Kim Corcoran’s idyllic memories of Michigan in the summer eventually drew her into the state’s meetings and events industry.
Corcoran, CMP and general manager of planning company Destination Michigan, is a Pinckney native who grew up spending the warm-weather months traveling the state with her family. After graduating from Bowling Green State University with undergraduate degrees in marketing and international business and a graduate degree in sports administration, she spent several years working in Utah and Pennsylvania. Then, in the late ‘90s, married and looking to be closer to family, fond memories of her family’s cottage on Lake Leelanau motivated her to set her sights on a position with Grand Traverse Resort and Spa.
In 1998, Corcoran joined the resort as a national sales manager. (She later became the resort’s director of sales for the Detroit region.) She also joined Meeting Professionals International.
“When I came to Michigan to work for Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, it was my first entry into the hospitality industry,” Corcoran says. “Since I didn’t have a degree in hospitality management, I wanted to learn as much as possible about the meetings and events industry. My manager and my co-workers encouraged me to join MPI because it provides meetings focused education, as well as the opportunity to network with other meeting professionals.”
Corcoran served on the Michigan Chapter of MPI’s board of directors for two years before becoming chapter president in 2003. Soon after, board member Chris Burak, of VIKTOR Incentives & Meetings, asked Corcoran to start the Meetings Division (now Destination Michigan). Corcoran took on the challenge in 2004 and has been there since.
With Destination Michigan, Corcoran is a jane-of-all-trades. “I’m chief cook and bottle washer,” she says. “I oversee the sales, marketing and operations of the organization. I take on account management for some of our key clients, as well as oversee special marketing projects such as the Michigan Meetings Expo, the Destination Michigan Showcase and the Taste of Michigan.”
In 2007, Corcoran and Destination Michigan approached the state of Michigan and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MED C) with the idea of cooperatively marketing Michigan as a whole in order to bring more meetings to the state. The resulting partnership, Meetings Michigan, works closely with CVBs, hotels, resorts and service providers to increase meetings industry revenue in Michigan. “We partner not only with the MED C, but with 25 destinations that are passionate about bringing more meetings to Michigan,” she says.
