Company Overview
Pantheon Data (a Kenific Holding company) is a private, small business based in the Washington, DC, area. Pantheon Data was founded in 2011, initially providing acquisition and supply chain management services to the US Coast Guard. Our service offerings have grown in the past ten years, including infrastructure resiliency, contact center operations, information technology, software engineering, program management, strategic communications, engineering, and cybersecurity. We have also grown our customer base to include commercial clients. The company has used this experience to expand our service offerings to other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Defense (DoD), and other Federal Civilian Agencies.
Position Overview
We are seeking an Events and Exhibitions Manager to plan and execute official ceremonies, observances, command events, and symposium participation for a Navy headquarters organization at the Washington Navy Yard.
The work spans two related areas. The first is protocol and ceremony: change of command, retirements, promotions, award presentations, all hands calls, leadership off-sites, and visits by senior U.S. and foreign dignitaries. The second is exhibitions: representing the command at symposiums and trade shows, which means booth coordination, exhibitor and speaker registration, and on-site execution from setup through teardown.
These events are formal, visible, and attended by flag officers, senior executives, and invited guests. Much of the job is logistics and vendor coordination done far enough in advance that the day itself looks effortless. The rest is the judgment to adapt when a principal's schedule shifts four hours before the ceremony.
You will own events end to end, concept through after-action. You will work directly with senior leadership, their executive assistants, facilities and security staff, vendors, and counterparts across the Navy enterprise.
Responsibilities
Protocol and ceremonies
- Provide subject matter expertise across all aspects of protocol for command events and meetings, including conferences, award ceremonies, retirements, promotions, and changes of command.
- Conceptualize, plan, coordinate, and execute protocol for visits by high-ranking U.S. and foreign dignitaries.
- Apply protocol standards correctly and consistently: order of precedence, seating, flags and honors, invitations and RSVP management, receiving lines, escort assignments, and gift protocol.
- Build and maintain the ceremony program, sequence of events, and script, and run rehearsals with participants.
- Coordinate with security, facilities, parking, and visitor access to ensure guests and distinguished visitors arrive and move without friction.
Command events
- Conceptualize, plan, coordinate, and execute all event-planning activities for command events and meetings, including leadership off-sites, all hands calls, and command observances.
- Provide customer service and event logistics support at the command and, as required, elsewhere in the National Capital Region.
- Manage event budgets with accuracy and documented compliance with applicable funding rules and approval thresholds.
- Source, contract, and manage vendors for venue, catering, audiovisual, furniture, rentals, and printing, and hold them to the schedule.
- Produce event documentation including run of show, invitations, programs, place cards, signage, and after-action summaries.
Exhibitions and symposiums
- Serve as the command's agent for symposium and trade show participation, including booth design coordination, procurement of supporting products and services, and show execution.
- Coordinate all administrative matters associated with exposition planning and execution, including drayage, electrical, network connectivity, audiovisual support, and furniture.
- Register exhibitors and speakers and manage their requirements through the event.
- Support on-site logistics from exhibit setup through the duration of the show and teardown.
Planning and coordination
- Maintain the forward event calendar and manage several events simultaneously, each on its own timeline and at a different stage.
- Build back from the event date to interim milestones, and surface slips early enough to fix them.
- Produce meeting minutes, decisions, and action items from event planning sessions.
- Coordinate with photography, videography, graphics, and social media staff so that each event is documented and the products are usable afterward.
- Capture lessons learned and maintain templates, checklists, and vendor records so the next event starts further along than the last one.
Required Skills and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in a field related to this work and a minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience.
- Demonstrated experience planning and executing formal ceremonies and official events in a military, government, or comparable institutional setting.
- Working knowledge of protocol: order of precedence, seating, flags and honors, invitations, and distinguished visitor handling.
- Demonstrated experience managing event budgets, including tracking expenditures and complying with applicable approval and funding requirements.
- Demonstrated experience sourcing and managing vendors across venue, catering, audiovisual, rental, and print services.
- Ability to manage several concurrent events at different stages without losing track of any of them.
- Strong customer service orientation and the composure to work directly with senior military and civilian leaders and their staffs.
