Kirsten Olean, CAE, is Director of Meetings at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a position she assumed in August 2019. As director, Kirsten provides strategic leadership for the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference and other meetings of the Foundation. She provides oversight and direction to a team that includes program management, logistics, exhibits, registration, and housing. She previously served as Director of Meetings at the American Society for Microbiology and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Known as a visionary business event strategist and a change maker, Kirsten is the 2016 recipient of PCMA’s Meeting Professional of the Year Award. At ASM, she was responsible for merging the society’s two large annual meetings into one meeting, ASM Microbe, a journey documented by PCMA’s Convene magazine in a year-long series of articles.

Kirsten began serving on the PCMA Board of Directors in January 2015 and is currently the Chair-Elect.