An LGBT-owned company was selected as the housing provider for next year’s Democratic National Committee Convention, to be held in Philadelphia.
The DNC late last month announced that EventSphere (EVS), an LGBT-owned business, will work cooperatively with Akintayo Management Group (AMG) as the convention’s housing provider. The companies will secure and oversee hotel-room blocks for convention participants.
Thousands of political delegates and reporters are expected to flock to Philadelphia in July 2016 for the convention. Philadelphia boasts nearly 17,000 hotel rooms across nearly 70 properties.
Tiffany Newmius, director of diversity and community engagement with PHL DNC 2016, said a national RFP was put out for the 2016 housing provider. AMG and EVS, both based in Atlanta, jointly oversaw housing for the 2008 and 2012 DNC conventions, as well as for the 2013 presidential inauguration.
“They essentially manage all of the housing blocks and reservations and all the moving parts to the housing for the DNC,” Newmius said.
Newmius said the companies’ work starts immediately.
“They have to gear up and prepare for the influx,” she said. “Once the delegates are selected, they arrange for their housing, so there’s a lot of legwork they have to start now to prepare for that.”
AMG is African-American-owned and EVS is LGBT-owned; it’s helmed by Todd Lambert, who has worked at Marriott, Intercontinental, Wyndham and Starwood hotel groups.
“It’s important to everyone working on the DNC convention to have diversity at the forefront,” Newmius said. “Everyone is looking at each step of this along the lines of diversity.”