Katherine McCartney

WORK HISTORY

ABOUT KATHERINE MCCARTNEY

Always driven with an entrepreneurial spirit Katherine McCartney has been creating and producing thoughtful + memorable business events. Born in Vancouver + trained in the hospitality industry where she developed marketing prowess at a tourism marketing board where she developed strategic tactics to showcase BC as a 4 season destination before her success allowed her to found her own event production agency. As an Co-Founder and Executive Producer under her own company PDW Inc she produced TED Conferences (Technology, Entertainment and Design) known for producing TEDTalks from 2002 to 2018. Among her many accomplishments with TED, she ideated + recommended TED build its own theatre in Vancouver when it was time to move the conference from Long Beach, Ca to a new home. She then led the effort working with The David Rockwell group to build a pop-up theatre within the Vancouver’s Convention Centers ballroom which is TED’s main conference stage for TEDTalks. She also led efforts to create global experiences for TED in England, Scotland, Brazil, India + Africa as TED scaled its theatrical experiences worldwide. Although co-owner of her own independent business PDW Inc, she joined TED’s leadership team in 2003 + headed up the operations + technical teams on the production of live talks that let the speaker + audience share a communal learning experience. PDW Inc established itself by creating new conferences and events as an integrated experiential agency with a small group of specialized clients. Recognized as an industry thought leader and creator in business events as a featured speaker, she has shared ideas and promoted sustainability in Europe and the Americas. The recipient of several awards including the Global Vision Award in 2014, Harold J Merilees Award 2013, Power 50 in Vancouver 2014, 2015 and BC Business Women of Influence in 2016. In 2017 she was recognized with the Chairman’s Award by PCMA + made an honorary citizen of Long Beach for the contribution to the city during TED’s five years in the city. McCartney sold her business to Chris Anderson and TED in 2018. She is currently consulting, taking on a select number of projects working with organizational leaders where she can leverage her expertise to build an ecosystem around an event experience that includes story, budget creation, production + how to use data to maximize the community experience. Sustainability, environment,+ ocean conservation remain her core passions and opportunities that allow her to contribute + influence in that space occupy her time.