Marilyn Carlson-Nelson is the carrier of one of the incentive industry's longest standing legacies.

Of the Carlson Companies' nearly two-dozen brands, only three—Carlson Marketing, Peppers & Rogers Group and Gold Points Reward Network—are directly related to incentives. But many of the others, which include T.G.I. Friday's and Regent International Hotels, intersect in some way with the industry which Carlson-Nelson's father helped put on the map when he founded Carlson in 1938. He officially passed the torch in 1998 when she became the company's chairman and CEO.

In addition to her post at the family company, Carlson-Nelson sits on the World Economic Forum's International Business Council, is a past national chair of the Travel Industry Association of America and is on the Singapore Tourism Board. In December, President George W. Bush named her vice chair of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, charged with advising the Secretary of Commerce on increasing tourist travel to the United States.

Her influence in the international business and travel communities is unmatched by any other woman connected to the U.S. incentive industry. In various roles at Carlson Companies, she has observed the growth of the sector over the past few decades. She also oversees major business deals that ultimately impact incentive travel, such as the recent changes at Carlson's cruise line, in which Radisson Seven Seas Cruises became a more upscale brand, Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

Fast Fact: Working as a securities analyst in the 1960s, Carlson-Nelson was forced to disguise her gender by using "M.C." on all client correspondence. This page is protected by Copyright laws. Do Not Copy