Sally Webb

Sally Webb, CSEP is the former CEO of www.specialeventco.com based in North Carolina. She founded the company in 1986 in London, England, and moved to the USA in 2005. The company ran in both counties until 2015. The Special Event Company sold in January 2024 to UK-based communications group www.drpgroup.com to expand its footprint with its first US operation. Sally remains engaged as a non-executive director.  

She came from a background in sports PR and marketing, working as a copywriter and then director of special events for a sports PR agency based in Fleet Street, London. She received prominence as the founder of ‘The Press Ball’ that became the largest media event in the UK to support the Newspaper Press Fund. She won ‘International Event of the Year’ for the program in 1999 in Washington, DC.

The Special Event Company delivers live communications through events and for a diverse clientele in education, financial services, technology, pharmaceuticals, media, manufacturing, sports, and non-profits. Over the past four decades, Sally produced events in over 30 countries throughout Europe, the USA, Africa, South America, and Asia. In 2021 they added a live broadcast studio to their portfolio, which achieved a financially successful pivot during the COVID period.  

The company has won over 40 international event management awards for their work. Her accolades include International Event Producer of the Year by Event Solutions Magazine in 2004, Lifetime Achievement Award from ILEA, International Live Events Assoc. Business Leader Magazines Top 50 Women Extraordinaire Award, Special Event Magazines Top 25 Greatest Industry Influencers of the past 25 years, Special Events Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to the Industry and in 2018, the ultimate industry honor, Special Events Show Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient. In 2022 she received the Triangle Business Journal Women in Business Excellence Award.

She is a regular lecturer in event management globally, speaking at conferences and universities, and is a founding member and former President of ILEA in the UK and USA. She co-authored the  Event Management Certification Program for Duke University in 2015 and Chaired the CSEP, Certified Special Event Professional Examination Restructure Committee in 2022.

Sally also founded, AEP - Academic Event Professional Conference a sell-out 3-day program attracting over 300 university event professionals, now in its 18th year.  

Sally is a founding board member of Roger Daltrey & Pete Townshend’s The Who Cares: Teen Cancer America non-profit organization www.teencanceramerica.org raising over $30m and supporting over 200,000 Adolescent and Young Adults and their families across the USA since forming in 2012.  

She lives in Cary, NC with her husband Grant Berry, who is a caddie on the PGA Tour. In 2022 they founded www.tourcaddiecollective.com, a speaker’s bureau for the top professional caddies. 

Sally and Grant have a blended family of 5 adult children and have homes in Cary, NC, and London, England.  

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