evolve with industry trends while utilizing experiential strategies translating into clear roadmaps to lead successful implementation as per project visions. Consistently championing new customer experiences, creative event concepts, and themes to spur growth and innovation.

Maja Krol spent the last 8 years in various sectors of the event industry. From her time in venue management, Maja brings a solid foundation of creative logistics, vendor liaison, and problem solving. Her experience in the non-profit sector space lends to her unique perspective on maximizing both budgets and donor engagement. In her current role as Project Manager at OneWest Event Design and Logistics, Maja is embracing the chance to flex every skill in her well-rounded repertoire, and layer it with her hands-on brand of creativity and fondness for the special details that take an event from good to great.

As we collectively lean into the phase of our industry coming together and the start of a new chapter year, Maja is unequivocally optimistic about the future of the events industry. Combining the lessons learned through elevating virtual events with the elements of in-person experiences that are more powerful now than ever before, she sees nothing but potential and opportunity to take this industry to new heights.

Chelsea Wither began her journey in the event industry in 2018, starting as a Wedding Coordinator with Mountain Bride, while taking the Event Management course with Mount Royal University. After completing the course, her entry into the professional event world was hindered by an unfortunate global pandemic. Starting with Calgary Corporate Challenge in 2020 as Event Coordinator she gained valuable experience planning and hosting virtual events in unprecedented times. Chelsea currently works as the Event Coordinator at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and still dabbles in the wedding world on weekends.

Chelsea joined ILEA as a student and is excited to join the Calgary Chapter as Director at large in 2022.

When she’s not working, you can try to keep up to her biking or skiing, or you can find her at one of the many breweries in town, searching through local summer markets and exploring the city!