Navan has appointed Hayley Kane to lead its UK and European event management operation and acquired AI-powered events platform BoomPop as it accelerates the expansion of Navan Events.
The two developments follow the official launch of Navan Events in June and underline the company’s ambition to bring event management expertise, travel, expense and technology together in one global offering.
In a recent interview with micebook, Galen Grady, senior vice president and general manager of Navan Events, said the company was investing in its people and technology and making a “big push” into meetings and events.
He also revealed that Navan was recruiting for a new VP of event management to lead its UK and European operation, a role now filled by Kane.
Kane brings more than 25 years’ experience across the agency and client sides of the events industry, most recently at Amex GBT Meetings & Events.
In her new role as VP, Event Management, UK & Europe, she will lead Navan Events’ event management operation across the region, supporting the continued integration and growth of the business.
Announcing the start of her new role on LinkedIn, Kane said she was excited to join “an organisation leading change when the M&E space is at such a pivotal time,” adding that the “opportunity to bring together Reed & Mackay’s legacy of service with Navan’s AI-powered platform is huge.”
Navan adds BoomPop technology
Navan has also acquired BoomPop, an AI-powered platform that helps companies plan and manage events from venue and vendor sourcing through to room blocks, contracts and payments.
Founded in 2023, BoomPop has supported events for approximately 250,000 people at companies including Accenture, Amazon, Google, Salesforce and Shopify. The company says its technology has helped customers reduce booking costs by around 30% on average across events ranging from 15-person gatherings to conferences for thousands of attendees.
The acquisition builds on the partnership between Navan and BoomPop announced earlier this year. Navan now plans to fully integrate BoomPop’s team and technology into its meetings and events business, with the aim of accelerating its product roadmap and providing clients with one platform for travel, expense, payments, meetings and events.
“Our customers crave the same transparency and value in their meetings and events that we bring to the rest of their travel programmes,” said Michael Sindicich, president of Navan.
“Fully integrating BoomPop’s team and technology into Navan will help us scale our existing meetings and events business, accelerate our roadmap and meet growing customer demand for more connected experiences across travel, expense, meetings and events.”
BoomPop co-founder and CEO Healey Cypher said the companies’ existing partnership had demonstrated the value of bringing travel and event management together.
“Joining forces means every company gets one partner for the whole thing, from a ten-person offsite to a 500-person global sales kick-off,” he added.