Jane Schuldt passes away

Jane Schuldt, founder of World Marketing Group and a fierce advocate of the incentives and meetings industry, died Saturday, May 20, after battling pancreatic cancer. Schuldt, 63, was surrounded by her family at the time of her departure at her home in Minneapolis.

Schuldt had ties with Asia. She expanded Pacific World Hong Kong’s inbound leisure ground operation into the US business group travel market in 1979. Following the sale of Pacific World Hong Kong, then a division of Venture Tours, to Jacques Arnoux in 1980, she founded Pacific World Inc as the North American representative office of Pacific World. When former Pacific World Singapore/Malaysia founder Bob Guy moved to Destination Asia in 2013, Schuldt became Destination Asia’s representative in the North American market.


Jane Schuldt

She also worked relentless to better the industry, serving as the president of SITE, SITE Foundation and other bodies.

Bob Guy, managing director – Singapore & Malaysia of Destination Asia, described her passing as “a very sad day”.

“I had known Jane for more than 30 years and worked for her in many capacities. She was a true industry leader and a remarkable woman,” he said, in an email. “She has many friends in the region and I know they would be saddened to hear the news.”

SITE is also in mourning. In a statement, it paid tribute to Schuldt’s tenacity in championing the incentives and meetings industry.

“During Jane’s presidency in 1991, she focused on globalising SITE by launching chapters and designing local education with a global message. She held the first SITE conference outside of North America in Dublin, Ireland. Her hot button was ethical behaviour in business and she advocated vociferously for SITE’s Code of Ethics. As a past president, she remained one of SITE’s most active volunteer contributors,” said the statement.

Part of Jane’s legacy is the SITE Foundation, where she was instrumental in continuing the work of its founders, it added. In 2013 she served as president of the Foundation Board of Trustees, directly influencing the projects, white papers and other studies funded and produced through the foundation, including the first study on DMCs best practices.

In 2015, Jane was nominated by SITE for the industry’s top honour, the Events Industry Council (formerly the Convention Industry Council) Hall of Leaders. She was also awarded the prestigious IMEX Academy Award – Americas in 2008.

SITE CEO, Kevin Hinton, announced that the SITE Master Motivator Award, given annually at IMEX, would change its name permanently to the Jane E. Schuldt Master Motivator Award.

Sponsored Post