Assistant Vice President, Events

Department:
Events We are Walker & Dunlop. We are one of the largest providers of capital to the commercial real estate industry, enabling real estate owners and operators to bring their visions of communities — where people live, work, shop, and play — to life. We are committed to creating meaningful social, environmental, and economic change in our communities.

Department Overview The W&D Event Department plans and executes events for both W&D employees and external clients. They prioritize creating outstanding client experiences to maximize the value of the event for the attendees and to support the business goals. The department also collaborates with Human Resources to improve community engagement and marketing efforts focused on strengthening client relationships.

The Impact You Will Have The Assistant Vice President (AVP), reporting to the Vice President (VP), is responsible for managing internal, external, and industry conference events aligned with strategic business and brand objectives.

Primary Responsibilities

• Independently manage and own complex meetings and events across the full event life-cycle, including logistical and operational coordination.
• Create and maintain a project plan for company sponsored events, as assigned, leading internal teams with milestone deadlines while assessing best strategy for execution.
• Use event management platforms (Bizzabo), project management software (Asana), and CRM (Salesforce) tools to organize event details, monitor progress, and maintain accurate attendee and client records.
• Oversee event budget to include estimates, forecasting, tracking, auditing, reconciliation and reporting to ensure financial accuracy and informed decision-making.
• Lead vendor sourcing, negotiation, contract management, and coordination across all event-related services to secure partnerships aligned with event goals, budgets, compliance requirements and operational needs.
• Cultivate relationships with clients and cross-functional internal partners through phone, email and personal interaction, going above and beyond to streamline planning workflows, and support seamless execution.
• Develop and execute post-event evaluation strategies, including attendee surveys, feedback analysis, and data reporting, to identify trends, measure event effectiveness, and inform process improvements for future events.
• Lead or own large aspect of company event management such as Summer Conference or All Company Retreat (large aspect example, travel or room block).
• Give weekly briefings of progress and status to VP, Events.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Attendance is generally required from 8:30 am – 5:30 pm local time, Tuesday through Thursday, with the option to work remotely on Mondays and Fridays.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, Hospitality, or related field.
• 7+ years’ work experience, ideally in meeting or event planning.
• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, Salesforce, Bizzabo, Box, and Asana preferred.
• Experience in leading strategic planning and execution of multi-day events that include lodging room blocks, cross-functional stakeholder management and organization of layered logistics.

Knowledge,

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to drive day-to-day project management in a fast-paced environment across concurrent event work streams, ensuring deadlines, details, and deliverables are executed with a high level of accuracy and thoroughness in produced work.
• Apply big picture thinking, with a natural tendency to anticipate implications and needs beyond the immediate task.
• Strong vendor management experience, including sourcing, coordination and oversight of implementation.
• Deliver clear, targeted communication, adapting style to internal stakeholders, clients, and vendors, with a focus on achieving results.
• Provide high-quality customer service to internal stakeholders and external clients, ensuring a positive and professional event experience.
• Evaluate new information and apply sound judgment to support effective problem-solving and decision-making for both current and future events.
• Collect, assess, and analyze information from multiple sources to develop recommendations…